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anonity · 4 months ago

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flight risk

pairing: paige bueckers x azzi fudd wc: 2600 summary: paige hates travelling. azzi has to deal with her. (and, paige can't read google maps)

i honestly wasn’t reeeeaaaally sure how long to make this so i just kinda wrote until i was done lol. might proofread later idk everyone thank anon for the prompt. feel free to send in more :)

the bus hums beneath them, a steady roll down I-84. their flight isn’t even supposed to start boarding until 9:00am, but here paige is, head pressed against the cool window at six in the morning. her hoodie is bunched awkwardly on her shoulder, long legs bumping azzi’s to her side, and shes about to fall asleep when a backpack suddenly slams into her shoulder.

paige groans, forcing an eye open to glare at whoever disturbed her.

it’s KK. of course it is, because who else would have such disregard for someone clearly trying to go back to bed? before paige can complain, KK begins shoving her bag into their overhead compartment. she mumbles something about it not fitting under her seat like she wanted it to.

the grin on her face insinuates that the backpack-shoulder collision was purposeful.

paige does little other than hum in acknowledgement, grateful when the compartment clicks shut and KK plops unceremoniously back into the seat behind her, because that must be the end of the disturbances.

it’s not.

someone in the back (aubrey?) is complaining about her cheez-its being missing, and while she doesn’t respond, allie looks a little guilty in the seat diagonal to paige and azzi’s.

paige sighs, pressing her forehead back against the glass. think happy thoughts. she’s back in the comfort of her bed, blanket draped over the window and nothing but a box-fan for noise.

“paige.”

jesus.

the voice is soft, warm, close. paige cracks an eye open again, not bothering to turn toward her. she can already see the picture – azzi, sitting far too awake for six in the morning, with a book settled in her lap and an iced coffee in hand.

paige grumbles, “‘m sleepin’,” in response.

“you were,” azzi corrects. paige hears a page turn. she sighs dramatically, letting her head fall forward onto the seat in front of them.

“wake me up when we land.”

azzi finally lifts her gaze from her book, a smile tugging at her lips. “you still have to get through security.”

paige waves her hand dismissively. it falls heavily on azzi’s lap, effectively disrupting her book-reading position. “that’s a problem for future me.”

azzi inhales deeply, takes a sip of her coffee. she glances over at paige, a little amused by the way her breath is already evening out again. “future you is going to be a problem for present me.”

paige smirks, eyes still closed and shoulders loose. “that’s love, az.”

azzi softens for just a second, and then KK slaps the back of her chair. “can y’all not be gay up there?”

the airport is hell with escalators.

the fluorescent lights are blinding and there are weird, circular patterns in the carpet like whoever designed it was hopping off psychedelics. paige thinks the floor might be moving.

they’ve been here for – she grabs azzi’s wrist, turning the watch towards her – sixteen minutes. azzi hardly even spares a glance in her direction.

it’s not until they get to the very end of TSA that paige notices her mistake.

the worker (who, in paiges opinion, had been feeling her girlfriend up a little bit more than necessary) holds her full water bottle up at the end of the line. “you’re going to have to dump this out.”

azzi turns incredulously towards paige. “i told you to dump that out when we got here!”

paiges shoulders slump, staring pitifully at her bottle. “i was gonna do it in the bathroom..”

tiffni, judging by her nametag (which is decorated in pink bow pins) looks unamused. “i can either keep this here or you can go back around to the dumping site.”

paiges jaw drops. “back through security? why can’t i just dump it out here?”

tiffni stares, like the answer is obvious. “there isn’t a dumping site here.”

for fucks sake.

paige sighs overdramatically, shuffling her luggage towards azzi with urgency. “i’ll be back.” azzi rolls her eyes.

she doesn’t return for another twenty minutes. azzi’s beginning to learn that paige is the reason why they needed to be at the airport three hours early.

when she does appear, she’s trudging towards the group like she’s being led to her execution. her water bottle is gripped tightly against her side. “i ran into like, seventeen fans on the way here.”

they find a row of seats so uncomfortable they can only be justified by the airport architecture. paige slumps. they’re too stiff to sleep in, too close to get comfortable, and the weird plastic arm is cracked down the side.

paige yanks her hoodie sleeve out of the crack for what feels like the umpteenth time, fishing around in her pocket for her phone and yanking it out with the grace of an elephant. 14%.

sighing dramatically, she shuffles around in her carry-on for a charger.

it’s in her suitcase.

paige steadies herself with one deep breath, turning to look at azzi. unfortunately, azzi could sense the bullshit coming from a mile away, and is already staring at her.

