(no subject)
Title: Proud
Author: jeezjenna
Pairing: Bike
Rating: PG at most for the first chapter
Summary: Quite AU, to let you know. Jenna funfact: I'm a huge (American) football fan, and since the Giants (my favorite football team) won the Superbowl (last year, not this year), I thought I'd incorporate my favorite band and favorite sport together. So Mike is the QB (quarter back for those football inclined =:) for Big Blue (Giants) and Elisha (isn't that a great name?) "Eli" Manning (the real quarterback for the Giants) is a rookie full back on the team, and kind of looks up to Mike. Billie Joe is a rockstar still, and he and Mike have been dating for about 18 years, and Billie is just getting over a cancer scare. Btw, Mike has an older brother named Kevin Pritchard, who plays for the Dallas Cowboys (just like Peyton Manning). The Giants win (obviously) and this story really starts from the game winning touchdown and the smushy events that follow. I really wish this could honestly happen in real life but since we live in a shitty world it kind of can’t, but that’s okay. Dreams/fanfics are cool too.
"...Plaxico Burress goes deep in New England's - Zone, Pritchard throws....and touchdown Giants!! This is unbelievable, the greatest turnaround in Super Bowl history, with 35 seconds left in the game, the Giants have won Super Bowl Forty-Two!!"
This isn't even real, I can't even believe this is actually happening...we just won the Super Bowl...
OHMYGOD!
I finally snap back into reality and realize my teammates around me, cheering and screaming and pulling me off the field for the defensive team to go on. I can't even fathom what's going on right now...holy shit.
I just won my first Super Bowl. Well not officially because there's still 10 seconds left in the game but...
Fresh faced Eli Manning comes up to me and pats me on the back. "Congratulations man!" He roars over the blaring noise. I smile and yell back a thanks, but it falls on deaf ears as Tom Brady's weak ass attempt to complete a pass fails with 10 seconds left.
So many people keep coming up to me; teammates, helpers and the like. But I'm not even sure if I'm comprehending what's going on. I feel David pick me up and I shout, realizing how real this truly is.
The clock strikes down and the noise is just unbelievable, so loud and happy and I'm still in shock.
I look towards the press box where I know my family and boyfriend are, finding him smiling at me proudly. I make a heart with my forefingers and thumbs and place it around my lips, pushing a kiss out to him. He catches it and does the same to me, and like the sappy romantic (whipped) boyfriend that I am, I bring his kiss to my heart. It's always been a tradition of ours to do that when I'm on the field, ever since my first game as quarterback our junior year.
ESPN thinks it's cute, which makes it okay.
David rushes over to me with a t shirt and a hat in his hands, and hands them to me like they're magic. I look at them both and smile at the 2008 Superbowl Champions logo appears on both. I've never felt prouder getting and putting on a hat and shirt ever in my life.
The next few minutes are such a rush, I'm not registering really anything in my mind, but I know I'll remember it later. I proudly said that I was going to Disney World now that we've won (an easy million dollar deal, and an awesome vacation to boot). I rambled about how exited and happy I was when a microphone was shoved into my face, the platinum football trophy and the keys to my brand new Escalade (MVP prize) in my hands, and I was pretty close to a blubbering mess when I suddenly remembered what I was going to do when the game was over, regardless of whether or not we won.
"Any last things you want to say to America?" The reporter asks, his voice echoing throughout the stadium. I nod proudly and take the mic from him, handing the trophy and keys (the latter of which I knew I was going to get back) to Mike Strahan, pushing throughout the crowd to make it back on the field in an open space.
"Yeah, I know this'll seem kind of weird, but I have to say something to someone really important," I say into the microphone, the small echo ensuring that everyone heard what I said. I face the press box. "Could you come down here Billie Joe? I gotta ask you something babe." Billie shakes his head. "C'mon Bill, please. Everybody else wants you to come down too right?" The crowd roars as I see Billie look at me puzzled, but begins to back away from the window anyway.
I move the mic away from my face and take a deep breath, taking my cap off and running my fingers nervously through my sweaty hair before replacing it. I start looking above the crowd and see two of Billie's body guards, Billie looking like a small child in-between their massively tall and large bodies. The two push their way through the masses of players on our team, family members and rambunctious fans before releasing Billie from their protection in the first open area.
He smiles brightly at me and I hold open my arms, which he happily runs into. I can hear millions of 'awws' (and of course, a few negative sounds) float around us as we kiss softly a few times, but I ignore them, letting Billie's legs touch the ground again.
"Congratulations! You were great honey!" He gushes, pushing a stray hair behind my ear. "Didn't do it without you." I reply, kissing the top of his forehead. "So what exactly did you need to tell me infront of the entire nation?" He asks jokingly, laughing in that way that I love. Trying not to shake, I bring the mic up to my lips.
I take another deep breath, take his left hand in my right, look deep into his loving, caring green eyes, and...no longer feel nervous. "Billie, I love you with every single ounce within me. You are the one that holds my life together, gives me that drive to do what I never thought I could, and more importantly, taught me how to live and let go and love again. And how to share the remote," The crowd and Billie laughs, and I feel a small weight lift off my shoulders from the comic relief.
"You could ask anyone of those guys in blue back there that without you I would be absolutely nothing, just a total wreck all of the time," I hear a few familiar voices yell in agreement and the two of us laugh. "And I think looking over the past year and season, with you in and out of hospitals, is proof enough. That one scare at the hospital when we thought we might've lose you was the scariest night of my life, and it made me realize something. That being without you is hell, and I want to be able to know that I can spend,"
Dammit, I said I wasn't gonna cry. I said it over and over and, god dammit! Those eyes, those green eyes of his just eat me up inside. And my voice is already cracking, so yeah, big Mike Pritchard is crying. "Whew, um, spend the rest of my life with you." Billie's face pales and his eyes grow wide. The entire stadium goes semi quiet, and my heart feels like it's going to burst through my chest.
I get down on my right knee and Billie gasps, the beginnings of tears starting to form in his eyes, which I haven't taken my own off of. "I was um, planning on asking you this whether we won or lost tonight, because past all of this, the win, the trophy, the car, all the media and press, there's you. There's always been you, before all of the stardom and football, back when we were teenagers with a dream, there was you," I bite back a sob, but end up tearing just a bit. "And that's the best prize I could ever ask for."
I let go of Billie's hand and reach down into my ankle brace to pull out a ring with shaky fingers, which had been in there all through the game, giving me hope I've never felt before. I look back up at him and see him actually crying, lending him the best smile I could muster, which he chuckles at. I exhale for what seems like the first time in hours and get ready to ask the most important question of my life.
"Billie Joe Armstrong, will you marry me?" My heart rises into my throat as he smiles through his tears. "I thought you'd never ask." He replies, in his same joking tone that reminds me why I chose him and only him. I sighed with relief and laughed, sliding the ring onto his finger, fitting perfectly.
I could only barely hear the cheers and yells and celebration around us as I left the mic on the ground, jumped up and kissed Billie, cupping his face in my hands and just kissing him with sheer, raw love and passion that I've felt for him ever since we were 15. He pulled away and smiled, holding onto my hands. "I love you so, so much." He said, loud enough only for me to hear. "I can't begin to explain how much I love you." We kissed again, and for a few moments, it was just the two of us, and nothing else mattered.