Big Macintosh felt… awkward. Maybe that wasn’t the right way to put it, he thought. He was running his hoof against his neck to feel the awkward bowtie that his sister had forcibly wrestled him into kicking and neighing, and for the past thirty minutes he was positive that it was strangling him. His coat felt odd, too. He wasn’t just washed, but scrubbed. Applejack wasn’t alone in her desire to turn him into one of those hoity-toity clean freaks, she had brought back up. Rarity had forced him to use three different kinds of shampoo and something she called conditioner that neither he nor Applejack had ever used before. Whatever she had put in his mane made it near impossible to make its usual, ruffled self. It was combed, and stuck like glue. He didn’t like it, not at all.
But still, he thought, looking around the usual bar that had been done up almost as much as he had, he supposed he didn’t look THAT out of place tonight. The whole place was covered in big, comedic pink and red hearts and tinsel and glowing pink lights. The chalkboard that help the day's specials wrote out things like “Heart-Tastic Fries” or “Heartbeat Salad”. Anything heart related. Not very creative, but it got the point across.
Big Macintosh placed both his front hooves on the table and planted his chin down between them and let out a quiet but long whinny. To say he didn’t really ‘get’ the holiday of Hearts and Hooves day was a bit of an understatement. A day dedicated to love was fine, in his opinion, but the over decorated way he was expected to present himself and act felt… strangling. Not just in a physical sense, but an emotional one. But he didn’t feel like saying that out loud, not to Caramel.
“Cara…” Mac mumbled under his breath. It was the one thing he had been looking forward to the entire night. The one pony that might actually make the suffocating grip of this look that didn’t fit him in the slightest worth it. Relationships were something that had for so long been near impossible for him to understand. But… Caramel had been different. Caramel had been the only pony worth putting on this act for. Caramel had been the one pony in his entire life to stick around for this long, the only one who wasn’t off put by his quiet nature and was able to read his emotions without words.
Just when he was about to hold onto that feeling and cling to the small inkling of what he supposed he would call holiday spirit it was put off by the fact that over the speaker a band was playing that caught both his eyes and his ears. They were decked out in red and singing about… sappy lyrics. Sappier than his own thoughts about Caramel. It was gushy and overly romantic, and a bit embarrassing to listen too.
Mac tried again to mess up his mane, and he succeeded only in the sense that it stuck up straight, but it was better than combed and tied down. He whinnied again and stared at the door, regretting his decision not to just meet Caramel up at his house. He was glad he had picked a corner of the bar instead of someplace more in public view. The middle of the bar had all the tables gone from their usual places and had been renovated for the night into more of a dance floor and social gathering. Something Big Macintosh was not good at in the slightest. Both the dancing and the conversing.
He pulled again at his bow-tie and stared at the ponies dancing. Most blended in together, but there were two… well, only one of them was actually a pony. The other was a gryphon. And Aqua colored stallion with a brown mane and a gryphon with a silver coat near twice his size side by side and of course, they were also the loudest of the few on the floor. He recognized them as Troy and Canvas, a couple that was possibly more popular than he had been when he had first started dating a stallion himself. A time he… was more than thankful, for both his sake but mostly Caramel’s, had passed.
The closer Mac looked, the more he realized they weren’t actually really dancing. It looked more like they were either about to wrestle or do some sort of acrobatic show by the way Troy occasionally slinked around Canvas and picked him up with his great strength and lifting him off his hooves in a quick turn or occasionally forcing the earth pony on his back. They clearly either had no idea how to dance, or were too absorbed in the fun they were having to care that they looked a bit silly. Canvas was laughing, and loudly, and occasionally shouted Troy’s name every time he was picked up in surprise even though it had happened three times by now. They stopped only occasionally to catch their breaths and hug each other, clearly drunk on each other’s affection and nothing else by the way they kept kissing without care for who saw.
Again, in that moment Mac almost felt it. He felt like he almost understood this holiday, but it slipped from his mind before he could think about it too long. He was leaning out of his booth and staring at the two, as they were putting on quite a show if nothing else. He supposed he must have been apparent, because the moment the song changed his eyes locked with Canvas’ own right as he broke from a brief kiss with Troy. His eyes widened, and this bit of excitement sparked in his eyes as he saw the workhorse. He said something to Troy that Mac was unable to hear under the sound of music and nodded his head in Mac’s direction.
