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Tanner

“Hey, Joyce!”

I turned to see Kent, our waterboy, jogging across the field toward me, dodging celebration debris and TV cables. His face was flushed with excitement, but he had that purposeful look I recognized. The mission had begun.

We might’ve just won the Super Bowl, but I had more important things to do than celebrate just yet.

“Got it for you, just like we planned,”

he said as he reached me. He discreetly slipped the small velvet box from his pocket and pressed it into my palm. “Kept it safe the whole game.”

My fingers closed around it, the weight of it suddenly making everything real. This was happening. Tonight. After six years of dating and five years of living together, after a thousand moments of knowing she was the one, after months of planning this exact scenario, it was finally time.

“Thanks, man,”

I said, squeezing his shoulder. “I owe you.”

Kent grinned. “Just invite me to the wedding. You got this.”

As he jogged away, Devin appeared through the storm of confetti with a championship hat on his head and his eyes bright with victory.

“So it's time, huh?”

he asked, nodding toward my clenched fist.

“Yeah,”

I managed, the single syllable barely making it past the tightness in my throat. “My wins are her wins. I’m only here because she believed in me and I want her to remember this moment for the rest of my life.”

Devin's expression softened. “You know, I've never seen two people more perfect for each other.”

He pulled me into a quick, fierce hug. “Good luck, brother. Though you won't need it.”

One by one, my teammates who'd been in on the secret for weeks came to congratulate me on the win and wish me luck. Will slapped my back so hard I nearly dropped the ring. Mitch offered a solemn nod, the center who'd protected me all season now silently supporting me in this even more terrifying moment. Coach gave me a wink as he passed, his usual stoicism briefly broken.

“She's gonna say yes,”

Dean assured me, appearing at my side. “Just don't fumble the box like you almost did that snap in the third quarter.”

I laughed despite the nerves electric-shocking my system. “You're never gonna let me live that down, are you?”

“Not a chance,”

he grinned. “But seriously, man. Everyone's rooting for you. Your sister's already crying, and you haven't even asked yet.”

I glanced toward the sidelines where my family waited. Sure enough, Thea was dabbing at her eyes while my parents stood with barely contained excitement.

Thea had been waiting for years for this moment. Pestered me since I got drafted, but I held my ground because I wanted to make sure everything was just right this time. I was honestly shocked she hadn't spilled the secret; my sister was notorious for her inability to keep anything confidential longer than forty-eight hours. The fact that she'd managed to stay quiet about my plans since we secured a place in the Super Bowl was nothing short of miraculous.

Everyone knew. My team. My family. Our friends. Everyone except Aster.

Since the moment I kissed her on the field and had to protect her from the sprinkler wrath, I’d known she was different. By our first anniversary, I was mentally drafting proposal scenarios. I was too eager then. That was when she found the ring I’d planned to propose to her with. My grandmother’s and that was when all hell broke loose. The timing was off, things were going crazy with my sister and Jackson. She was nowhere near finishing college, and I was about to be drafted.

I could see it now, and that was why I waited so long for this. For her.

Standing on the field after winning the Super Bowl? It was perfect. Almost too perfect, like a scene from someone else's life.

My eyes scanned the crowded field, searching for her familiar form among the crowd. The box felt heavy in my hand, my palm sweaty against the velvet. What if she thought it was too cliché? What if she wanted something more private, more personal? What if—

“She's over by the twenty-yard line,”

Dean interrupted my spiraling thoughts. “Go get her before you psyche yourself out.”

He was right. I'd faced down three-hundred-pound linemen intent on crushing me, had made split-second decisions with millions watching, had thrown the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl less than an hour ago. I could do this.

I spotted Thea and Jackson on the sideline, camera still in hand, both giving me enthusiastic thumbs up. Thea mouthed something that looked like “Don't mess it up,”

which was exactly the kind of supportive sisterly love I'd expect from her. Jackson was already positioning himself for the perfect shot, ever the professional content creator even at his girlfriend's brother's life-changing moment.

Then, finally, I saw her—Aster's copper hair catching the stadium lights, her small figure standing slightly apart from her family, observing it all peacefully. I loved that about her. In all the chaos, she was quiet. She was what gave me perspective. She wasn't jumping or screaming like many of the other players' partners. She was simply taking it all in, processing, cataloging the experience in that brilliant mind of hers.

I moved toward her, drawn like gravity, the rest of the world fading into background noise. When she spotted me, her face transformed—the reserved observer giving way to unrestrained joy as she rushed to meet me.

“Tanner!”

She threw her arms around my neck, and I lifted her off her feet, spinning her once as I breathed her in. When I set her down, her eyes were bright with excitement and pride. “That touchdown pass was mathematically perfect. The exact angle to avoid the defender's reach while accounting for the receiver's stride length. I've never seen anything like it.”

Only Aster would describe a game-winning throw in terms of geometry, and God help me, I loved her for it.

“All those hours you spent with me analyzing film,”

I said, unable to stop smiling despite the nervous energy coursing through me. “You're the secret weapon no one knows about.”

She studied my face, her eyes narrowing slightly in that way they did when she was analyzing data points. “Why are you still sweating so much? The game's been over for twenty minutes.”

Her hand came up to touch my cheek. “And your face is all puffy. Are you having an allergic reaction to something?”

I nearly laughed. Trust Aster to notice the physical manifestations of my anxiety and immediately seek a logical explanation.

