｢ @selflesstwin — Valentine’s Day 2022 ｣
For the entire dinner, they had been restless. Their eyes wandered from their plate to his, waiting for the food to finish already. Kaoru spent a lot of time preparing a wonderful meal and decorating a space for them to have a nice Valentine's Day date but none of it mattered when they simply wanted to give Mammon his gift. The excitement had such a hold on them, that they completely forgot to eat and once their boyfriend appeared halfway done, the exchange student jumped out of their seat and moved to plop themself down right on his lap.
"I got you a present! A good one, this time! I risked my life for it and it was totally worth it! " By that, they meant that they snuck out of the Devildom with some help and returned to the Human Realm in order to obtain the gift. After the failed Christmas surprise... Kaoru decided they would do better for the next holiday spent together! And, that's what they did ( in their opinion )!
Kaoru reached into the pocket of their skirt and pulled out the gift. What they held in their hands was a small black box. Being impatient, they opened it and revealed the ring inside. One that would match the rings that Mammon already wore and... " It matches your eyes. It made me think of you. So... Um, Happy Valentine's Day, love. "
Feeling a little embarrassed, they looked down at the ring and when they realized how it looked, Kaoru gasped. " It's- This is just- I'm not p-proposing, by the way! It looks like that but I'm not! It's a nice ring! That's all! Expensive, too! I figured you'd like it! That's all! Ah... Can you just kiss me and shut me up now? " [ I'm here! I'm late... But here! ]
Valentine’s Day was meant to be a celebration of love, but Mammon couldn’t help but to feel awkward. The silence that stretched between morsels of small talk made him wonder if something had gone awry — had he not dressed himself up properly, was this actually meant to be a breakup and they didn’t know how to properly air their grievances, or was this how it was meant to be?
Mammon didn’t want to ask and risk ruining their dinner, so he did the only thing he could. Gradually, he picked away at his food, dropping the occasional compliment here and there about their cooking, their decorations and — of course — Kaoru themselves.
Having them suddenly plant themselves in his lap in the middle of dinner was an unexpected but pleasant surprise. Out of habit, his arms found their waist, fingers grasping at the back of their shirt. His cheekier side wanted to ask aloud if this was how their night would end, but he didn’t have the opportunity.
The smirk that had touched at his lips turned down in an instant.
“Risked your life for it?” Curious eyes wandered to their hands and the little box held inside them. “What the hell did ya get that ya had t’risk somethin’ that important for it?”
That one ring pulled Mammon’s attention ( and concern ) away. He gaped, fingers immediately pulling the ring from its bedding. He shivered at the touch of cool titanium against his fingers, the polished metal wrapped elegantly around a band of shifting blues and golds. He had never paid much attention to the color of his own eyes, and most compliments directed at them were forgotten a second later. When Kaoru spoke of them, however, it made his heart skip and stumble over itself.
No matter how long the two might be together, the fact that they thought of him for even a second would continue to floor him.
“It’s gorgeous. . .” He muttered in awe, fingers still delicately touching at the outside of the ring before it was inched towards one of his fingers on his right hand. Just as it came to encircle the end of his index finger, he paused.
“H—hang on, wh——? Why d’ya gotta act like that while talkin’ about proposin’ to me?!” He squeezed the ring in his hand, its shape pressing into his palm. Inside his chest, his heart began to swell with a strange amalgamation of nerves, pride and a deep desire to see what would happen. “So, lemmie guess — ya didn’t think I’d put it on my other hand? Well, what if I did? What are ya gonna do about it, huh?”
He released his left hand from their clothes and placed it within their vision, the ring slipping without hesitation onto the second-to-last finger. It sat there behind his knuckle, the metal gradually warming. He rarely wore rings on that hand for longer than most modeling shoots, but he acknowledged with a goofy, lovestruck smile that he liked having it there.
Then he, like Kaoru, realized with a shudder what he had suggested.
But, unlike his partner, he couldn’t bluster his way out of this. Instead, he sank into his seat with them still in his lap and pressed both hands to his face, heat and color blooming behind them.
This was dumb. So dumb. Did he just suggest he would accept if they had proposed?
“Quit lookin’ at me!! I can feel your damn eyes on me! Look, it ain’t a big deal!” He grumbled and griped behind his hands, since he couldn’t bare to have them see his face this red. “If ya did wanna marry me, it ain’t like I’d hate the idea! But even if ya ain’t askin’ me that, I’m gonna keep this ring on that finger, and there ain’t nothin’ anyone can do about it! It’s stayin’ there forever! So. . . So, Happy Valentine’s Day!”
