Player To Be Named Later: MLB One Shots

• aaron judge • do you ever mean the things you say •

━━•❃°•°❀°•°❃•━━

maddie glanced at the clock — 11:23pm. her shoulders drooped a little at the time. only thirty-seven more minutes left of their anniversary and aaron was nowhere to be found.

maddie knew where he was — at a bar, celebrating the walk off win against the red sox, a sweep, an ever important step in their quest for another world series title. maddie got it, sure, baseball was important, baseball was his life. but once, just once, she wished that he'd have kept his promise to come home early after a win.

today was their anniversary and he had promised her that he'd be home as soon as humanly possible. maddie has been skeptical but he had reassured her on his way out the door that he had special things planned for them on their special day. a seed of hope had taken root, natured by his reassurance. she even remained hopeful after the walk off.

and she waited. at first she was giddy, maybe he had stopped somewhere and gotten takeout, or had stopped to set up a date. but as time went by, she realized the likelihood of that was so slim.

she had found leftovers in the fridge and ate those, all the while trying not to think about the dinner that she could have -- no should have been eating -- with aaron.

she sighed as she ascended the stairs towards the bedroom she shared with aaron when the click of a key in the lock stopped her midway up the stairs. maddie turned, folding her arms over her chest, waiting for aaron to step through the door.

"do you ever mean the things you say?" maddie hissed, not even bothering to say hello. aaron looked up at her, eyes bloodshot and she knew that he was at least a little drunk which only fueled the anger that had been building up in her all night. "what happened to coming home as quick as you could, aaron? you couldn't have dipped out of going to the bar with your teammates for our anniversary?" she shook her head. "forget it, i'm going to bed. you can sleep on the couch for all i care."

"i did my best." aaron huffed. "is anything ever good enough for you, madison?"

maddie raised her eyebrows at aaron's use of her full name. "i'm sorry." she snapped. "sometimes i feel like i'm single..." her voice trailed off, not really wanting to finish the nasty thought that had settled in her head. "i always come second. i get it, baseball is your life, that's fine but you can't make time for me on our anniversary and i didn't even get to see you on my birthday." she shrugged, her emotions tumbling out. "i just don't know if this is the life i want anymore. how can we talk about having kids if you can't be bothered to show up when it's just me."

"what are you saying?" aaron pressed, his arms crossed over his body. "because what i'm hearing is that you want a divorce."

maddie gulped at the word, the big word -- the word that she had been trying to avoid. tears stung in her eyes at the prospect of losing aaron. having him gone all the time was one thing, but a divorce? "i want things to be different." she sighed.

"i'm doing my best." aaron snapped before his face softened as he looked up at the clock. "i'm really sorry, i didn't realize —"

maddie shrugged, "it's whatever." she turned to head up the stairs, to pretend that today hadn't happened, that aaron hadn't mentioned divorce.

"no, it's not whatever." aaron climbed the stairs, wrapping his arm around maddie. "i fucked up."

maddie was taken aback by his sudden change in demeanor. she froze, unsure of where this was going. was this the calm before the storm? she hated that that thought had crossed her mind.

aaron nuzzled his cheek to hers. "i didn't realize it was so late. time slips away from me, i never meant to hurt you."

maddie shrugged, "it is what it is, but i'm tired."

a smirk formed on aaron's lips. "oh yeah?" he leaned over, placing kisses along maddie's jaw line. "too tired for this?" he asked before pressing his lips to maddie's.

"maybe not." maddie responded, wrapping her arms around aaron's neck. instinctively, he wrapped his arms around her, lifting her up towards the bedroom so they could celebrate their anniversary the right way.

━━•❃°•°❀°•°❃•━━

for SLURPEEALEXEI i hope you enjoy!