“no.”

paige whines. “az, my phones about to die.”

azzi’s voice lacks any sympathy. “you should’ve charged it on the bus.” she digs through her bag anyways, pulling an unnecessarily short charger out. it doesn’t reach to their seats, and paige has to decide between leaving her phone unattended at the mercy of her teammates, or leaving azzi’s side.

her phone sits unattended.

eventually, paige decides she can’t go any longer without eating and leaves for the convenience shop ahead of them. she looks irritated when she gets back, $20 lighter and a bag of beef jerky in her hands. “this is extortion.”

azzi opens an eye, smiling lazily at paige. “should’ve brought your own snacks.” she watches as paige shoves a piece into her mouth, glowering at the price tag.

“they probably would’ve confiscated my snacks, too.”

azzi scoffs at that.

by the time boardings started, paige has a new enemy: the intercom voice. it drones on with useless information she couldn’t care less about, and every once in a while it announces welcome to bradley international airport, like they haven’t been there for the past hour.

then, it says something actually relevant: “boarding group B may now begin lining up.”

azzi stands.

paige does not.

“paige.”

paige shuffles back further into her seat. “i just think it’s interesting,” she drawls, “that we’re all getting on the same plane, and yet everyone pushes to get in line anyways.”

azzi groans, gripping paiges arm and yanking her towards the door. “lets gooo, i wanna sit down.”

paige relents, following azzi toward the front and peppering the air with complaints despite azzi’s lack of response. sarah turns to investigate her grumbling for a second, but intelligently turns back around when she catches paige's stare.

a new crisis emerges once they board. paige stares at her ticket, dumbfounded. “az, i’m in the middle seat.”

azzi’s already shoving both of their luggage in the overhead. “yup.”

paige blinks. “azzi.”

her girlfriend does not look even remotely sympathetic. “what?”

“switch with me please.”

azzi’s face crinkles. “no.”

“i’m going to lose my mind,” paige exaggerates, waving her ticket around pitifully. she’s not sure if its because she actually feels bad, or if she just doesn’t want to listen to paige complain any more today, but azzi backs up to let paige in the aisle first. victory.

azzi slaps her ass as she pushes past, muttering something about paige not having any mind left to lose. it doesn’t matter, though, because paige is sitting next to the window and all is right with the world.

azzi settles comfortably next to her, stretching her legs out against paige’s. paige shifts, but theres nowhere for her to move. “azzi.”

azzi raises an eyebrow, like she’s daring paige to complain again. she dares.

“move your legs.”

azzi smirks, now purposefully pressing against paige. “didn’t seem like a problem when you were all up in my business on the bus.”

“i was sleeping!” paige protests, shoving at her knees. “it’s totally–”

caroline, who was sitting behind them, suddenly rises so fast azzi’s seat shudders. “somebody switch me.”

not a single team member moves. carolines gaze rakes over the freshmen, landing on sarah. sarah’s hands immediately raise in the air. “i had to sit by them last time!” she defends, then immediately throws morgan under the bus. “it’s her turn.”

caroline stares. this may be the one scenario where someone is actually willing to not listen to her, but after a couple beats of silence morgan rises from her seat and moves to trade caroline.

azzi’s voice comes out chiding, but she’s grinning either way. “look, now you made caroline move–”

“oh my god,” paige laughs, finally shoving azzis legs onto her own side. “get over yourself.”

she’s just starting to get comfortable (or, as comfortable as six feet can get in an airplane seat), when paige hears the soft thud of the armrest lifting. paiges eyes snap open. “what are you doing?”

azzi settles further into her seat, shoulder pressing insistently against paiges. “getting comfy.”

paige narrows her eyes. “without the armrest?”

“it was in my way.”

“it’s supposed to be there,” paige scoffs. “for boundaries, y’know?”

azzi’s must be coming off her morning high, because she hums contentedly, head falling against paiges shoulder. “‘m gonna take a nap,” she mumbles.

paige lets her.

as expected, creighton never stood a chance.

by the fourth buzzer, uconn had cruised by with a 19-point win. paige did her best impression of geno’s scowl on their way into the locker room, and soon ice was suggesting dinner. they argued for a solid ten minutes (KK apparently does not eat seafood) and then “DJ’s dugout” was decided on – a bar ten minutes from baxter arena, and twenty from their hotel.

azzi drags herself back to the hotel, being incredibly uninterested in listening to KK’s sexyy red playlist for the next two hours. paige meets her (post-shower, content and even enjoying KK’s playlist) in the hallway, her hair falling in loose waves and an easy smile plastered on her face. “i already called an uber, says its gon’ be here in 5 minutes.”

which is great, except that they get out of the uber and paige is immediately looking sheepishly up at the towering buildings. “uh,” she says, eloquently.

they can’t be too far off, because they can see the arena in the distance – but they’re staring up at rexius nutrition, which is very evidently not a bar. she turns, but their uber is gone, already melding back into the bustling street.

azzi stares expectantly.

shit.

paige glances back over the buildings, praying to God that one of the signs will morph into a DJ’s dugout. they don’t. she frowns, glancing down at her phone. “this isn’t right.”

