Aiden rubbed his temple anxiously sitting on the couch after most of the Lundstroms went to bed following the Christmas Eve festivities. Nova had been acting off and he had a suspicion why. She had always been a bit high strung and had the tendency to jump to conclusions. If he had to guess, she probably thought he wasn't going to take her back to New York with him.
That wasn't true at all. The moment Mr. Lundstrom allowed him to take his daughter's hand in marriage he booked the seat next to his on the flight back to New York. He knew his girlfriend; she would want to go back with him immediately and would deal with sending the rest of her things over later.
He wanted it to be a romantic Christmas proposal but was worried she had the wrong idea. Honestly, it might be best to get this over with tonight so the holiday wasn't completely spoiled for her.
Nova shook him out of his thoughts by plopping herself down onto his lap and wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Nova, what—" she cut him off by kissing him.
She always made sure to make the most of their time together by being as lovey dovey as possible. Sometimes Aiden wondered how she managed to last the long stretches they didn't see each other without being able to touch him.
They had taken an online love languages quiz together once and hers was definitely physical touch. Poor Nova. Long distance was a lot rougher on her than it was on him and he already had a hard enough time. That was why he wanted to clear up whatever misconceptions she had right away.
Nova looked him in the eye with an unbearably sad expression when she finally came up for air. "Aiden, you still love me, right?"
"What kind of question is that? Of course I still love you!"
"Then why don't you want me to come back to New York with you?" she asked tearily. "What did I do wrong? I can't do long distance anymore; I just can't. I want to be with you for real but you haven't said anything about it!"
Ah, he knew it. It would have been better to propose right after her graduation ceremony. Aiden gently lifted her off of him so he could pull out his phone.
"I was saving this for Christmas but you may as well know now. I have two presents for you."
"Is this really the time?" she protested. "You didn't answer my question!"
'This is the answer to your question,' he thought with a slight smile on his face.
"Just look at it, will you?"
He pulled up the virtual ticket he had bought that had her name on it before handing the phone to her. Her eyes immediately filled with even more tears and she clutched the phone to heart, unable to speak.
Aiden took that as an opportunity to fish the tiny wrapped ring box out from under the Christmas tree as well. He ripped the paper off and popped it open, revealing a sparkling diamond ring. He knew what kind she wanted by checking her internet search history. Nova had been looking at rings for months in anticipation.
He got down on one knee and smiled at her with his heart in his eyes. This proposal needed to be better than the others. The first time he asked her to marry him in-game it had truly been motivated by convenience.
He thought if they were married, in addition to the other perks, she would stay on as a member of his party. Back then he had been reluctant to lose her because of her skills as a player.
Any time after that when they got married in-game he always said something along the lines of 'we're a great team; let's get married again.' He needed to be more romantic this time but he thought it might be funny and sentimental if he included that somehow.
"My beautiful Supernova," he began, choosing to use the screen name she had used in every game they ever played together.
"We have always made a great team but I can't do long distance anymore either. I need to see your radiant smile, hear your adorable laugh, and be able to hold you whenever I want. I want for us to be a team by each other's sides as we make our ways through the rest of our lives together. Will you marry me for the twelfth and final time?"
Nova was so giddy at the prospect that she jumped up and down in place and giggled as tears streamed down her face. "Yes, yes!"
She held her hand out for Aiden to slide the ring on and immediately jumped on him so they both fell to the floor. She kissed him for a long, long time as he was pinned there and he didn't mind one bit.
Eventually she let him sit up but remained in his lap, a permanent smile on her face as she admired her new ring. "How did you know what I wanted?"
He shrugged. "I may or may not have kept tabs on your search history lately and chosen the one with the most visited page."
Nova giggled. "Once a hacker, always a hacker." She snuggled closer to him. "If I'm really going to be able to make it back with you, you're going to have to help me pack."
"I can do that."
The grandfather clock in the corner of the room struck twelve. Midnight. It was officially Christmas Day.
"Merry Christmas," they said to each other simultaneously before bursting into another fit of laughter.
Aiden couldn't imagine being happier than this. Having Nova by his side from here on out would be truly wonderful. He couldn't wait to marry her for real. It would be so much better than simply sharing items and XP like in their many, many game marriages. All of their waiting had finally paid off.