"It was so nice of you to take me out to dinner, Matt," said Neru, holding onto his arm and glancing up at him. The nighttime lights in the park gave his goggles a faint glow, yet she was still able to see the dark blue eyes that were hidden behind them. "It's completely different from what I'm used to."

He looked at her, smiling down at her, and said, "Hey, better to change things up a little and keep the relationship going, right?" She giggled at that as Matt took a minor glance around.

His first attempt at proposing to Neru two weeks back was a complete bust on his part; with Mello crashing and demanding his chocolate, he had to make up an insane excuse for what he wanted to ask. That excuse turned out to be that he thought it was her birthday, to which he was was punched in the shoulder moments later. He knew when her birthday was, of course, but he did not want to go spoiling the surprise all too soon. It would not be right for him to do that, especially when he wanted to the moment to be something worth remembering. With that in mind, he had to start from square one and make different plans to woo Neru and pop the question in the most romantic scene possible. Unfortunately, his second plan of attack was a little harder to come up with, seeing as how he was not exactly the best when it came to planning romantic outings with Neru. She was the one who usually planned that stuff, to which he went along with. Since he was unable to come up with anything good, he was forced to call Mello and see if there was anything he could come up with.

His response: "How the Hell am I supposed to know that answer? Take her out to dinner or something."

"You've been acting really weird lately," Neru pointed out. "Have you been smoking less or something?"

He laughed at that.

"No, I haven't been smoking less," he said. "I've just got a lot on my mind."

She looked at him again and asked, "Like?"

He pretended to think a moment before shrugging absently.

"I don't know," he fibbed. "I guess I've been thinking about how I haven't done a lot for you, while you..." He laughed. "You've been doing pretty much everything for me." He looked down at her, staring into her brown eyes. "I guess I wanted to return the favor."

She smiled and leaned her head against his shoulder just as they started making their way onto a bridge leading over a small stream, the faint sounds of crickets chirping and the wind whistling bring upon a peaceful atmosphere. The lighting of the city gave a warming, almost ethereal glow to it to the area around them, and it made Matt smile. Even though the walk in the park was more or less a last minute thing, he did not want to go proposing to her in public. He wanted to do something different, especially if it was out of his comfort zone. Being outside was definitely that. Neru knew that, too, and occasionally noticed him looking about as if he just wanted to get out of there as fast as he could. She already asked him if he wanted to head home, remembering his distaste for the outdoors, but he quickly declined. He did not want their day to be ruined just because he did not want to be outside; that would be selfish, and he certainly did not want to be selfish in front of her.

His lips pursed. He would wait until after he proposed to act like that.

"Well, that's very sweet of you," she replied as they stopped on the middle of the bridge. "Especially since you have such a strong dislike for the outside."

He chuckled and said, "You weren't thinking that when you left me outside in the snow."

She started to laugh at that, recalling how she pushed him out the door, shut it, and locked him out; ignoring the banging that game from the gamer himself.

"I couldn't help it! It was that time of the month!" She replied. He looked at her curiously as she went on. "I mean that time of the month when you usually tick me off!"

"Ah," he muttered, "that time of the month." He shook his head. "But you went too far that day. I almost froze my ass off and caught a cold because of that."

She looked at him, raising an eyebrow, before saying, "You were the one who threw my cake out the window!"

He gave her the same look.

"Because you hid my PSP!"

"In the most obvious place possible!" She paused as they stopped to lean on the railing. "Under our mattress." He could not help but laugh at the pout that formed on her face, while she glared at him briefly. "What's so funny?"

"That was not the most obvious place to put a PSP," he replied, drapping an arm over her shoulder. "I almost broke the damn thing by sitting on it."

"Be happy that I stopped you when I did," she pointed out, leaning her head on his shoulder once again. "Be happy that I have a heart."

He chuckled and leaned his head against hers, looking down at the stream below.

"Keep telling yourself that," he replied, earning a nudge from Neru as she glared at him.