“I'm fine,”

I assured her, though my heart was hammering so hard I was certain she could hear it. “Just... excited.”

Over her shoulder, I saw Thea making frantic “get on with it”

gestures while Jackson tried to subtly position himself for what would undoubtedly become content for their social feeds. My sister had her hands clasped under her chin, and my mother was squeezing my father's arm so tightly he might lose circulation.

“Now or never,”

I muttered to myself.

“What?”

Aster asked, head tilting in confusion.

I took a deep breath and dropped to one knee on the confetti-strewn field, looking up at the woman who had changed everything for me.

The weight of the box felt disproportionate to its size, as if it contained not just a ring but all my hopes for the future.

Aster immediately drew her hand to her mouth, her eyes widening as she inhaled sharply. The surprise on her face was genuine, which amazed me, considering her ability to see patterns and predict outcomes in nearly every situation. But maybe some things were too close, too personal for even her analytical mind to anticipate.

I became aware of a shift in the crowd around us, a ripple of recognition spreading outward, but I focused only on her. On the way her eyes glistened in the stadium lights, on the slight tremble of her fingers against her lips, on the flush rising on her cheeks.

“Aster Abigail Paige,”

I began, my voice steady despite the rapid drumming of my heart.

“I love you more than I could have ever believed possible.”

The words felt simultaneously inadequate and perfect. “You are the best thing about me. Everything I have is because of you. You’ve changed the way I see the world. The way I see myself. With you, everything is brighter, clearer, louder in all the best ways.”

“Oh, Tanner.”

Her voice was soft, but I didn’t let her continue.

“You’re my best friend. My home. My heart.”

I opened the box with steady hands, revealing the familiar ring and met her tear-filled eyes with my own. “Will you do me the honor of marrying me?”

The stadium erupted in a new wave of cheers, and I became peripherally aware that we'd been projected onto the massive jumbotron overhead. Eighty thousand witnesses here and countless on TV to the most personal moment of my life. I felt a flicker of nervousness as Aster stood motionless, staring down at me with wide eyes, tears gathering at her lashes.

“Aster,”

I prompted softly, a smile tugging at my lips despite the tension coiling in my stomach. That seemed to break whatever spell had held her immobile.

She shook her head slightly, not in refusal but in disbelief, letting out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob before reaching for my shoulders.

“Of course I'll marry you,”

she said, her voice breaking on the words. “Yes. Yes, absolutely yes.”

Relief and joy crashed through me in equal measure. I slid the ring onto her finger with hands that shook slightly despite my best efforts, the diamond catching the light as it settled into place. Then I was on my feet again, lifting her once more and my lips finding hers.

I didn't care that the stadium was roaring louder than when the final whistle blew. I didn't care about the cameras capturing every moment, the flashbulbs creating a private lightning storm around us. I didn't care about the Lombardi Trophy or the MVP chatter or the confetti still falling like snow.

This moment wasn't for them. It wasn't for posterity or social media or tomorrow's headlines.

This moment was for Aster and me. The culmination of six years and the beginning of forever.

When she finally pulled back from our kiss, she rested her forehead against mine, our breaths mingling in the small space between us. “I can't believe this is happening,”

she whispered, glancing down at her hand where the ring caught the stadium lights. “I love it, Tanner. It's beautiful.”

“I love you,”

I replied, the only truth that mattered in a night full of extraordinary moments.

She smiled and leaned in for another kiss. Softer this time, a promise rather than a celebration.

Before we could fully break apart, a familiar squeal pierced through the ambient roar of the stadium, and I knew exactly what was coming.

“Oh my gosh!”

Thea's voice carried across the field as she sprinted toward us, dragging Jackson behind her, his camera somehow still steady despite being pulled along at top speed. “You finally did it! YOU FINALLY DID IT!”

She crashed into us with the force of a defensive lineman, wrapping her arms around both Aster and me in a group hug that nearly toppled us all to the ground.

“I've been keeping this secret for months!”

she exclaimed directly into my ear, loud enough to make me wince. “Do you have any idea how hard that was for me? Any idea at all?”

Aster laughed, the sound bright and surprised as she extracted herself enough to look at Thea. “So you knew? This whole time?”

“Of course. Tan Tan can’t keep a secret from me. We have that twin telepathy going on.”

Thea pulled back just enough to grab Aster's hand, examining the diamonds with obvious pride. “I practiced in the mirror. 'Don't mention the ring, don't mention the ring, don't mention the ring.'”

Aster's eyes widened. “The night we had dinner at your place, when you kept excusing yourself to the bathroom—”

“I was literally giving myself pep talks!”

Thea confirmed. “Jackson can vouch for me. He found me whispering to myself like a crazy person.”

“It's true,”

Jackson nodded solemnly. “The struggle was real.”

I couldn't help but laugh, the tension of the night finally fully dissolving into pure joy. This was my family, both the one I was born into and the one I was choosing, hectic, loving, and completely perfect.

Around us, the world continued its chaotic dance of victory and exultation. Teammates shouted and laughed, cameras flashed, reporters angled for interviews, music blared from the stadium speakers. But in our little circle, we'd found a pocket of stillness, a moment of perfect clarity amidst the storm.

I had won everything tonight. Everything that mattered.

And looking into Aster's eyes, with my sister's excited chatter providing the soundtrack, I knew with absolute certainty that this, Aster, was the greatest victory I would ever know.