Based on this tumblr prompt: It's Mike's last game and when it's over, he proposes to Ginny :D

This is utterly ridiculous, but I wrote it in like half an hour, so I don't even care. I know nothing about baseball, so I apologise for that first of all. I also apologise if this gives you cavities :)

Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good, too. (Yogi Berra)


Before Ginny even realizes it, it's all over. His final professional game, their last pro game together is done. She's mostly in shock. They won, which is great, but it's over, and she doesn't know how to feel about that.

Mike's grinning like an idiot, his equipment and face mask dropped to the ground as he walks towards her, and the crowd is just fucking losing it. They're screaming and cheering, celebrating the end of his long and illustrious career, and Ginny can see the rest of the Padres jogging over to the mound to join the moment.

He's got that look in his eyes, that mischievous little twinkle that usually appears right before he's about to do something monumentally stupid. For a moment, she wonders if he's going to march right up to her and kiss her in front of a sold-out stadium, but they'd made the decision to wait at least six months after his retirement to go public, so she's sure he's not going to do that.

Mostly sure. Like, maybe sixty percent.

Everyone reaches the mound at pretty much the same time. There's a tangled mess of limbs when Mike grabs her to hug her while the rest of the team latches onto both of them. She can barely breathe, but she's not sure if it's because of how crushed she's getting or because this is Mike's last game.

His beard tickles her neck as his lips brush against her ear. "You okay there, rook?"

"Shut up, old man. Y'know people are gonna talk if you hold onto me for much longer," she teases, thankful for the rest of the guys providing them with cover from prying eyes.

"Oh there's gonna be talk, but not about that…" Mike trails off, and when Ginny pulls back from him to see what he's talking about, she realizes that the rest of the team have formed some kind of circle around them and they're holding up signs and towels and what appears to be a damn bed sheet, and they're completely blocking off any view of them that the crowd or cameras could try to have.

She spins around and sees Blip behind her, grinning like an idiot, and she's about to question him when he tips his head at her. "Turn around, Gin."

"Mike, what the hell is-" she says as she turns back to face him, except he's not where he was a moment ago. He's down on one knee, looking up at her like she hung the damn moon, and Ginny can feel her heart beating in the base of her throat. "Mike…"

"I know we've only been together for three months," he starts out, and Ginny can barely hear anything over the roar of the crowd and the pounding of blood rushing to her ears, but she can hear every single word he's saying. "And I know we said we wanted to wait until we go public. But I couldn't pass this opportunity up; you're it for me, rookie. From now until the day I die, there'll only be you and me and us. I love you, Ginny Baker. Will you marry me?"

She doesn't even hesitate. She's knows it's stupid; they've only just started dating, and she's got her career to think about. She's not even twenty-five yet and she's never really given any serious thought to a future where she was ready to marry someone.

But none of that matters because she's already nodding her head at him. She doesn't get a chance to say anything before he's tugging off her mitt and then there's suddenly a ring on her finger and his mouth on hers, and Ginny wants to scream from the top of a mountain, or possibly a camera-filled stadium, that he's hers and she's his.

The Padres are losing their shit around them. Hollering and whooping and she keeps catching glimpses of the crowd and the big screens, and everyone is trying to work out what's going on at the center of the diamond.

"C'mon, we need to go celebrate," she yells to them all as she grabs her mitt from the ground, and the group starts to split apart as they start making their way back towards the dugout. Mike lingers with her, waving to the crowd as they surge to their feet, a massive grin across his face.

They both start to jog across the diamond together, waving to the crowds, and Ginny's eyes catch on one of the big screens as it replays shots of the team blocking the view of the mound from a few minutes ago. She can hear some of the speculation from the commentators, but there's a sudden hush around the stadium as they play footage from a different angle that clearly shows someone down on one knee...

...immediately followed by live footage of Ginny and Mike making their way off the field. The camera zooms in on her left hand as the stadium explodes in noise, and Ginny thinks that maybe they won't be able to hide this for six months after all.

Mike slows down next to her and she automatically stops and turns to him. "I think the cat's out of the bag," he yells over the screams of the crowd.

"Fuck it," she says. "We may as well give them confirmation. What d'you think?"

Mike just grins at her and takes a moment to look around him at how wild everyone is going. "Why the hell not?"

He grabs her by the waist and lifts her so she can wrap her legs around his waist, and the second his mouth meets hers, it's like all the sound cuts out. She can't hear anything but him.

They can worry about the consequences later.