“what do you mean?” azzi says. paige wonders briefly, frustratedly, what the hell else she could mean except that they aren’t in the right place.she doesn’t voice this, though, namely because her girlfriend would kill her. instead, she gestures to the buildings in front of them. a mai tai restaurant, chiropractors office, and – well, whatever rexius nutrition is. paige briefly takes in the #REXNATION sign out front and can only imagine how obnoxious they must be.

“i mean, this isn’t where were supposed to be.”

“you must’ve put the address in wrong,” azzi states matter-of-factly.

paige sighs. “i literally copied it from KK’s location.”

“yeah, well, KK must’ve been busy joining the rex nation.”

paige laughs, grateful she’s not the only one put off by the sign. azzi watches with barely-concealed amusement as paige spins slowly, phone in hand, like a broken compass. “okay, it says were only two minutes away,” she says suddenly.

azzi cranes forward, squinting against the sun to see paiges screen. there's a blue dot about two blocks down the road, thankfully labelled “DJ’s Dugout Sports Bar”. she immediately turns on her heel, walking in the opposite direction of rexius nutrition. “come on.”

paige is already jogging to catch up. this is never a good sign. azzi only walks this quickly when she’s irritated.

for the first few blocks, everything seems fine. there isn’t an overwhelming amount of people out, and paige thinks for one heavenly moment that this is going to be an easy reroute.

then, her map changes course. “um, az,” she starts, and then nearly crashes into azzi’s back with how quickly she stops.

“yes?”

paige buffers – there’s no way out of this. she has to fess up. “it says we're going the wrong way.”

“what?” azzi whirls around, peering at the displayed map. instead of saying two minutes, though, it now says six. azzi groans. “what the hell did you do?”

“i didn’t do anything!” paige laments, thrusting the phone to azzi. “it just changed, dude!” “first of all,” azzi starts, (and paige knows she’s in trouble the second azzi starts with first of all), “don’t dude me. secondly,” she reaches for paiges phone, “this is why i don’t let you put the directions in.”

paige scowls. “i was being gentlemanly!”

“yeah, well, you’re –” azzi breaks off suddenly, eyes widening in disbelief. “paige!”

paige squints. “what?” “you have it set to driving mode. that’s why it made us walk through that dumb parking lot.”

ah. paige hadn’t even considered that it was weird for them to be led through a parking lot. she was just following her girlfriend. her girlfriend who, unfortunately, was using her directions.

“why would it be set to driving mode, anyways?” paige complains, reaching for her phone again.

azzi yanks it out of her reach. “no, you’ve lost your map rights.”

“i can fix it, trust, i got it,” paige says – unconvincingly, considering this is now the second time she’s gotten them lost.

azzi hands her her own phone instead. “hold this,” she rolls her eyes, rerouting paiges phone once again. they’re ten minutes late by now.

they’re three minutes into their (silent, because paige is afraid of azzi having a full-on crash out on her) walk, when azzi’s phone starts vibrating. paige picks it up without hesitation. “hello?”

caroline, on the other end, pauses. “paige?”

“yes ma’am.”

“can i talk to azzi?”

paige scowls. “what, you don’t wanna talk to me?” caroline huffs on the other side. “no, its just that i called azzis phone because i was expecting azzi to pick up.”

paige, stubborn as an ox, rolls her eyes. “well, az has my phone, so you shoulda called mine if you wanted to talk to her.”

caroline guffaws. “how was i supposed to–” and then, her line cuts off.

paiges phone buzzes a second later.

azzi fights back a laugh at paige’s face as she lifts the phone to her ear. “hey, car.”

“hi, azzi. are you lost?”

“no,” azzi says, much too quickly for someone who is ten minutes late to dinner.

caroline hums, sounding unconvinced. “okay, well, life360 says you’re two minutes away.”

paige, from behind azzi, can’t stop the “still?” that escapes her incredulously. azzi smacks her shoulder.

“okay, well, we might’ve been a little lost. but only because paige put the wrong addr–”

“i used KK’s location!” paige defends immediately, voice raising to be heard through the phone. azzi tries not to laugh.

thankfully, ice somehow knew exactly where paige and azzi were, and were able to successfully lead them to the bar.

when they finally get to the booth, azzi slides in across from paige with a huff. KK raises an eyebrow. “did you guys get lost?”

“for the last time,” paige groans, even though KK was obviously talking to azzi. her palms press into her eyes. “i put the wrong address in because i used your location,” she accuses.

KK’s nose scrunches. “well, you shouldnta done that, ‘cuz me ‘n ice went to get protein powder before we headed here.” “did you get it from rexnation?” azzi deadpans. paige laughs in response, glancing over at KK for her reaction – which is nothing short of amazed.

“how did you know that?”

#dialogue heavy #dating your best friend means constant bickering #paige can't read google maps #traveling with pazzi is DIFFICULT #the freshmen are tired.#pazzi #paige bueckers x azzi fudd #pazzi fics #paige x azzi

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