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imaginespazzi · 7 months

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Part 2: If Only You'd Been Here

Masterlist - Part 1 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7

Ain't nobody hurt you like I hurt you (but ain't nobody love you like I do)

(In which a sadistic writer tortures her beloved ship a fair amount and maybe her readers too)

Pairing: Paige Bueckers X Azzi Fudd

Themes: Angst, Pining, Hurt/Comfort and maybe Fluff if you squint

Words: 6.5K (someone please be proud that it is in fact shorter 🙈)

TW: Swearing, Alcohol, Injuries, Alludes to Sexual Content

A/N: Good morning my lovelies <3 Just a couple of things I changed that you should know before you read. If you follow WCBB, you know UCLA didn't win the Pac-12 tournament in 2023 but in this universe they did. You also probably know they lost in the NCAA tournament last year to SC in the Greenville region but in this universe, for plot purposes, they're gonna be in the Seattle region. I kept their seeding and who they were playing vague because it was gonna get too complicated to figure out. Also if you saw my list of part titles a while ago, no you didn't lol. As always, feel free to know what you liked, what you didn't, and anything you'd like to see in future parts. And as you're reading, let's just remember y'all love me and everything I do is for the plot. Happy reading and have a wonderful week lovelies!

December 2022

The distinctly “car” smell of her car is starting to make Paige more than a little nauseous. Going by the way Drew is pouting in the passenger seat, he’s also clearly over it. They’ve been driving in circles for what feels like hours. At first, still enamoured with being allowed to sit in the front, her little brother had gone along with her ridiculousness. Now, as they approach maybe the 12th or so lap around the neighbourhood, he seems less than thrilled.

“Alright let me out and you keep driving,” Drew says, fiddling agitatedly with his seatbelt, “I think I’m gonna puke.”

“Well hold it in,” Paige retorts unhelpfully as they re-round the block. She keeps her eyes focused on the road, ignoring the glare her brother sends her away. He takes in a dramatic breath and leans back onto his seat. She grips the steering wheel tighter as they pass the house again, still not brave enough to pull into the driveaway of a place she’d once considered just as much a home as her own.

Drew lets out another groan, “I shoulda just stayed home.”

“Well you didn’t-” Paige’s reply is cut off by the sound of a phone call reverberating around the car. The CallerID reads “Azzi (DON’T YOU DARE IGNORE)”, a name the younger girl had plugged in herself with a warning look the day Paige had left LA. Chewing whatever dry skin is still left on her bitten-to-death lips, Paige clicks accept on the call.

“What number lap is this?” comes Azzi’s exasperated voice and Paige can’t help the smile that creeps onto her face.

“Oh you know my car’s feeling the need to exercise today,” Paige hums back, suddenly feeling a lot lighter than she had just a couple of seconds ago. Sometimes, she’s not sure how she managed to go a year with this constant heavy weight pressing down on her ribs, and no Azzi to slowly ease her out from under it.

“Azziiiiii,” Drew whines dramatically, “please come save me. I’m gonna die in this car.”

Affronted, Paige splutters, “nobody forced you to come.”

“You begged me to come,” her young brother quips back and it elicits a laugh from the girl on the other end of the line.

“I did-”

“Paige,” Azzi cuts her off, “just come inside okay? You’re wasting gas for nothing.”

“I- it’s just-,” Paige’s hands tighten even more around the wheel, as she stops on the sidewalk, switching on her turn signal, but still not entering the driveway. She leans her head against the wheel, overwhelmed by emotions she can’t quite name. Drew places a comforting hand on her back and she sends him a reassuring smile, trying to shield her younger brother from the havoc in her brain.

“Hey,” Azzi’s voice floats through the fog, “it’s just me okay? Me and you and us. It’ll be okay. I promise.”

It’s like a child being soothed with their favourite binkie, that’s what Azzi’s promise feels like to Paige. She finally turns into the driveaway, and both Drew and Azzi cheer in tandem. The knot in her chest loosens just a little bit at that because the large crowds that scream for her make her feel adored, but this, her own personal cheer squad for her littlest of achievements, well it makes her feel loved.

“Freedom,” Drew yells as he practically flings himself out of Paige’s barely parked car. She rolls her eyes fondly at her mini me as he dramatically pretends to kiss the ground. It’s a small distraction from the memories that are swirling like a tornado in her mind. Minnesota is home, it’ll always be home but this place, this had been her safe haven, something she could hold onto at a time where everything else was slipping out of her hands. And then, like a fool, she’d let go of it.

The door opens even before they’ve made it halfway to the door and Azzi’s brothers run out into the front yard. Jon pretends to take pictures and José practically falls to his knees as they swarm around the blonde.

“Paige, Paige, can we get a picture or an autograph please,” they yell teasingly, “please Miss Bueckers we’re your biggest fans.”

“Move over boys,” Tim Fudd’s booming voice hollers, as he swats his children away, “her biggest fan is actually me eh Paige?”

The girl in question nods solemnly, her smile stretching the full length of her face, and both Jon and José let out a groan as their father beams at Paige. And then Katie’s there, not a hint of anything but pure happiness on her face as she wraps the younger girl into a hug. Paige melts into the embrace, trying her hardest not to burst into tears. Because all she can think about is the hundreds of calls and texts from Azzi that she’d left unanswered, all she can think of is Azzi's devastated face as she’d told Paige about just how hard she’d tried and that wretched ache of i don’t deserve this i broke your daughters heart wraps itself around Paige’s heart.

Over Katie’s shoulder, Paige watches as Azzi finally walks out into the law, her cheeks immediately turning red from the cold. The younger girl winks at Paige with a radiant smile, before giving all her attention to Drew who almost trips as he excitedly launches himself into Azzi, tiny hands wrapping around her waist. Paige watches, still buried in the warmth of Katie’s arms, as Drew animatedly tells Azzi all the stories he possibly can and Azzi nods along emphatically as if she’s being told the most important facts of her life. And Paige takes a snapshot of it to add to her ever growing collection of moments i just knew.

