Inspired by a prompt that wyattschufter sent me, a local restaurant in my city, and an episode of How I Met Your Mother.

-

"Wait, one more!"

"But our parents want to leave soon." The blonde ended up completely ignoring me and simply headed to the one game we hadn't touched.

"The claw machine," he said, almost in awe. He went up to it, then glanced back at me. "Come on, Mitchy."

"Claw machines are stupid," I muttered. However, I did find myself walking closer to him.

"What? No they aren't."

"They're impossible to win."

"I'm great at them, I always win."

I looked up at him. "Always?"

"Always. I'll get you something, what do you want?" I glanced up at the game, looking through the dozen of random items. I just shrugged my shoulders.

"Surprise me." He smiled before looking through the toys as well. A moment later he was pointing to one of them.

"If I get that ring, can we finally get married?" I followed his arm to the oversized fake ring, then giggled lightly.

"Yes, we can if you win me it." His face lit up and he immediately reached into his pocket to fish out one of his remaining quarters.

"Scott! Mitch!" We looked at each other, our eyes wide.

"I'll hold them off," I assured. A smile returned to his face. I turned away, then left the arcade, immediately finding my and Scott's parents in the front of the restaurant.

"Where is Scott, honey?" My mom asked. I knew why she did, we never left each others side. I tried to quickly come with an excuse, but decided to tell the truth.

"The claw machine."

"The claw machine?" His mom now asked.

"Yeah, he's gonna win me a ring so we can get married." I heard laughter among our parents.

"You two still want rings before you get married?"

I nodded my head. "You need them to get married." There was more laughter.

"You two are young. You don't need rings to get married." I spun around to look at my parents.

"Really?"

"As long as you two love each other, you can get married whenever you want." My jaw dropped in disbelief. If I had known this months ago, we could have been married by now.

I needed to go and get Scott.

I practically ran back to the arcade, almost running into the boy who was now on the way out.

"Scott!"

"Hey, Mitchy," he paused to rub the back of his neck. "Um, I couldn't get anything for you. But I tried, I really did."

"That's okay."

"Yeah, but now we can't get married," he said, the disappointment obvious in his voice.

"Yeah we can." He furrowed his eyebrows.

"We can?"

"Yeah. Our parents said so. If we love each other we can get married. And we love each other... right?" He took a moment to think about my words, then nodded his head eagerly.

"So... will you marry me?"

"Of course." His face lit up, and he quickly leaned in to hug me.

"And I will get you a ring... eventually. I promise."

-

"Wait, one more."

"Come on Scotty, its getting late." The blonde simply ignored my voice and headed towards another game. I sighed when I saw him stop in front of another one.

"Claw machine," he said before turning his head to look back at me. I rolled my eyes then headed his way.

"Are you serious? They are so childish."

"My 8 year old self would be offended."

"They're impossible to win."

"I always win though."

I raised an eyebrow. "Always?"

He groaned. "Talking about crushing my spirit. That was one time."

"Are you sure?" I teased.

"Yes."

"But we're adults now. You don't need to play every game you see." He turned to me and gave me the classic 'really?' look.

"Just this one." It was my turn to glare at him. "Please?" I sighed, knowing I wouldn't be able to argue with him. I went on my tiptoes, then pressed my lips against his cheek.

"Don't take too long." He nodded his head, and I left his side. I let my eyes drift across the restaurant as I walked towards the exit. I already felt myself reminiscing, and that only continued as I sat down on a little green bench outside.

We went to this restaurant and sat out here numerous times throughout our lives, each one giving us a new memory. There were times when we came here with friends after concerts or plays, before school dances, or even for our graduation. We missed this place when we moved, but made a point to come here every time we came home. It represented him, us in such a way, and I never wanted to forget it.

"Hey baby."

I glanced back towards the door, noticing the blonde that finally made his way outside. I patted the empty spot on the bench next to me, encouraging him to sit down. It didn't take much before he was right next to me.

"I'm sorry I made you wait so long. I guess it was kind of childish." I pushed closer to him.

"Its okay. I have to let your inner child out somehow." He smiled lightly, then pecked my temple. "So what did you get me?" His grin turned into a smirk. He tore his eyes away from me, then was bringing an object out from behind his back. I laughed when I saw it, immediately knowing it was not what he was trying to get.

"An orange kangaroo?"

"Yeah... um, I didn't intend on spending 10 minutes on that damn machine. I was trying to get you one of those big, fake diamond rings, but only got this."

"A diamond ring? Why did you want that?" He hesitated for a second, and I grew more and more curious about where he was going with this.

"When we were kids we didn't need rings, but I figured you might like one now."

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. He grabbed my hand, then squeezed it lightly before continuing to talk. "If I'm being honest, I only spent 5 minutes on the machine. I spent the other 5 working up the courage to come out here. I know that this isn't the most romanic place, but I love you, and that's all that matters to me."

Oh, shit. "Scott--"

He glanced down at the kangaroo again, then held it out to me. He paused to take in a deep breath, but then looked back to me.

"Will you marry me?"