Hello, I'm back with another one-shot! I have an important test next week (one where I need 80%+ or I fail the whole subject...great :))), but I'm stressed and I thought, why not write a one-shot to get the test off my mind for a moment?
Title: Marry me, yeah?
Summary: In which Ally - trying to defy social traditions - decides to propose to Austin, only for him to burst out laughing. What for though?
Disclaimer: I do not own the show Austin & Ally or any of the characters mentioned, or any other recognisable brands; everything, apart from the story line, belongs to Disney and its affiliates.
Five years.
That's how long they'd been together as a couple. Their anniversary was tonight and she was currently with Austin on their date.
It was because of this that one of them had felt like they were ready to pop that specific question.
You thought that it would be Austin?
No, no, no.
It was Ally who had wanted to do it.
She had told her father and already asked Mimi for her permission a month earlier, though she wasn't exactly sure that she had been taken seriously…
Yes, normally it would be the man who would ask his girl for her hand in marriage.
But Ally Dawson wasn't normal.
Sure, she would have liked to experience that fluttered feeling when (if) he proposed to her, but it was silly of her to expect a proposal from him. But she knew what she wanted, and she was going to just go for it.
She was ready for the long-term commitment and she had hoped he was too. And if he wasn't…
Well, she'd work that one out later.
Besides, why couldn't it be the other way round for once? It was 2015, things were changing and she didn't want to conform to the social traditions. And hadn't Queen Victoria proposed to her Prince Albert back then?
Either way (assuming Austin said yes), wouldn't the result be the same? Get engaged. Get married. Go on honeymoon. Have children (maybe). It didn't matter who proposed because they would still spend the rest of their lives together and the matter of whoever proposed would no longer be important.
She had a small paragraph in her mind prepared for what she would say to him to segue into the proposal, just simple, loving words expressed from the bottom of her heart. The proposal wouldn't be much; she didn't want one of those huge captured-on-video-and-uploaded-on-the-web-for-all-to-see type of proposals. They'd already experienced the limelight; they didn't need more videos of them on the internet. She thought back to that one embarrassing video from when she was on The Helen show, one of her very first moments with Austin...
She chuckled at the memory.
Despite all that, Ally wasn't afraid to admit that she was nervous. She felt as if multiple knots were twisting tightly in her stomach, but she was willing herself not to back out of it. She was one hundred percent certain that Austin was the one she wanted to be with.
It was a lovely evening, just a simple picnic dinner in the local park, under the moonlight. They were currently laying down on the blanket, just chatting and looking up at the stars. Austin was chirping about something Dez had done last week, but she could barely absorb his words. She focused on the vast plane of stars, willing for them to somehow pacify her nervousness.
Doubts began running about her mind.
What if he wasn't ready? Wasn't this why they'd been girlfriend and boyfriend for these five years? Would it be another five years before he was ready for that sort of commitment? What if he changed his mind after accepting? What if-
"What are you thinking about, Alls?" Her boyfriend's voice brought her back to the moment. She averted her gaze away from the stars to find him facing her in concern.
"Huh? Oh, nothing much." She grinned sheepishly, though he didn't seemed convinced.
"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" He cupped her face in his hands; she could clearly see the worry clouding his orbs.
"No, nothing's wrong, I'm just nervous."
"Why are you nervous?"
Ally sighed heavily. Now was a better time than ever.
She felt her heart ramming against her chest. This was it…
"Austin, I...you know I love you, right?"
She sat up from the blanket, maintaining eye contact with the blond.
"Yeah...where is this going?" he followed her lead, lifting himself off the blanket. He took her hand, squeezing it firmly. "You can tell me anything."
"I-" she let out a frustrated sigh, realising that all the words she had planned to say had suddenly disappeared from her mind.
Ally rubbed her free hand over her face in annoyance before continuing, "huh, it's funny how I've managed to express my feelings into the songs I've written for the both of us, but I can't seem to express the right words for this occasion."
"Alls, what's going on?" He breathes, fear lining his voice.
She pulled out a blue box from her clutch purse. Austin arches an eyebrow as his eyes land on the box.