***

January 2023

“Call her.”

Paige doesn’t bother replying, burying her face further into her tear-soaked pillow. Maybe if she ignores her teammate, Caroline will get the message and go away. The earth-shattering pain that she’d subdued for the last couple of months had finally reared its ugly head. And that too at the worst time possible, when her team needed to be a source of strength and with cameras catching the teardrops falling as she mourned the loss of not being able to play in the epic UConn-Tennessee rivalry. She’d done so well at holding it in, breaking apart only a couple of times, sometimes alone and sometimes with Azzi on the other end of the line. Until tonight, when the bright lights and roaring crowd had reignited the itch to just fucking play ball.

“Paige,” Caroline says again, “stop being stubborn and call her.”

“She has a game tomorrow, she doesn’t need my dramatic ass worrying her right now,” Paige replies, getting into a sitting position when she realises the other girl isn’t about to just let this go.

“You’re eventually going to call her. The two of you haven’t gone one day without talking to each other since this summer,” Caroline gives her a look, a hint of a smirk play on her face when it tints Paige’s cheeks pink, “seriously, just call her.”

It’s not that Paige doesn’t want to. She’d scrolled through her contacts and stopped at Azzi’s one too many time’s tonight. And each time, just as her fingers had hovered over the green call button, she’d felt guilt claw at her neck. Since she’d shown up in LA, Azzi had shown up for Paige every step of the way, checking in regularly, listening to Paige vent her anger at the world and whispering words of comfort that only sounded true when they came from Azzi’s mouth. Sometimes, if she tries really hard, Paige can feel the ghost of Azzi’s arms wrapping themselves around her shoulders, just as they had that one night in LA when Azzi had held her, so delicately as if she was made of porcelain, through the worst of her breakdowns.

“She needs to focus on her game,” Paige says after a moment.

Caroline sighs, mind wandering to the countless texts on her phone from Azzi begging her to take care of Paige and to let her know when the blonde wasn’t doing okay, “I know but she’d want you to call her if she knew. You need her.”

“And where was I when she needed me?” it’s the word need that triggers it, the quick snap because it’s all Paige has been able to think about lately.

Without basketball, she’d had far too much time on her hands and she’d ended up going down a spiral of watching Azzi’s games from her freshman year, something she’d religiously avoided doing when they had happened live. At first, it had just been this immense feeling of pride, seeing her best friend be the college basketball phenomenon Paige had always known she would be. She’d shoved away the envy of it was supposed to be us that immersed her seeing the way the Bruins celebrated their new star player, and just let herself be happy in her best friend’s happiness.

And then something changed around at the beginning of January 2022. It had only lasted a couple of games, but Azzi had hit a wall. Threes were short, cuts were made at the wrong time and she kept on getting lost on defence in a way that was very unlike her. And all Paige could focus on, eyes glued to the screen, was how completely and utterly exhausted Azzi looked during that stretch, despite the fact that she’d just come back from winter break. The smile had vanished off her face, replaced by stress lines Paige wished she could go back in time and erase.

It wasn’t until she’d binged through all the games, cheering silently as Azzi slowly returned to form, that the realisation had hit Paige. She’d been slapped with the memory of a store decorated brightly for Christmas and a familiar voice calling her name, as she’d purposely walked the other way, pretending she hadn’t heard and the more than deserved i’m done trying text that had followed right after. For a year, perhaps longer, Paige had convinced herself that she was the only one who had lost something, she was the only one who had a right to hurt, to break. And still, she thinks she’d take all of that pain again a thousand times, if it means she could erase the fact that in all of her self-pity, she’d broken Azzi too.

“Where was I when she needed me?” she repeats again to Caroline, as the brunette stares at her in confusion, “the answer to that Carol, is that I was anywhere but with her.”

Caroline’s eyes soften in realisation as she takes a cautious step towards Paige, “oh P don’t do this to yourself.”

“I want to call her,” Paige confesses in a whisper, tears brimming in her eyes, “it’s the only thing I’ve wanted to do all day and maybe- maybe I should have but I’m just- I’ve been so unfair to her.”

“You were hurt Paige.”

“I know- I know that. But so was she. You don’t- god Carol- you don’t even know the things I said to her before she left for LA. And she’s still here,” the first tears fall from her blue eyes, and then the next and the next until there’s a steady waterfall streaming down her face, “you know I almost didn’t let her in when she first came over this summer?”

Caroline doesn’t say anything, choosing instead to come sit next to Paige and wrap her arms around the point guard.

“I didn’t answer her calls or her texts for a year and still, still she’s picked up every call, replied to every text I’ve sent her since summer. I know- I know I need her and she’s going to be there of course she is. But when she needed me, where was I?” Paige drops her face into her hands, “I just- I don’t deserve her.”

There’s a moment of silence as Caroline rubs Paige’s back and lets the older girl wallow in her guilt. And then she reaches for Paige’s phone on the nightstand, ignoring the little grunt of protest. When the screen lights up, there’s already a notification of new messages from Azzi and Caroline can’t help but smile.

“I think,” she begins softly, “Azzi’s a smart girl so maybe give that tiny little brain of yours a little bit of rest and let her decide who deserves her,” she hands Paige her phone “let her be there for you. I think maybe she needs that too.”

Caroline gives Paige’s shoulders a little squeeze before heading out the doors, giving the older girl a moment of privacy. Paige sighs, getting herself comfortable against her pillows, and rubbing away her tears, before finally giving in and pressing the facetime call button.

“Do you want a distraction or do you want to talk about it?” Azzi says as soon as she picks up and Paige can see the concern etched all over her face.

“Or maybe I’m perfectly fine?”

