Requested by: Guns_And_Rivers

Warning: Straight

Consider this an overdue Christmas Gift

Daniel nudged his date's shoulder. She groaned and glanced over at him. He looked smug. " Hey Julie, if you look to your right, you can sea the ocean in the distance."

She ignored his pun and followed his instructions to look to the side. He noticed her unusual quietness. " C'mon, don't be such a beach." He couldn't help himself and it was getting on her nerves.

" I vill turn zhis car around right now, Héderváry, if zhis doesn't stop!"

" Whale then."

She slammed on the breaks, nearly causing an accident for the cars behind her.

He put his hands on his hips. " What is wrong with you today?! Are you trying to get us killed with your terrible driving skills!?" He scolded her once they had pulled over onto the side of the road and he had dragged her into the grass to lecture her.

Her eyes were glued to the ground. She knew she probably shouldn't have stopped the car in the middle of the highway. That was a bad move. She thought of a quick excuse, " I blame jour puns."

" To whom would you place the blame if you killed someone."

" Jou."

" Then you'd be date-less."

She paused. "... zhat vould be un-awesome." She sighed. " Fine, I'm sorry."

Daniel snorted. " That works. Now get in the car, I'm driving us the rest of the way." Her shoulders slumped.

" Nein! I can drive, Danny!" She whined, getting in anyway. They shut the doors simultaneously.

Daniel stole an occasional glance at the beach. " You can smell the ocean from here!" He rolled down the window. Julie flicked his forehead.

" Jou're so veird, Danny." She smiled quietly at her boyfriend of four years. It was her birthday and they had gone to the beach. She was still a bit upset they spent the whole day driving, though.

He shot her a goofy grin as they turned onto a small road that wasn't paved very well. She held onto the handle of the door and the car bumped along and twigs snapped underneath them.

" I svear if jou mess up mein awesome car, I vill. . . Personally. . ." Her speech slowed as a beach house came into sight and a beautiful private beach along with it, " Destroy. . . Jou? Danny vhat is zhis place?"

" Vell, zhis is mein awesome family beach house zhat I kept a secret!" He crossed his arms and smirked, copying her accent poorly.

She irked. " Vhy vould jou hide zhis?" She climbed out of the car, following his lead, and gestured to their surroundings.

He laughed nervously. " I wanted it to be a special place!"

She growled. " Oh and our one year anniversary vasn't special to jou?! Instead jou took us to zhat crappy restaurant down zhe street zhat burnt down in front of our eyes!"

" HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THEIR KITCHEN WAS A FIRE HAZARD!?"

" JOU LOOK AT ZHE RATING!"

" S-Shut up!"

Daniel huffed and began heading up towards the house. Julchen gave him a strange glance and reluctantly followed. Surprisingly enough, the inside was spotless. Not a speck of dust. The German almost thought someone lived here.

" Vhy is it so clean?" She wondered aloud. Daniel shrugged.

" Beats me." He sighed and raced up the stairs.

For a large-looking house on the outside, it was rather small on the inside. It only contained two bedrooms and two bathrooms. One of the rooms had a king sized bed and the other, two twin beds. Julchen jumped at the chance to get the room with the biggest bed. Daniel leaned against the wall with a smirk.

" You don't have to fight for it. I decided on the way here that we'd share this bed." He stuffed his hands in his pockets, turning to look out the window at the ocean.

When he heard no response from her, he slowly turned back around to find his bright red girlfriend. Her cheeks matching the color of her eyes. Julchen was completely stunned that he would do something like that. They cuddled and occasionally shared a bed if they had no other options, but for him to go out of his way to make sure they did was so strange. Not bad, but strange.

To get her mind off of it, the albino wore her signature grin and pointed at the rolling waves that could be seen from the window. " Vhat are ve vaiting for! Let's go to zhe beach!" She turned on her heel and ran off to find the bathroom, carrying her bathing suit.

She found the room soon enough. Julchen sighed as the door shut and let out a cheeky laugh. " I can't vait to see Danny shirtless. It's been vay too long!" With that little thought happily in her head, she began changing.

The sand was a familiar but distant memory to Daniel. Between his toes it felt soft and a bit rough in the areas were seashells had buried themselves. The ocean was a little ways from him. Instead of charging towards it as he may have in his youth, he stayed still to admire its breathtaking beauty.