That was when Big Macintosh realized the two were suddenly making a beeline for him. And then, he once more felt self conscious about his uptight, clean appearance. He was known in Ponyville for walking around with ruffled fur and dirty hooves from long hours of work, and if it wasn’t for his size and apparent freckles that few ponies around this area owned, he was positive he wouldn’t look anything like himself.
“Mac!” Canvas said loudly over the music in a gaspy kind of tone that made it obvious he was struggling to catch his breath. “I didn’t expect to see you here! A-And wow you… look so…”
Big Macintosh stared blankly at the two, and then down to his hooves. They nearly shined.
“What’d Rarity do to you?” Troy suddenly chuckled. His lover threw him a sudden glance that Big Macintosh interpreted as a glare, and then Troy chuckled and looked away suddenly, still staring at Mac from the corner of his eye.
“Nice!” Canvas suddenly finished his previously dropped statement. “You look nice.”
Big Macintosh shrugged and drew his hoof to the straw in his water. He thought of what to say and then nothing came to mind. He looked to the two and tried to feign a smile, but his emotions which were usually solid were breaking through.
“Ya don’t gotta lie. It ain’t like me.” He responded and was suddenly thankful for his red fur by the way his cheeks felt warm. He looked across the booth to the empty seat and nodded his head. “Wanna sit?”
Canvas nodded with a polite smile and tugged on Troy’s talons to the other side and both slid in. Mac noticed that Troy in particular was staring not at him, but the empty space next to him.
“You uh… come alone?” He asked. He suddenly looked like he was trying to force conversation with a rock. Perhaps he was thinking of the many ways Mac had proved he was verbally inspiring in the many conversations they had and how intimidated he was. And then Mac thought that most likely wasn’t the reasoning.
“Caramel’s runnin’ late,” He responded and shrugged his shoulder again.
“Well hope he comes soon,” Troy chuckled and elbowed Canvas gently. “Be a pretty crappy day to get dumped, don’t ya thi- OW!” The gryphon suddenly shouted in a way that made Mac even jump. The sound Troy gave was close to a… cluck? Very akin to a squawk, nonetheless. “D-Dude, not cool pulling on my feathers!” He snapped at his lover.
“Sorry about him,” Canvas ignored Troy’s annoyance and tried to salvage the moment by smiling to Mac. “He’s pretty close to tipsy. I’m sure Caramel will be here soon.”
“Eeyup,” Mac responded a bit half-hearted. He looked to the door again. There wasn’t a sense of worry in what Troy had said going through his mind, but it might have looked like that. In fact he was positive it looked like that when the gryphon suddenly spoke up yet again.
“Hey, dude, I was just joking, alright? I’m sure he’s on his way.”
“Ah know,” Mac responded and ran the tip of his hoof in circles around the outer rim of mug of cider. “Ah just feel a little silly.”
“Don’t like Hearts and Hooves day?” Canvas asked. He was in the middle of snuggling closer to Troy in the booth, the gryphon wrapping his arm around the stallion and sitting back in his seat. They had little shame in the way they cuddled and sat close.
Big Macintosh shrugged. He considered responding with his usual ‘Nope’ but it didn’t seem entirely true.
“Hey, don’t worry man, I’m just here cause they’re selling baskets of fries for like half a bit!” Troy said in a sudden, excited sounding tone as he laughed. Canvas smiled at that, and didn’t look like this time he was going to rip any feathers. He actually laughed after moment, especially when Troy looked to him and said, “What? You bought like three already.”
Mac smiled, but again it felt feigned. It was hard to feel entirely there in the conversation. The bow-tie around his neck felt suddenly tighter as he swallowed a lump in his throat and stared at the door.
“This is my first Hearts and Hooves day… y-y’know, with Caramel,” Mac mumbled, a bit more sheepishly than he intended. He took a sip of his cider and felt the sweet liquid go down his throat. “Rarity came over ta give somethin’ ta AJ and asked me ‘bout fifty questons ‘bout why I wasn’t looking nice fer him. A-Ah don’t think he’ll like this, though.”