“Ah we’re playing the pretend game tonight. Should have cleared your throat for a second longer maybe Miss Perfectly Fine, your eyes are red as fuck and you sound like a dying cat.”

“Wow, that was rude. Maybe I’m sick?”

“With what? The “lies to her best friend” flu?”

“That UCLA education has you making up illnesses now? Damn Az, you’re supposed to get smarter in college.”

“You’re so funny, like so funny,” Azzi huffs sarcastically before they both dissolve into giggles. It’s always just been so easy with them. And Paige’s isn’t a poet, but if she was, she’d write sonnets about the sound of Azzi’s laughter, and the way it makes the corner of her eyes crinkle.

“I watched the game,” Azzi says after a second, “and I saw you.”

Paige smirks, “so you didn’t actually watch the game, just stared at my gorgeous face the whole time?”

“There’s that comedian streak of yours again.”

“Hey you’re the one who said you were watching me instead of the game. But who could blame you really?”

“I didn’t-” Azzi rolls her eyes, as Paige’s cocky smirk deepens, “stop it.”

“You can admit I’m a pretty girl Az,” she teases, delighted when it makes the younger girl blush.

“Fuck off, you have enough people telling you you’re a pretty girl.”

“Yeah but it means more coming from you,” she says quietly, biting her lip. It’s not the kind of thing you’re supposed to say to your best friend, at least not in the soft, wanting way that Paige says it. Except they both know that the lines in their friendship are far more blurred than they should be, even if they've both done a pretty fantastic job at ignoring that kiss. Paige had learned over Christmas that Azzi was exceptionally good at the pretending part, moving away the moment Paige’s hands lingered a little longer than they should, changing topics if they even got anywhere near addressing the something between them. It shouldn’t have hurt but it did and Paige doesn’t understand how she can so desperately miss something that she never even had in the first place.

“So distraction then?” Azzi says after a second, changing the subject back to her initial question.

Paige closes her eyes, taking in a deep breath, “it was just- it was a lot tonight. I didn’t realise I was being that obvious.”

“You weren’t. I just know you a little too well.”

“These are my favourite types of games, you know. The rivalry, the crowd booing my name and getting the chance to quiet them, that’s- that’s the type of game players live for and I just- I miss it Azzi. I miss shooting, I miss defending, I miss just standing on the fucking court sometimes. I miss playing basketball. So. Fucking. Much,” a fresh set of tears leak out of Paige's eyes, as her free hand fists at her bedsheets.

There’s silence as Paige’s words linger in the air. In a way it’s freeing to be able to say it out loud, to just let herself feel how she feels instead of fighting them.

“You’re gonna miss it every day until you play again,” Azzi says quietly, her own voice thick with emotions, “and it’s not really gonna get easier until you get it back. But when you finally do, just- just imagine it okay, your first game back. The feeling of the crowd. Dribbling up the court. Making that first shot as everybody loses their minds. Finally just playing the game you love. That’s when that feeling of loss will finally go away.”

Using Azzi’s steady breathing as an anchor to still her erratic heartbeat, Paige lets herself get lost in the picture the younger girl has just painted for her. She lets her mind run to the future that lies ahead of her and if she focuses hard enough she can almost hear the Gampel crowds roaring as she finally returns to the court.

“It’s kinda really fucking annoying how you always know what to say,” no it isn’t, it’s the only thing that’s keeping Paige going these days.

“Surviving an ACL injury will do that to a girl,” Azzi says with a pained smile.

That’s not it Paige thinks, it’s not experience, it’s you and I really wish you were here. But she can’t say that, so she changes the subject instead.

“Tell me about your game tomorrow.”

They both settle back into their pillows, getting into more comfortable positions. Azzi tells Paige all about her upcoming game and then moves onto another topic, then another and another and another. They’ll wake up tomorrow morning to phones that died and no memory of when they’d fallen asleep. And then they’ll remember who was on the other end of the line, and if that makes them smile a little too hard, well that’s just another thing they’ll pretend didn’t happen.

***

March 2023

It’s only natural that when Paige finally feels like she can learn to live with just having a little bit of Azzi, that the world would show her just how wrong she could be. She’s been in a much better headspace these days, her knee finally starting to feel like itself again, bit by bit. The guilt of not being able to help her team is still settled into the pits of her stomach but even with that, she’s reached a sort of acceptance. And while she’s still struggling to fight the part of her heart that wants so much more, she’s learning to be content with just having her best friend back.

It’s that little bit of time in between conference tournaments and the NCAA tournament when it feels like the calm before the storm and it’s the first weekend since before the season that the UConn team finally gets to go out and let loose for a bit. They’re riding the height of winning another Big East title and even if it’s a little bittersweet that they did it without her, Paige is beyond the moon happy for her team.

She turns up the music in her room and changes the lights for the sake of a little ambience, before sitting down at her desk, to call Azzi and do what little of her makeup she knows how to do. Normally she’d get one of the other girls or Kayla to do it, but she’d rather sacrifice a flawless makeup look then miss out on having Azzi tease her about how she still didn’t quite know how to do her eyeliner properly yet.

The fact that it takes Azzi longer than the third ring to pick up should be Paige’s first warning sign but instead she’s sucking in a deep breath at the sight of her best friend who looks breathtakingly beautiful tonight. Paige’s heart stutters as she takes in Azzi’s face, the light layer of red lipstick (that Paige wants to kiss off), the blush-tinged cheeks (that Paige wants to caress delicately) and the perfectly done mascara on her eyelashes (that Paige wants to feel flutter against her own skin).

She lets out a low appreciative whistle, “celebrating that Pac-12 championship in style huh?”

“Something like that,” Azzi bites her lip and really that should have been warning sign number two, “was there- was there something you needed?’

“I can’t just call you?” Paige asks, noticing the tension on Azzi’s face, “are you busy?”

