A special day

Atma and Leith had been living together for some years now, and were going back to the place they met, the abandoned mansion Leith used to live in some time in the past. It was filled with books and that mysterious and romantic Victorian aura that he liked; but, of course, the place was abandoned and not in the best of shape.

When Atma came in looking for food and started eating the books he saw there, he caused a great commotion for Leith. After explaining everything, though, and listening to some of Atma’s stories, Leith found the other bun very interesting and fun, and decided to follow him to chronicle his “Gourmet Quest”, acting as his butler and calling him “Master”. This wasn’t something Atma was used to, of course, but seeing the other bun happy made him happy too and went along with it.

Many rich bun houses later, they finally found a good place to settle, full of some of that romantic old mansion aura, but also homely and in a good state, with a garden and a big kitchen for Atma to enjoy all sorts of foods. They had come very far from that first meeting, both personally and as a happy couple since then.

Now they were back on that old mansion, to celebrate the day that the first fated meeting took place. Both brought a lot of supplies (Atma had brought a long box with him, too) to have a nice picnic in Leith’s old room, and when they went inside, they were surprised to find that the place was in the exact same state; dirtier, of course, since Leith did clean his house when he lived there, but noting else had moved, at all.

“I guess my previous abode looked dreary to other buns, mh? I, of course, love this aesthetic, so it was the perfect place for me, but not many buns share my sensibilities”, commented Leith while nodding towards Atma, who smiled.
“Yeah, the parts of the house were you spend most of your time look like a haunted mansion sometimes, but I like it! Maybe I’m not as big a fan as you of that style, but still, my appearance, and the spirits, feel comfortable there, hehe~”, replied Atma and kissed Leith softly on the lips, happy to be here with him.

Leith blushed and raised his picnic basket.

“O-ok, time to set everything up! First, we should tidy this place up a little.”
“Yeah, I think I saw a broom and something to clean over there!”

Atma went to a corner of the room and took an old broom and dustpan and began to clean the place up with Leith. It was a short moment, but both buns worked together cleaning the place up as they had done many times before. In their current home they do this all the time, exchanging chores from time to time, and sometimes Atma is the only one to clean, as his midnight snack times sometimes get way too messy, and he doesn’t like to wake up Leith that late.

When everything was ready, and after a “Good work!” kiss between them, Leith began to take out food from the basket while Atma, opening the box, took out a big picnic cloth and put it on the now cleaned library floor. They both then started to arrange the food on the cloth and began to eat.

“Leith, this food is delicious, as always!! I hope you like what I brought, too, but in no way is better than this!!”, said Atma eating with a radiant smile on his face.
“Oh, poo, it’s nothing special, really… Just, you know… your favorite foods, haha. I see you made mine, too, and I thank you for that. It’s exquisite!”, answered the other bun with a big smile.

They both ate and joked with each other for a while until both of them were full, or, at least for Atma, contained their hunger enough. They sat side by side for a while, cuddling, when Leith stood up and looked around the old place he used to call home. Atma stood up with him, following closely behind.

“This library is as cozy as I remembered, it hasn’t changed one bit… Haha, I still remember how scared I was, being alone and all, when I heard all the ruckus you made while eating my books. I thought for sure a demon had come finally for me, or the grim reaper, that maybe all my loneliness and not ideal eating habits had doomed me in my sleep, and I was already dead, just waiting for deliverance… But, alas, that wasn’t it, it was just the coolest bun in the world come to save me from my confinement~”

Leith said the last part with dreamy eyes and a lovestruck smile, looking at Atma with a lot of love. Atma looked back at Leith with a surprised face and, suddenly and without warning, got closer to Leith and gave him a big and strong hug.

“It was you who saved me, dummy. I was shunned and most were repulsed by me, just a barely put together bun, smelling weird and surrounded by ghosts. No one even wanted to get close to me when I met you, and I was just as alone as you, but now…”

He let Leith go and, with a smile, took the other bun hands in his own, looking at him lovingly.

“Well… I guess we both came to each other’s life at the right moment, haha. I saved you as much as you saved me.”

This time got closer and kissed Leith on the lips, this time savoring the moment with a slow and deep kiss. Leith answered in kind, and both hugged for a while.

“I love you, Atma…~”, said Leith with a smile and teary eyes, and was surprised to find that Atma had teary eyes, too, and the brightest smile he had ever seen.
“And I love you, my Victorian cutie~”

Atma hugged him again and then, releasing him, went toward the picnic supplies, specifically the big box he had used to store the picnic sheet.

“That time we met… there was one book I couldn’t finish eating, as I was caught and, y’know, everything happened, haha! I took that as a, uhm, sort of sign, and never finished eating it, just kept it for myself. It was a book about flowers.”

Leith looked puzzled at Atma, who seemed to be taking out something else from that box. Atma was about to take that something out, but before that, he continued speaking, preparing something.

“I skimmed the book a little bit at first, as I’m not that used to reading a lot, but slowly I got more and more interested, and eventually finished. Time passed, we confessed our feelings and started living as a couple, when I remembered that book. I researched a little more—yeah, me, researched, haha!—until I… I was ready, and… h-here I am…!”

Atma took out a medium sized bouquet of flowers from the box, and advanced with them towards Leith. The bouquet was composed of three types of flowers: lavenders, peonies and calla lilies, arranged a little disorderly, but with clear intent.

“A-As I read and all, the peonies are for romantic feelings and prosperity, the lavenders are for faithfulness, me, always with you, and the calla lilies are also about purity and being true to love, but mostly put it here ‘cause you really like them, and… uhm… t-these flowers have another meaning, too, and it’s related to…”
“To… marriage…”, said Leith suddenly, now red in the face and totally dumbfounded.
“Y-yes, exactly! I knew you would underst-“
“I do.”
“Uh? Wait, I haven’t fin-“
“I DO!!”

Leith teary eyes became tearful eyes, as he began to cry, all red in the face and with a big smile. He charged at Atma, taking the flowers gladly and hugging him tightly. Atma hugged him back with force and kissed him on the forehead, and then on the lips, also beginning to cry.

“B-but still, I will finish…!”, Atma said and, getting to his knees, took the ring the other bun hadn’t seen in his hand and presented it to him. “Leith, my lovely bun… will you marry me~?”

Leith exploded in a barrage of yesses and hugged Atma again, this time with so much force that they both fell on top of the picnic sheet, kissing and hugging each other while expressing how much they loved each other.

Both buns were engaged now, in the exact same place where their first meeting took place, coming full circle and advancing forever forward with love.