What may have helped him recognize the beauty of the place he had seen a million times, would have to be his girlfriend of four years playing in the waves. His eyes lingered on her. She looked so cheerful, playing like that. She splashed around and coughed up water when an unexpected wave hit her.

Julchen saw him being a creep and decided to address it. " Hey creep, stop staring at zhe awesome me like zhat! It's weird!" She puffed out her cheeks.

He winked and turned around, heading back to the house. Julie wasn't sure what he was doing, but knowing him, he'd be back soon. So, she continued her fooling around at the beach by building a sandcastle. Hours past, though, and she hadn't seen him once in that time.

She got bored quickly and decided to join him in the house. The German skipped back merrily and flung the door to the house. " Oh Danny!~ I'm back!" Her tone was sickeningly sweet.

Her red irises landed on a note on the coffee table. She picked it up and read it. Julchen's heart sank a bit at the news. " Vhy vould he have to pick up groceries right now?" She pouted a bit. " Ve haven't even celebrated mein awesome birthday yet..."

She let the note fall back onto the table. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a little P.S. on the back of the note. She bent down to read it. " Dinner is on zhe kitchen counter for jou...."

Julchen could smell the deliciousness that was his cooking. Perhaps a special birthday meal? But he wasn't there with her. That would be a lousy gift, ask anyone.

She slumped to the kitchen. To her surprise, she found a cake next to a bowl of freshly made pasta. However, she hadn't the heart to eat the cake. She didn't touch it. She saw a little note made in frosting for her, but she didn't read it. Knowing birthday cakes, it would just say 'Happy Birthday' as most do.

When she took her place on the couch with her bowl of pasta, spaghetti to be exact, an image popped into her mind. Her boyfriend in a cute little apron, mixing cake batter. He had seemingly gotten a little on his face, but he hadn't noticed. She shook her head. She'd been watching too much anime.

She couldn't tell as her eyes began to droop. She was probably tired from playing in the waves for such a long time. One would be if they weren't used to it. She was fast asleep by the time the car pulled into the driveway.

Daniel unlocked the door and pushed it open. He was a little shocked to find Julchen asleep on the couch, cuddling a half-eaten bowl of the spaghetti he'd made not too long ago. He, in fact, had no groceries with him. He was wearing a tuxedo. Makes you wonder, what was he doing instead?

He smiled and leaned down until he was inches from Julie's face. He placed a lingering kiss on her lips before shaking her awake. " C'mon. Get up. I have a surprise for you."

" Danny....?" She groaned and rubbed her eyes. Once her eyes were finally opened, she rubbed them again. And again. And again. She had to be dreaming. Why was Daniel in a suit with a charming look on his face?

Recalling the previous events, she pouted and pushed him away. He stumbled back a little, not expecting such a warm welcome. " Is something the matter?"

She shook her head solemnly with the simple answer of, " No, I'm fine." She stood up and pushed past him. Her direction told him she was heading for the stairs. He grabbed her wrist.

" W-Wait! Don't go! It's time for your birthday present!" He smiled at her, albeit a bit sadly this time. She brightened slightly at this, but she would be too stubborn to admit how actually happy she was that he remembered.

" J-Ja, okay. I'll go vith you. But don't disappoint!" He pulled her into a quick hug at that.

" Danke, liebe!" He whispered in her ear before pulling her towards the beach.

She was confused. " Vait, at zhis hour? It's so cold out!" She complained. He dragged her along despite of it.

He pulled her into a bench and they sat down together, his hand intertwined with hers. Julchen stared at the night sky, brightly lit with a thousand stars, in wonder. She couldn't help but notice that Daniel seemed a little fidgety though. He kept checking his watch. Was he eager to get this over with?

She sighed, " Zhis is nice, but ve can go now." She started to stand up when she heard him counting down.

" And 3, 2, 1.... Happy birthday!"

The moment his timer hit one, fireworks started going off. Her rage melted away when she realized what had happened. He'd prepared fireworks for her. All that time he was gone, this is what he'd been doing. For her and only her.

Julchen felt a tug on the hand that was still holding Daniel's. Absentmindedly, with wonder filled eyes, she turned to face him.....

Only to find him kneeling down on the sand with a little box opened to reveal a tiny diamond ring. However, the first thing she noticed was the certain sparkle in his eye. He had spent so much time preparing this, and now her dream was a reality.

" Julchen....."

"..... will you marry me?"