“No it’s not-”

“She is actually,” a different voice cuts in aggressively and Azzi immediately gives whoever it is an exasperated look. Paige doesn’t know who it is, but she guesses it’s one of the UCLA players. It’s no secret they aren’t huge fans of her. They’d made that much clear the few times they’d met Paige during September, always regarding her with a wary eyes. It wasn’t their fault really, Paige understood their protectiveness, in fact she appreciated it more than they would ever understand.

“Chill Angela.”

“Are you not busy then?” the other voice who Paige assumes is Angela Dugalic says, clearly a little annoyed. And then Azzi’s phone is being shifted away from her and instead it’s Angela’s face that covers Paige’s screen.

“Oh,” the blonde manages to get out, taken aback by the sudden change, “hi Angela.”

“Hi Paige,” the other girl says, her voice dripping with saccharine sweetness.

“Angela,” there’s a clear warning in Azzi’s voice and Paige already knows, even before the words are let out into the open, that whatever Dugalic is about to say is going to tear her apart.

“Azzi has a date tonight,” Angela pronounces the last words with a gleeful lilt.

The world spins and Paige’s head spins with it, as she grips onto her desk for some semblance of stability. She can hear Azzi spluttering in the background as she tries to get her phone back but it’s of no use as the UCLA forward powers on.

“With a really pretty girl,” Angela smirks at the camera, clearly trying to prove something, “Zoe’s really wonderful. You’d like her, Paige.”

Zoe. Recognition registers in Paige’s brain. She remembers seeing the name flashing on Azzi’s phone a couple of times, accompanied by a photo she never quite caught a glimpse of. But as she tended to do with most phone calls that came during her time with Paige, Azzi had simply just declined the call and texted whoever that she’d call her back later. And so Paige hadn’t really bothered caring about Zoe, chalking her up to being some random friend Azzi had made. But fuck, maybe she should have cared.

“And Azzi really likes her I think. They’ve been tiptoeing around it for ages you know? But we all knew it was only a matter of time.”

A strangled noise escapes Paige’s throat and she tries her best to disguise it as anything but the cry of despair it is. It feels like there’s a thousand knives digging into her skin, pressing harder and harder until she has no blood left to bleed.

“They’re gonna make the cu-”

“Give me my phone back Angela,” Azzi’s voice cuts in harshly and Paige hurriedly rushes to contort her features into a smile right before the camera’s back to facing her best friend.

“So you’re all dressed up for a date then?” Paige manages to get out and the word date sounds like bile on her tongue.

“Doesn’t she look lovely?” comes Angela’s voice again; the girl seemingly on a mission to break Paige as much as possible, “give her a proper look Az.”

“Angela,” Azzi hisses through gritted teeth.

“N-no show me the fit,” Paige counters, because that’s what a best friend’s supposed to say right? Show me how fucking perfect you look for a girl that’s not me

Azzi hesitates, swallowing nervously, before she takes a couple of steps back so the camera captures all of her. And Paige wishes she’d never asked to be shown in the first place, hell she wishes she’d never bothered to call tonight. Because she thinks the image of Azzi’s casual light blue jeans and simple green off-the shoulder top will be etched in her mind forever, captioned with the words not for you.

“You look lovely Azzi,” she whispers quietly, trying to keep her voice steady.

“Zoe won’t be able to keep her fucking hands off of you,” Angela supplies and this time the glare Azzi shoots her is murderous.

“I think I hear Emily calling your name Angela.”

“I don’t-”

“Yes,” Azzi says pointedly, “yes you do.”

Angela rolls her eyes but doesn’t protest this time. She turns to the phone with a devilish grin, clearly feeling accomplished in being a menace, “nice talking to you Paige.”

She waltzes out, leaving Paige, Azzi and a silence that feels like it could drown them.

“You could have told me,” the blond says after a second, averting her eyes from the screen, “aren’t dates the kind of thing best friends are supposed to tell each other?”

“Paige-”

“It’s good though- you-uh- you deserve a night out.”

“P-”

“Listen, I uh- I’m going out too so- I- umm- I better get going but-,” Paige takes in a deep breath, “have a- have wonderful time on your date Az.”

She hangs up before Azzi can reply, the concern in the younger girl's eyes becoming too much to bear. For a moment, she stares straight ahead at the wall, just processing. And then she lets herself fall apart.

***

It’s 1 a.m., Paige is drunk and miserable and so fucking tired; it’s an extremely dangerous combination. Aaliyah and Amari had practically had to carry her to her dorm because she’d been stumbling far too much and everyone was worried she’d eventually fall flat on her face. Personally, Paige thought they just didn’t have enough faith in her. She wasn’t even that drunk, she couldn’t be. After all she could still feel that stupid Azzi-sized scar on heart and wasn’t the whole point of being drunk supposed to be not being able to feel? But she has to be drunk because sober her would know better than to do what she does next, would know better than to call Azzi when she has no control over herself.

“Paige? Is everything okay? Are you okay,” Azzi’s voice is filled with concern when she answers.

“Azziiiii,” Paige slurs, “areyoustillwithyourdate?”

“What?”

“Are. you. still. with. your. date?” Paige pronounces each word slowly.

“I- yeah. She’s in a different room. Paige, are you okay?”

“Interesting,” the blonde remarks quietly, “you never picked up her calls when you were with me. And we weren’t even dating.”

She hears Azzi’s breath hitch on the other end, can almost picture her doing that nervous swallow of hers, “ I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“You didn’t care if she was okay then? Those times she called you?”

“That’s not- she didn’t call me at 1 a.m.” the younger girl justifies hollowly.

“Bullshit,” Paige scoffs, “1 a.m. isn’t even that fucking late. Why is it so hard for you to admit you care about me waaaayyyyy more than you care about Zara or whatever?”

