When hopeless, unimaginative men want to make the proposal of a lifetime, they seek out Mikan Sakura - the expert on creative, memorable proposals for other women. However, there is one man stuck in a ridiculous complication - the one he wants to propose to is Doctor Proposal, herself.

Doctor Proposal

by Autumn Win-Dow

Note: Inspired by a team of two women professed in preparing proposals, of whom I saw on the news this morning. Also has hints of inspiration from Dating Agency: Cyrano.

"Get down!"

"Wait, what- hey! Ouch!"

"Ah, sorry, Natsume."

"What the hell are we doing?! What the hell are you doing?!"

"Shush, you're being too loud."

"Of course I am- why are you giving me this?"

"Hold it up when I tell you to."

"…I see. This is one of your projects."

"I'll explain later."

"There's nothing to explain! I didn't think that you'd meant this when you called me for urgent help this morning!"

"Why are you so angry- oh my god, hold it up! Now!"

"What-"

"Quickly!"

"Okay, okay! …Annoying woman."

Mikan Sakura did not hear the words her annoyed boyfriend had muttered under his breath, as her eyes were glued to the young couple in the park. The man had suddenly knelt down, staring up at his beloved, while taking out a velvet box. However, the woman's attention was drawn to something in Mikan's direction – the words printed on the banner she and Natsume were holding up together.

The brunette had realized after two years in her occupation that the expressions of her clients' girlfriends' were always the same. She always saw in their eyes a mixture of shock, disbelief, happiness, confusion – and after a brief moment, the happiness would bubble up and become absolutely evident in their expressions.

The girl would jump up and down in excitement, repeating her reply in an ecstatic tone – like how her current client was hearing his girlfriend say in response.

"…Yes! Yes, yes, yes! Oh my god, yes!"

The proposal had garnered the attention of many passer-bys in the park. They cheered for the couple as they embraced, to the point where he was spinning around – his arms around her waist – in glee. Mikan smiled in satisfaction – her plan had succeeded without a hitch. The small orchestra she had hired, after hearing that her client's girlfriend loved classical music, had played a romantic melody prior to his proposal. The seemingly freelance photographer – of whom her client had personally wanted to capture the day's moments – had managed to take a few beautiful pictures of the couple before the big moment.

And, unlike one unfortunate incident a while back, no one broke a leg in the process.

However, even though Mikan was certainly happy about the success of her plan, she envied the newly engaged couple. She knew about many things – that they had been dating for six years, had some fluctuations in their relationship, but managed to stick together amongst it all. They were finally going to be happy, and she could not help but wonder when she would be able to experience it for herself.

"Ready to leave?"

She broke out of her reverie at Natsume's question, and turned to look at him. His eyebrow arched, and he was still holding up the banner unconsciously.

Mikan smiled. "You can put it down now. It's a success."

Natsume returned her grin as he complied. "That's good."

Both of the stood up, rolling up the banner. As they were about to leave together, Natsume met glances with Mikan's client. He was put off guard when the said man gave him a smirk, and mouthed something to him.

"Good luck."

"Natsume! Are you coming?"

He broke his glance away, towards Mikan, of whom was staring back at him expectantly.

"Sure."

He swiftly tucked the small box back into his pocket.

"Why don't you ask Doctor Proposal?"

The most preposterous question Natsume had ever laid ears to in his twenty six years happened to come out of his best friend's mouth.

Ruka only needed to be sent a questioning look to understand the uselessness of his enquiry.

"Oh. Right. Sorry."

Natsume scoffed as he asked, "How come you, of all people, forgot about her? I mean, you broke a leg in the process of your proposal after asking her for advice."

"Hey, but it still worked!"

"So you do remember."

"Of course I remember!" Ruka exclaimed, rubbing his forehead. "It just slipped my mind."

Natsume merely nodded as he leaned back into his seat. He absently took out the box in his pocket, rotating it in his left hand.

"So…" Ruka trailed off, "What are you planning?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't be here, and I still wouldn't be holding this ring."

"Touché."

Ruka pondered for a moment, and then made a suggestion.

"What does Mikan like? Does she like being extravagant or sentimental?"

Natsume crinkled his eyebrows. "She's… a bit of both."

"And there you go!" Ruka suddenly rejoiced, satisfied.

The only reaction he received from his best friend was a blank look.

"And what exactly did that achieve?"

Natsume had never been particularly creative.