“Yeeeahhh…” Canvas responded in a drawn out kind of way like he truly did not want to approach that subject. “Caramel probably likes the rugged country type… otherwise he wouldn’t be dating you.”
“Thank Celestia you were the one to say it,” Troy mumbled. “Y’know, Rarity likes to play dress up on days like this. I’m just glad I haven’t seen her today or she’d made me hairspray my feathers till I puke from that stench.”
That got a bit of a smile out of Big Macintosh. The other two smiled back and chuckled some with him. His own quickly faded however, and he looked down to his reflection in the cider and shrugged yet again. When he took a sip it was only to think out his next words, as they struggled to fall to place properly in his head.
“Ah just don’t get t’day.” Mac said and frowned to the two. “Ah mean… Ah love Caramel. But AJ and Rarity acted all weird when Ah told em we were goin’ out so late. An’ even worse when Ah said Ah wasn’t gonna do more than shower.” The stallion looked to the door again, and still spotted no sign of his boyfriend. “He don’t even like comin’ out when it’s busy like this.”
“Projeeeeeeeeeeeeeecting,” Troy drew out the “eeee” of his word as though he intended for it to sound like it was under his breath. “Rarity really needs a boyfriend…. Or a girlfriend…”
“Rarity’s too uptight to date anypony unless they were rich or had a pattern in their fur just… oh, to die for!” Canvas giggled and placed a hoof over his heart in a mock accent that Mac thought was so bad he didn’t realize he was imitating Rarity until Troy laughed.
“Probably right,” Troy responded, and then looked to Mac. “But seriously, dude, Mac, you don’t even think Caramel wants to be here? How the heck do you two go on dates then? This is pretty much all Ponyville has.”
“Dunno,” Mac shrugged and scratched at his cheek. “Mostly go to his place when his brother ain’t home… Ah like makin’ him dinner an’ cuddlin’ by the fire. We just talk a lot…”
“Must be a pretty riveting conversation…” Troy mumbled under his breath.
“Ah mostly listen… Ah like listening.” Mac smiled and pulled gently at his bow-tie. “He don’t talk too much when we’re out here. Gets shy an’ doesn’t like ta cuddle.”
“Um…” Canvas looked down and away from Mac briefly and squeezed his hoof over Troy’s talons. “Sorry if this is intrusive… but why didn’t you two just do that?”
“Ain’t ya… supposed ta do somethin’ different on t’day?” Big Macintosh blinked, and then suddenly out of the corner of his eye the door to the bar opened. His heart lifted for a moment when he recognized instantly a tan coat and large, blue eyes standing hesitantly in the doorway. It was snowy outside, and even from this distance the gust was strong enough for him to catch a bit of.
Mac lifted his hoof, and suddenly Caramel’s eyes lit up. It was the kind of light that made him forget entirely about his nerves and made him stop worrying about the way he looked in seconds. Caramel smiled, a bit gingerly, and looked like he was resisting the urge to run to Mac and instead walked quickly. Mac slid out of his booth seat and the moment Caramel drew close he grabbed the stallion and hugged him tightly.
“M-Mac, what on Equestria are you wearing?” Caramel was laughing and burying his face in Mac’s chest. He touched Mac’s bow-tie and stared at his mane. “You look like a dork…”
“Pfff!” Troy suddenly let out a laugh that he struggled with all of his being to keep in. Canvas glared, but didn’t pull feathers.
Caramel’s eyes widened, and he suddenly squirmed in Mac’s grasp until the two parted. By the look of sheepish embarrassment and sudden flush of his cheeks he must not have had any idea that the other two were in the booth he was so blinded by the sight of his lover. He suddenly stiffened and put on an incredibly forced smile and looked to the two.
“O-Oh, you weren’t alone… H-Hey…” Caramel’s voice was quiet, and it was very clear he had been embarrassed despite the fact that Canvas was practically sitting on Troy’s lap. Maybe it was the way Troy laughed that set him off, or perhaps just the fact that they were being stared at, but his warmth faded a tiny bit in a noticeable way.