“Zoe. You’re drunk Paige, go to bed,” and Paige really should listen to the edge in Azzi’s voice.

“Where did y’all go?” she asks lightly, changing the subject, “c’mon Az, best friends share their date stories right?”

“Baltaire,” Azzi relents, choosing to let this battle go.

“Oooh that restaurant we passed that one time wow,” Paige coos, “too fucking bad you hate fine dining huh? But she wouldn’t know that now would she? Because she doesn’t fucking know you.”

“Paige please,” Azzi breathes out quietly in a pained voice.

“But you know who does know you? Me. And I would have never taken you to some boring old fancy ass piece of shit restaurant like that.”

“Don’t-”

“I would have taken you on a picnic. Do you remember that park you loved, the one by my air bnb? There, that’s where I would have taken you. And I’d have gotten you supermarket sushi even though I fucking hate that shit but I know, I know, you like it. And flowers. Did she get you flowers? Because I- I would have. Roses and peonies and lilies, a whole fucking bouquet.”

And Paige is crying again, for the second time tonight, one hand gripping at her phone as the other one tries to wipe away the frantically falling teardrops.

“And we’d stay at that park til the sun goes out and I’d take a polaroid of you in the sunset and I’d keep it forever. I swear Azzi, I’d keep it forever and I’d put it on my wall.”

“Paige,” Azzi whispers, as if it’s the only word she knows, as if it’s the only word that matters.

“I’d bring my laptop so that when it finally gets dark, we can watch a movie. You choose Az, whatever you want. And I’d get distracted and start playing with your hair or something and you’ll pretend it’s annoying you but you’d be smiling. Fuck I love your smile.”

“You can’t- you can’t just say these things Paige.”

“Why not? It’s the truth right- why can’t I say the truth?,” Paige says petulantly, “but hush okay I’m not- I’m not finished yet. And then, then we’d just lie under the stars and it'd just be you, me and the sky. Perfect.”

Azzi lets out a broken sob and Paige hates it, she hates it but she keeps on talking.

“And then I’d take you home and I’d kiss you,” she whispers the last bit like a confession, “everywhere. Fuck, I’d make it so good for you Az. So good. Everything you wanted, everything you needed, I’d give you all of it. I’d make you come apart on my fingers and then my tongue-”

“Shut up,” Azzi’s voice is suddenly cold and frosty and it feels like all the heat has been sucked out of Paige’s room as well, “shut up, shut up, shut up.”

“Azzi-”

“No,” Azzi all but yells, “you don’t get to say all of that to me.”

“Then who does? Her? Zia or whatever? Who the fuck even is she?” Paige spits out venomously.

“Zoe. Her name is Zoe and you wanna know she is Paige?”

She should say no. She should apologise for interrupting Azzi’s date and hang up the phone, but no, Paige doesn’t do any of that, “enlighten me why don’t you.”

“She’s the girl who was there,” Azzi says, her voice cracking, “she’s the girl who held me last year when I was going through the worst time of my life. She was there when I couldn’t make a fucking shot and I thought maybe I’d never be good enough. She was there when I let the pressure and the media and all of it get to my head. She was there when I was crying my eyes out over losing the one person I was sure would always stay. She- she’s who you were supposed to be because she was there, and you weren’t.”

Paige isn’t sure if it’s the bitterness behind Azzi’s words or the brokenness of her sobs that is the reason for the ache in her own chest. All she knows is that she still remembers tearing her ACL, and she doesn’t think it hurt as much as this.

“It was supposed to be you,” Azzi sniffles, “I wanted it to be you. Because I’d have let you- fuck- Paige- I’d have let you take me on a picninc and if you brought me sushi I’d have brought you your favorite mac and cheese. I- I know you don’t really care about flowers so I’d get you chocolate, the rum-filled ones that you love. And that sunset polaroid would have been a selfie of us, where you’re kissing my cheek and I’d have it framed. I’d pick out a movie but first- first you could watch whatever basketball game was on and you’d get exasperated when I don’t know the team because I’m literally a basketball player,” she lets out a wet laugh, “but I know you secretly like explaining the NBA to me. And then- then I’d have let you take me home and I’d let you take everything. Whatever you wanted, it’d be yours.”

The vivid image of a date that never happened fills every inch of Paige’s brain. She feels like she’s in a bad dream, trying so hard to reach for a happiness that keeps on evading her grasp.

“But you weren’t there then Paige, and you aren’t here now.”

“Azzi-” Paige chokes out.

“Go to bed Paige,” the younger girl says, her voice shaky but adamant, ‘Get some sleep. Maybe you’re drunk enough that you won’t remember this when I call you tomorrow.”

“Right. So we’re gonna pretend this never happened. Again. We’ll just keep on pretending forever I guess,” Paige retorts bitterly.

“Yes, we will. Because if I stop pretending, I don’t think I’ll be able to survive.”

***

The buzzer rings around Climate Pledge Arena as the UCLA women’s basketball team loses in the Elite 8 on a last second buzzer beater. Azzi’s face contorts into one of sheer disappointment, and in the stands, Paige feels her own heart drop. She’s not one to root for a team outside of her own and god knows what would happen if Nika found out that she’d been screaming her head off each time the Bruins, or at least one specific Bruin, scored, but for Azzi, well, there’s not many of her own rules that Paige follows when it comes to her best friend.

It had taken a fair amount of convincing on Paige’s part to even be able to come to this game. Everyone had wanted to leave immediately after the Sweet 16 loss but Paige had insisted they needed to stay in Seattle, do something to get the team’s mind off of the terrible end to their season. And that wasn’t a complete lie because even if she hadn’t been able to help when they needed it on the court, she could try and help boost morale. But she knew her teammates weren’t fooled. They knew the schedule just as well as she did and they knew exactly what or better yet, who she wanted to stay for.