He was not particularly extravagant – he was not fond of public displays of affection, as the sight of it made him gag. Though he did realize that if he was in that very situation, he would not really care about how others around him felt.

Nor was he sentimental – he did not write love letters or limericks, declaring his love for her. He did not see the use of couple rings, or couple t-shirts, and most especially, couple socks. It was, to him, a commercial tactic by companies to increase profits – mostly during Valentine's Day.

The only thing he appreciated on those days was the chocolate. Although Mikan was not exactly the best chef.

In contrast to himself, Mikan was everything – she was easily touched by the smallest actions, impressed by the bravery of people in love, and absolutely imaginative. Her mind was a wide realm of ideas and sentiment, and it would only take her a minute to search for a life changing idea to ensure that her client's proposal would become a day to remember – almost as memorable as the wedding, itself.

Mikan's clients were usually hopeless, unimaginative men. And Natsume was not afraid to admit to himself that he was one of them.

It would be easy for Natsume to propose, if only his girlfriend of six years was not the person most acknowledged with perfect proposals in Japan.

"You idiot. Did you really think that Mikan's the type of person to assess your proposal performance, and give it a mark out of ten?"

Mikan's best friend, Hotaru, had always been the one to point out his empty worries when no one else could. Her straightforward cynicism was a contrast to her husband's assuring optimism, and this made Natsume scold himself for not talking to her first.

However, he had no time for that. His scolding by Hotaru had caused him to be late to his date – the determining one – and the city traffic was at its time of peak.

Natsume leaned his head on the steering wheel in disdain. He was suddenly an hour late.

The phone in his pocket buzzed. He put his hand in, only to pull out the velvet box. The phone continued to ring amongst the chaos of the traffic, as he absently opened the box to stare at the diamond ring inside.

Natsume managed to finally arrive at her house. After the unanswered call, Mikan had messaged him – It's getting late. I need to get home. You should too… Sorry.

He was not going to let go of his chance, however. Inside him were pent up feelings of frustration, self-loathing, and desperation.

It was ten in the evening – four hours after the time he had originally promised to meet her.

The lights in her house were still on.

He rang the doorbell after a moment of blank thought.

Natsume was not sentimental, nor extravagant – instead, he was instinctual. He did things according to his feelings, and never really thought about such things like 'planning'. His prior worries about meeting her standards were useless, and somewhat, out of character.

He was supposed to know Mikan most – and Hotaru had just knocked him out of his wits once again by confirming that she knew her more.

The door slowly opened, interrupting him from his reverie. Mikan – now in her pyjamas – was surprised to see him on her doorstep.

"Natsume? What are you doing here?"

"I was late. Sorry."

Hearing the slightly hurt tone in his voice, she started to panic. "No, it's okay! You're busy, right? You should go home and rest-"

"I'm not going anywhere."

He did not bend down on his knee – he was in a complete rush, he needed to see her eyes from the best viewpoint, he needed to know her. With unusually clumsy fingers, he pulled out the box for the umpteenth time – but this time, he was not planning to take it back.

Mikan could only stare as he slid the ring onto her finger without hearing a word from her.

Her feelings – she had always seen it on the faces of other women, but never had she expected to experience it herself so soon. There was no build-up to the proposal – no balloons, no signs, no extras – it was just him and her, on her front doorstep.

Yet, she was happy. Confused, shocked. But most of all, happy.

She gently touched the ring with her other finger as a tear escaped her eye – it was all coming to comprehension, that Natsume was proposing to her. He wanted to marry her.

This time, she was not 'Doctor Proposal'.

"Marry me."

Natsume spoke those words with a steely confidence, but she could feel his hands trembling underneath hers. Mikan held his hands tighter, as she replied with a teary smile.

"Yes. Of course."

"But wait, Natsume."

Her tone was one he was fearing for the entire night, ever since she had accepted his proposal.

She wouldn't, would she?

"That was the worst proposal I've ever seen in my life. And it was mine."

Natsume had no time to reply – not that he had a response which would satisfy her – as she quickly scampered out of the room, only to return with a large notebook.

"What are you-"

"If you were to grade your proposal, let's say, out of ten…"

He confirmed one more thing that night – that perhaps, Hotaru did not know her best friend as well as she had thought.

A/N: It's a little cliche, but I was really inspired by the breakfast news. It's a first for me. I get inspired by a lot of things, but the news? Haha.