“Heeeey lovebirds,” Troy teased and wiggled his fingers in a girlish ‘hello’ gesture. Canvas rolled his eyes and kissed Troy’s cheek lightly just when the gryphon was about to question him why he did so.
“T-This wasn’t a double date or anything, right? I didn’t forget that?” Caramel looked to Mac in sudden need of assurance and the workhorse shook his head. A momentary look of relief crossed Caramel’s eyes and Mac kissed him on the end of his nose. Perhaps if he weren’t already a little embarrassed he would have pushed into it and turned it into a kiss like he normally did, but right now he giggled nervous and squirmed away from it.
“We were just leaving,” Canvas responded right as he kissed Troy’s cheek. “Right, Troy?”
“Whaaat, but we never get to talk to these guys!” Troy whined when Canvas pushed against him lightly.
“Y-You can stay, if you want,” Caramel said a bit nervously when Mac got into the booth and he followed suit. There was a clear separation between the two that judging by the way Caramel swished his tail he was uncomfortable with, but still felt as though too many eyes were on him to cuddle in the same way Troy and Canvas were doing. “I mean… I don’t mind, if… yeah…”
“Actually I wanted to show Troy this uh… Cream Cheese fry dip.” Canvas chuckled.
And then suddenly Troy froze. His eyes widened and his beak dropped. He looked to Canvas like a kid on his birthday being presented with his birthday cake and asked in a gleeful, quiet tone. “They have that?”
“Y-Yeah, sure, let’s check up on them after we get you some.” Canvas nodded and gave Mac a wink that seemed to clue him on on what he needed to know.
“Oh heck yeah!” Troy shouted and grabbed Canvas’ hoof. “See you two later!”
And the two were gone in an instant. Caramel even laughed a bit at his excitement, and when he was busy looking at the direction the two lept off to Mac surprised him by wrapping him in his hooves and pulling him close. He yelped a bit, squirmed instinctively, and then settled with a quiet blush that was warm enough for Mac to feel on his lips when he kissed Caramel’s cheek. Thankfully he settled much better this time and even let Mac pull him basically onto his lap.
“Ya okay, Sugarcube?” Mac asked in a quiet tone. And when a few seconds passed without and kind of response he kissed him again and added a quiet. “I love ya.”
Caramel giggled at that. He responded with the same and then loosened his muscles quite a bit and settled more easily into Mac’s chest. When he looked out to the dance floor Mac felt them tighten again, and it made his own chest feel twisted and warm.
“Was… Was I supposed to dress up like you did?” Caramel asked and felt his own neck and then mane. “I didn’t think you’d want to do that. Or that this place is all that fancy, y’know? I thought a long time about wearing one or a vest or something but I thought it’d look dorky.”
“Like Ah do?” Mac asked with a chuckle. Caramel shook his head.
“I was joking.”
“No ya weren’t,” Mac responded and pressed his lips to Caramel’s ears. “Yer a dirty liar, Sugar. Don’t make me tickle ya in public ta make ya confess. Cutie like ya would spill it all instantly.”
“O-Okay I wasn’t joking,” Caramel responded quickly and with genuine fear on the tip of his tongue with Mac threateningly and in an over the top kind of way grabbed at his belly as though it were a knife and Caramel had something to actually be afraid of. Mac chuckled in his ear and moved his hooves back to wrapping around Caramel. “I just… I don’t look underdressed, right?”
“Ya look cute,” Mac responded in reassurance.
“Okay…” Caramel mumbled, a bit unconvinced in his tone.
There was a silence where Mac breathed in Caramel’s scent. It made him forget his worries and made him happy. Caramel squirmed a bit when ponies passed the booth, but never tried to leave Mac’s grasp. It was quiet for a while, and eventually when Caramel looked to the dance floor Mac saw a frown appear on Caramel’s lips.
“It’s more crowded than I thought it’d be,” He mumbled and grabbed at Mac’s hoof. “I uh… You don’t wanna dance or anything, right? I-I mean if you want we c-”
“Nope,” Mac responded, interrupting the end of Caramel’s sentence.