On the court, Paige can tell Azzi’s fighting back tears. The brunette had given it her all, scoring an efficient 34 points and really the game could have gone any way. That last minute heave from the opposing team really probably shouldn’t have gone in, but at the end of the day the NCAA tournament was a lot about skill but also a little about luck. But Paige knows, Azzi isn’t thinking about any of that, too busy finding a way to blame herself even though she’d had a near perfect night. They were just too similar sometimes.

Azzi’s eyes flicker through the stands, clearly looking for a familiar face. Paige resists the urge to run on to the court and pull the younger girl into her arms and soothe away the defeated look in her eyes, if only for the fact that Azzi doesn’t actually even know she’d figured out a way to stay back for this game. Despite being in the same city, they hadn’t been able to spend nearly as much time together and while Paige’s teammates had tried to be of some help, Azzi’s teammates had seemed determined to pull her away as much as possible. All of that on top of the fact that they’re still playing that stupid game of pretend had left Paige wanting for just one moment alone for the two of them.

As soon as the UCLA team starts heading back to their locker room, and the crowd starts leaving, Paige scurries towards where she knows Azzi will be. Their assigned locker room isn’t that far from where UConn’s had been and Paige gets there in almost record time, her mind firmly planted on being there for Azzi. She’d missed so many opportunities, but this time, this time she’d be there.

Azzi’s leaning against the wall, her eyes closed and Paige has to take in a breath at the sight of her. Sweat sheens against her tan skin and her gameday braids are falling apart just a little but still, she’s perfect. Before Paige can take a step towards her, there’s another girl, all dark hair and long legs, brushing past her, rushing to get to Azzi’s side. It’s like the world has stopped and yet is spinning too fast all at the same time, as Paige watches this girl, Zoe, pull Azzi, Paige’s Azzi, into her arms.

After the night of the date (and everything else they’re ignoring), Paige hadn’t bothered to bring it up and Azzi had never said anything about it again. Naively, the blonde had thought that maybe that meant nothing much had transpired after the date, silently patting herself on the back for possibly even having had a hand in that. Except, the way Zoe holds Azzi isn’t fucking platonic and the way Azzi relaxes in Zoe’s arms, isn’t fucking friendly.

“I”ve got you Az,” Zoe whispers into Azzi’s hair and Paige wants to die. She should look away, she should walk away but her feet seem to be glued to the ground. And she remembers the way Azzi’s eyes were searching the crowd and oh- she’d been looking for- Paige can’t even let herself complete the thought because she’s sure she’ll burst into flames the second she does.

“I’m really glad you’re here,” Azzi says quietly to Zoe. To Zoe, and not Paige. If she could feel anything beyond the dagger twisting in her heart, maybe Paige would hear the way there’s still a tinge of disappointment in Azzi’s voice, as if she’s wishing it was someone else.

It takes Zoe pressing a kiss into Azzi’s forehead, eliciting a sigh from the brunette for Paige to finally tear her eyes away. Her feet finally move and then she’s running faster than she has in a long time, ignoring the way it causes her muscle to ache. She can’t tell if her rapid blinking is to usher away the tears or to try and prevent the memory of Azzi with some other girl from welding itself into her eyelids. It blurs her vision and in the speed of things, she can barely tell where she’s going. Paige runs chest-first into a wall, bruising her elbow. Her phone slips out of her hands, falling to the ground with a loud thud, the screen protector cracking into pieces.

And when Paige looks at the mess of her phone on the floor, she thinks it couldn’t possibly have cracked harder than this silly little stupid heart of hers.

#pazzi #paige bueckers #azzi fudd #wcbb

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blorbo-gerrymandering · 4 months

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Round 4

Propaganda Under The Cut

Buneary:

Buneary is an adorable adorable bunny that hates you the minute you catch it. It is the only pokemon other than legendaries that has a base friendship of 0. In one of the more recent pokemon games, you can catch a buneary (typically a tiny bunny) that is larger than your player character. I love the pokemon buneary.

bunearies are. adorable. and full of hate. If you don’t vote for buneary then I will not have to do anything to you because buneary can and will beat you up. don’t test her she can jump over a building and kick you in the face if you look at her wrong. vote buneary.

My mutual loves the pokemon buneary very much :)

buneary is cool and deserves to win a tournament

Jaylen Hotdogfingers:

The greatest came-back-wrong character ever. She's the mayor of Seattle. She's was the best pitcher in the league. She was murdered by an umpire in an act of divine retribution for the fanbase's transgression. The fanbase exploited game mechanics to bring her back to life. Immediately she murdered 12 people. She died again and got revived a second time as part of a team of undead players that killed god. She's a really awful batter. She has, like, 16 songs written about her and they're all really good. I thought about her every single day for a period of six consecutive months. I love her.

I'll be real. I'm an outsider to the Blaseball fandom. I don't understand it. I think they've crowdfunded characters from fictionalized fucked-up Baseball stats and a dream. I love seeing what the fuck they're doing in their eldritch sandbox just so much.

#poll #round 4 #buneary #pokemon #blaseball #jaylen hotdogfingers

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leveloneandup · 3 months

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USWNT great Tobin Heath not ruling out return after 2 years out

U.S. women's national team great Tobin Heath said she is not ruling out a return to the field almost two years after she last played a competitive game.

Heath, 36, has a cartilage issue that has required two surgeries since her last appearance with the Seattle Reign in 2022. The last of her 181 outings with the USWNT came in October 2021.

"I haven't been public about it, but I can say that I have been actively healing and trying to get back to the football pitch," she told The Associated Press. "I haven't ruled it out, to say the least. But I am definitely in my own recovery journey."

Heath, widely regarded as one of the most gifted players of her generation, scored 36 goals and added 41 assists for the USWNT after making her debut in 2008. She was a part of the World Cup-winning rosters in 2015 and 2019, scoring in the 2015 final win over Japan. Heath also helped the U.S. win Olympic gold in 2008 and 2012.