"I am so in love with you, Austin, and I've always thought of spending the rest of my life with you. To think it started with you playing on the drums with your corn dogs. I know we've been through a lot, but I know we're meant to be, and I had a lot more I wanted to say, but I forgot it all, so," her boyfriend's eyebrows were raised so high now, almost disappearing in his hairline as she awkwardly got into a crouching position, one of her bent knees touching the blanket.
"Austin Monica Moon, I'm just gonna say it, make me the happiest girl in the world, and marry me, yeah?" She opened the box, revealing a silver band.
His eyes were bulging and she was starting to wonder if he'd gone into some state of shock.
"...Austin? Please, say something..." she waved a hand in front of his face; still no response.
Only the sound of crickets filled the silence.
The lack of response was killing her, and suddenly she wanted to take it all back, maybe somehow turn back the ti-
Suddenly his face twisted into a grin, and – she couldn't believe it – the idiot started laughing.
"What- Alls- I-" he burst into another set of laughter. Why was he laughing?
He pointed at her, then pointed to himself. "You- You're proposing...to me?"
Did he think this was hilarious? She finally worked up the courage to propose to him and he reacted like this?
She furrowed her eyebrows. Now he was slapping his knee. Was there some great joke she had missed out on? Or had her boyfriend become insane?
"Austin." He was still laughing and she crossed her arms as she continued, "I don't understand. Why can't a girl propose to her boyfriend, huh? What's wrong with that? Honestly, that's a bit sexist, don't you think? I can't believe you'd just laugh when I tried so hard to-"
He put his hands on her shoulders, stopping her mid-sentence.
"Alls," he was grinning widely and shaking his head softly, "you've got it all wrong."
Well now she was confused. "Then why are you laughing?"
Her eyes followed his movements as he reached into the pocket of his coat. Shock was planted on her face after he revealed a red velvet box. "I was planning on proposing too!"
She didn't know what to say. So they'd both planned to propose to each other tonight?
Then, she burst into laughter too. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? You scared me!" She punched him lightly on his chest.
"Ow! Well, it was a surprise, obviously," he rolled his eyes, "and you beat me to it; I was planning on doing it as we were going to leave."
"I…can't believe this."
"I guess we both wanted this as much as each other. We really do belong together, don't we?" Austin chuckled, eyes sparkling.
She then gasped as he opened the box to reveal a beautiful diamond ring."Okay, so, I know it's not like one of those fancy proposals you see on the Internet with the millions of views, and I know this sounds super cliché, but you've seen me at my best, you've also...seen me at my worst, and yet you still accepted me.
"You forgave me when I stole your song that first time I met you, and I don't think we would've gotten this far if you hadn't agreed to become my songwriting partner, even when you had the opportunity to refuse. You even stood by me when I lost my music career. I know it's you who I want to spend the rest of my life with, so Ally I-still-don't-know-your-middle-name Dawson, do me the honour of making me the luckiest man in the world and marry me, yeah?"
She giggled at the way he worded the last part.
She was certain that he already knew how she would reply.
But she didn't want to say anything just yet. She went back to crossing her arms, her own ring box still in her hand.
"You never answered my proposal though…" she said seriously, though the corners of her mouth twitched upwards.
"Well, how about we answer at the same time?" a wide smile formed on her face at his suggestion.
"On a count of 3 then. 1…2…3!"
"Yes." They said at the same time, before laughing with joy, their eyes beginning to brim with tears.
They slipped their rings onto each other's fingers, then Austin pulled her into a hug, before kissing her forehead.
"I can't wait to marry you." He whispered. "I love you so much, Alls."
"Likewise, Austin. I love you too."
A/N: Okay, I hope you (kind of) enjoyed that? I imagined they wouldn't want huge proposals with the whole serenading thing (I swear Austin's done it so many times...not that I'm complaining too much xD)
Women do propose...just a small fraction though. I wasn't even sure if men get their own engagement rings, but I searched it up, and there are such rings!
Like before, I wrote this one around 2AM (well, now it's around 4PM where I'm publishing this)...maybe I'm more creative then! xD
URGHJGFGHJH I'm kind of annoyed because I accidentally saw a spoiler (don't check related tags on Tumblr if you don't want to see them) about the finale of A&A and now I know Ally's middle name and /SCREAMS/ I'm so mad :-)))
Yeah, anyway, back to that test which I have next Friday. HELP. HAHA
Have a good day everyone,
~Helene