Caramel breathed an audible sigh of relief and cuddled closer to Mac’s chest. Things were quiet for a while, Caramel occasionally giggling when Mac’s breath trickled down his neck between occasional pecks. He thought for a while in that silence, and felt Caramel nervously squirm yet again. And then he realized that this whole place felt silly, not just the way he was dressed. It felt too done up and not genuine enough. The same way it felt for not just him, but for Caramel to be there on such a crowded night.
So he said what he was thinking.
“Ya… Ya wanna skip dinner, Sugarcube?”
“Huh?” Caramel responded and squirmed out of Mac’s grasp in order to look directly at him. “You’re not hungry?”
“A little,” Mac shrugged and stared into Caramel’s eyes. “But uh… Ah was thinkin’ we could go back ta yer place. Ah’ll make ya dinner an’ ya can start a fire. We can stop an’ get some wine if that’d make it more romantic.”
“Mac…” Caramel paused, an emotion glimmering in his eyes that Big Macintosh struggled to read. “That sounds nice… I mean, it really does… but don’t you think we should do something different for a day like today?”
He didn’t look like he really meant that. Mac frowned and stared at Caramel. He realized that his lover’s eyes were dodging away every few moments before eventually settling downward onto his own fumbling hooves.
“I mean,” Caramel picked up after Mac remained silent. “We… I’ve never had a boyfriend on Hearts and Hooves. I dunno how we’re supposed to do it. A lot of couples go out to restaurants, right?”
“Eeyup.” Big Macintosh nodded his head. He took one of Caramel’s hooves in both of his own and smiled. “This getup ain’t me, though. If ya want I’d rather just do what we always do… cause Ah like what we do. Don’t wanna make both of us uncomfortable if we ain’t gonna like it.”
“M-Mac,” Caramel’s voice grew quiet, but he was suddenly fighting a smile and a giggle all at once by the way Mac smiled with his teeth and stared at him. “You’re really… Yeah you’d look better after a shower… or maybe rolling in the mud.”
They both laughed and then let their lips meet. Caramel was softer, warmer, more willing to show affection. This was apparent by the way he grabbed Mac’s face with both his hooves.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T HAVE CREAM CHEESE DIP?”
Mac raised his brows, and so did Caramel when the shout came and silenced the entire bar. They looked to each other, and both said the same thing.
“Let’s leave.”
Mac placed the money for his drink on the table and grabbed Caramel’s hoof just as the place was returning to it’s regular volume. He felt younger, a bit childish even the way he led Caramel as he did. They were both fighting giggling. He caught a glimpse of Troy with his face on the bar table and Canvas rubbing his back. Canvas waved to the two of them right before they went out the door.
“W-Where are we gonna buy wine this late?” Caramel asked and had a bit of a spring in his step. “Every place is gonna close soon. We’re gonna have to run if we wanna get there.”
Without saying a word Mac crouched down and forced his head right under Caramel’s body. With a sudden yelp of both fear and excitement somehow Caramel was laying on Mac’s back. Before he could even ask what on earth the workhorse was doing, Mac drew a line in the snow with his hoof and smirked at Caramel over his shoulder.
“Hold on, Sugar,”
“W-Wait, you’re not gonna run are y- AH, MAC!” Caramel’s hooves wrapped desperately around Mac’s neck the second the stallion took off running into the night. Though he gripped tighter than the bow-tie, it didn’t feel nearly as restricting. Caramel’s shouts of fear were replaced with excitement and laughter. Mac did a few jumps as he ran, each one giving reason for Caramel to yell blind insults through his laughter.
But right now he felt happy, and more importantly in love. Running through the empty streets of Ponyville with the one he loved on his back made him feel far less restricted than he had that entire night. It felt genuine, and real. It felt like him, and more importantly like them. And right now, he couldn’t wait to get Caramel home to show him how happy he was.
He hoped Caramel felt just as happy as he did, for he was suddenly having the time of his life.
Author's Note
I hope VClaw cries because he's so happy when he reads this cause he wasn't expecting it at all. Unlikely but I just want to make all the men of this world cry.