In her time away from the field, Heath launched a podcast series with former USWNT teammate and fellow long-term injury victim Christen Press.

Press hasn't played since tearing her ACL with Angel City in 2022 and subsequently undergoing four surgeries.

The 35-year-old, who has played in 155 matches with 64 goals for the United States, returned to training with Angel City this month two years to the day since her last game.

Neither player will be involved when the U.S. looks to win another Olympic gold in Paris this summer, though Heath said she was looking forward to seeing what the United States can accomplish under new coach Emma Hayes.

"I think for the first time in in a few years, there's a lot of excitement and hope around this team that felt a little bit like they were a little untethered, you know? I think with Emma being this kind of leader figure that this young group needs, it's an exciting time and we can all be very hopeful," Heath said.

"And with an Olympics, that is always a funny tournament in itself, I think anything's possible."

#tobin heath #espn #article

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puckpocketed · 3 months

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5/08/2023 - Berkly Catton captains Team Canada to gold at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, leading the tournament with 8 goals and 2 assists in 10 games || 19/01/2024 Meet the Future - Berkly Catton named Team White's captain for the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game || 5/07/2024 - Berkly Catton signs his ELC with the Seattle Kraken

Introduction, quotes/transcripts/bits and pieces under the cut!

I can't even begin to describe how jazzed I am that Berkly Catton got drafted to a team I already love. I wrote in my Sharks off-season roundup that I was hoping against hope Catton would drop to 14th overall (back before we had moved up to 11th) and the Sharks would snap him up, as unlikely as it was that they'd try to gather more firepower when we sorely needed defensive prospects. I'm so glad I got my wish one way or another <3

Krakenblr you will LOVE this dude. He's such a star. Such a character. Berkly Catton is so, SO fun to watch. You have no idea!!! I followed him in the months leading up to the draft because there was buzz that he might be available lower down because of the Height Issue (he is, tragically, 5'11 <- which makes him undraftable unfortch) + concerns with how his game will translate to the NHL level. He is an electrifying playmaker. He's so creative, throws in so many fakes, WILL break ankles, very good hands... ough <3 everything I personally love to see in a forward all rolled into one neat little package !!!

There's the suggestion that he's been "over-scouted," which really just means they've all been watching him so long they're probably overthinking things and looking for stuff to critique. I'm inclined to believe this take over the other one because I'm an optimist and he was one of my little guys going into the draft! I won't include more of that here, but there's plenty of material out there if you'd like to look for it.

Below are some of my favourite bits and pieces from media he's appeared in <3

“I don’t like to give it away (pause) but I look at guys before games,” Catton revealed. “What’s weird is going from midget to junior hockey is a big jump. Last year I was learning. This year I wanted to add stuff. My pregame stuff and to look at guys doing draws and seeing what works. That’s pre-scouting on my end. If a guy has a certain move, and you can trump it early, it gets in his head a little bit. That helped quite a bit.”

“I think I sometimes have a problem with passing the puck too much. I love seeing my teammates score and setting up for an open net. It’s one of my favourite things in hockey, if not my favourite,” Catton admitted. “That’s something I can work on. When I get a chance put it home kind of thing. I got better this year at it’s still something I’d like to improve. Honestly, I’m a pass first mentality guy I would say.”

- Berkly Catton’s video scouting has improved his overall game

You know, when I first read and saved this article I was like; this prospect who reviews VIDEO is gonna haunt me. That's my weakness btw, I'm freak4freak. If you tell me a hockey player is also deeply infatuated with the game to the point of reviewing tape in their free time that's IT for me. it's JOEVER. i have a type and i know it <3 also wowie a pass-first guy who gets really really happy when his teammates score??? crying. crying. Berkly Catton . tucking uou gently away <3 forever <3

From A Day in the Life: Berkly Catton & Conner Roulette

Fave movie is The Notebook (<- unrelated there's a . really funny comment on this video from a philly fan lamenting that Catton likes the Notebook - I assume because that's some uhhh how do the kids call it,, femme soyboy shit? lmao anyway stay LOSING toxic masculinity !!!)

The boys call him 'Berk' <3

He talks about Jack Hughes being a big influence on him (in other media, he gives Hughes as a player comp!) and going to hang out and work with the Hughes family in Michigan. I sense a thread of admiration here like it's such a sweet little crush LOL <3 I hope he notices you Berkly !!

he gives the player of the match hat to a coach/trainer (one of the two) it's lovely... ouhhh... good little fella so polite and so conscious of staff being the foundation of his success... mwah!!

From Berkly Catton Talks Hockey Sense, His Start In Hockey & More | Game Tape With Tony

His father and grandfather built him a rink in his backyard, very sweet.

1OA in the WHL draft!

Anime main character levels of training-arc... my guy shot thousands of pucks over the summer in his backyard and then came back suddenly able to score goals. <- this is where the DIY goalie made of wood and blocker pads comes in. lol. lmao. are u even real.

sorry. sorry. OLEN ZELLWEGER MENTION. <- one of my personal favourite little guys (undersized puck moving defensemen my BELOVED) "Kind of a funny story [...] I pretty much had a breakaway, when he just turned backwards and played it as a 1-on-1 somehow, and I was like 'wow, this guy's the real deal', so." I really liked how Catton easily recalled a specific person/moment when asked who challenged him the most in the WHL; I think it speaks to a thoughtfulness about the game - it would've been easy to just give a vague Oh Everyone Is Good answer here and I like that he didn't!