A comfortable silence came over the two of them as they stared at the city, enjoying the subtle songs of nature as they played their own melodic versions of music. The silence gave Matt a moment to collect his thoughts, making sure that everything was in place for what was to happen. He knew that, after the silence set in, he would take a moment to (once again) talk about their time together before asking her that question. After taking a few scans of his surroundings, he knew that there was no one out and about - the only exception would be an occasional couple, but even he knew they would never ruin his moment with Neru. As far as he knew, the moment was perfect; the air was right, the setting was in place, and the atmosphere was set in such a manner that one could say it was romantic. Even an inexperienced romantic like himself could see that much. It was only a matter of time before the night would be complete, and that time was slowly coming to fruition for him.

Inhaling deeply, Matt removed his head from Neru and looked down at her. Her brown eyes glistened in the faint lighting, but even that was enough to take his breath away for a moment. However, it did not take him long to return to reality and face her a little.

"Hey, Neru?" He spoke, grabbing her attention and making her look at him.

"What's up?" She replied.

His hand fell into his pocket, taking hold of the box holding the wedding ring, before looking out as if his mind was off in another world.

"About two weeks ago..." He started, trying to figure out a way to ease into asking her the question, before looking back at her. "I honestly knew when your birthday was."

She smiled lightly, leaning against the railing and crossing one leg in front of the other, and said, "I knew you remembered when it was, Matt." He remained silent and let her continue. "The look in your eyes said so. My question is..." She turned to face him this time, "what's really on your mind?"

He kept quiet at that point, inhaling silently as he prepared himself for the perfect moment.

"Neru..." He started. She looked into his eyes, waiting patiently for him to ask. "There was something really important that I wanted to ask you, but since you pulled that prank on Mello and he chased me down, I never got to." Once again, she remained silent; he feared that she had an idea of what he was going to ask. Then everything he did would have just been a waste of time. After a moment, he went on. "What I wanted to ask...was..."

"Was what, Matt?" She questioned, moving closer to him and keeping her eyes on his.

He was just seconds away from asking that question, his confidence ready to take control, when sudden felt something hit his nose. It almost made him jump, but instead made him flinch. It was wet, something that nearly threw him off. Neru gave him a confused look before flinching as well; it was clear that the same liquidy feeling hit her as well. Blinking, they looked up at the same time, only for Matt to catch another droplet on his goggles, followed by another and another. It was when he came to horrid realization, one that made him dread and despise the outdoors even more than before: it was going to rain, or it was raining. That was the one thing that he hated about being outside; it was the damn rain that ruined his moment. Not only that, but it was while he was looking up did he hear the soft roll of thunder follow suit. A frown spread on his lips. Why did it have to rain now?

He knew there was an old saying how the rain made things more romantic, or so he was told by lovestruck women, but for Matt it only made things worse. It was bad enough he was swallowing everything to be there for Neru in order to propose to her, to let her know that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her as her husband; but the rain was only destroying that moment for him. All those things about how the "rain was romantic" or the "rain is beautiful" was nothing but a figment of imagination. His hatred for the outside, for all he knew, would ruin everything he worked so hard to set up for Neru. Unfortunately for him, his moment with Neru was ruined for the second time, and it was caused by that damned woman commonly known as Mother Nature. Thanks a lot, woman. He thought to himself. Thanks for ruining this moment.

Neru giggled at the expression that was on his face and asked, "Do you want to get out of this rain?" He looked at her, a glare in his eyes that was directed toward the weather as it started to pour. "I can tell you don't want to be out here, so let's just head home."

With a frown, he nodded, took her hand, and ran off the bridge with Neru by his side. Why was his luck so bad? What did he ever do to deserve this? All he wanted was to propose to Neru. That was all he wanted; but no, no one wanted that to happen. Instead, everything just wanted to mess with his head and ruin everything he worked hard to make perfect. He sighed to himself. Well, he told himself, it looks like the third time has to be it. At least, that was what he hoped.