There's a section where he talks about how he got so good at stick lifting, such an interesting perspective I never considered - he played in situations and against people where he couldn't just throw his body around to win, so he had to learn to get the puck in other ways. KEVIN KORCHINSKI MENTION <- another one of my little guys <3

mentions his dad being a big influence on his 'patience'. parents are so funny to me. ur watching your sons juniors matches? and Ohhhhh Chris Catton was a hockey player too . it all makes sense. Berkly Catton product of jockdad like so many before him <3

I do love that throughout this interview, Catton defers to his linemates a lot. Always hyping them up and talking about how he owes his success to them. it could be construed as false humility, given Catton was the highest scoring draft-eligible in the league - but he really does go out of his way to emphasise how highly he regards them and how much of their on-ice success is owed to good chemistry built up over the entire season. It strikes me as genuine!! He's a good boy <3

Revealed he can solve a rubix cube at the end... wow... he just liek me fr...

PLEASE watch this on-ice interview where he's chatting after a game and then gets ABSOLUTELY WASTED by 5 water bottles and all the boys. he is clearly so so so beloved in that locker room waaaahhh <3

Anyway this isn't an exhaustive list but it IS a lot of the reasons why I really liked him pre-draft. welcome to the deep Berkly <3

#HELLO!!! COME GET YOUR BERKLY CATTON SCOUTING REPORT #berkly catton #seattle kraken #kraken lb #nhledit #hockeyedit #nhl gifs #puck!gif #p!gif:kraken #my writing #primers #puckscouting

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alwaysonf1 · 10 months

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oopsy?

Pairing: Charles LeClerc x Hamilton!OC

Genre: Slice of Life; Fluff

Word Count: 4.4k

Warning: Canadian NHL team shit talking. Middle fingers.

Rating: PG-13

Author's Note: N/A

As much as Iman doesn’t mind and is one hundred percent on board for all the filming and hanging out with the drivers, she's happy that it’s not an every day of the week and every class kind of thing. There’s a level of mental capacity it takes to deal with the people around her while doing this that she can’t maintain every day.

But today isn’t one of those days. Today they’re at a track and that’s one of her favorite places to be no matter where it is.

NOLA Motorsports Park hasn’t seen any real IndyCar action since twenty fifteen, but it’s still a place that some teams use when they want to test and practice in a place where it wouldn’t really be expected. Though there were times they did open the public stuff and in about a month there would be a McLaren sponsored karting tournament for kids already in and new to the world of motorsport.

Iman looks forward to that day because she enjoys helping the kids with their races and even more so helping them understand how their karts work. She was even going to be in charge of a more informational segment that she knows is going to be boring as hell, but hopefully insightful for kids and their parents.

The sport can be hard enough getting into it and she wanted to make it easier for them. Even if she felt a little like a fraud speaking as her path hasn’t really been from the ground up like half the kids there.

But at the moment what she’s most happy about is that she isn’t the one making the drive to the track. The place is over an hour from her apartment and though it rarely feels that long it’s nice to have someone else to do it.

Though she could do without being sandwiched between her brother and her new frenemy, Lance.

“It’s a Canadian sport. And they are original, how could you dislike them? They have more championships than Seattle has in years playing. I mean I like them too, but come on, Iman.”

The entire rant is funny and it’s the same argument they’ve had twice now after he found out that she enjoys hockey. They’ve talked a little about football too, but the moment she enacted her duty of humbling a Canadian it’s been a back and forth of him being flustered over her dislike of almost all the Canadian teams in the NHL. Most of it being due to her disdain for certain players - most of which for petty reasons and some because they’re assholes.

She reaches out and pats his leg, giving him a soft and kind look that’s only playfully condescending.

“How about we pick this back up when a Canadian team breaks their thirty year streak of not winning the Stanley Cup. Something multiple players in Seattle have done in that time period.”

“You went there?”

“I went there.”

Lance huffs and puffs. He tries to say something, but every time his mouth opens he closes it again. If I didn’t notice the way he wanted to laugh and the resignation in his expression I would fear I’d genuinely offended him, but I know I hadn’t. Poor man knew it was the truth, even if it was a painful one.

“It’s their year.”

“Who’s year?”

He sighs. “I don’t know. One of them.”

“Leafs?”

At that he makes a face that can only be read as disgust.

“You’re mad at me and you don’t even like them.”

“I’m obligated.”

“I get it.”

Because she does. That conditionally and sometimes fake patriotism got the best of her too.

She opens her mouth to bring them back to common ground by shitting on Vegas, but for the tenth time there’s a pull at some strands of hair at the back of her head. Eyes narrowed she turns her head to look at her brother. Who doesn’t even bother to look away or remove his hand.

“Why?”

Lewis shrugs.

Rolling her eyes she reaches up and pulls on one of his braids, earning a swat to her hand.

“Don’t pull my hair,” he says.

“Then don’t pull mine.”

And he does it again.

Like the child she sometimes is, she goes to retaliate, but the van rolls to a stop and she settles for glaring at him.

“Ha.”

“Oh, shut up.”

With the last word she follows the others out of the van, “accidentally” kicking Lewis on her way out. By the time he’s out and able to get her back she’s already standing at the front of everyone barely suppressing a gleeful smile. He joins the group and flips her off in a covert way and she does the same.

Not them doing that on the low mattered since the cameras weren’t focused on the group yet. Every camera person is huddled together talking amongst themselves.

“Is that a McLaren indycar?” Alex asks.

“Sure is.”

Daniel raises his hand, a broad smile on his face. “Are we going to get in it?”

“Maybe.”

That seems to shock everyone, but there is some giddiness to it. One would think that a group of men who raced for a living and who would be back to doing it in about a week wouldn’t be so eager to get into a car. But then again that’s the driving force of why some of them do it for a living.

Before anyone can say anything else Anne walks up and the camera surrounds them. Anne gestures to Iman and she takes her cue.

Iman hitches her thumb backward. “This is where I do a lot of my internship work during the school year. Though it’s not often used for pro-racing, it is used for testing. And that’s what McLaren’s Indycar team is doing here for the next month or so. And today you’ll be helping me with work.

“All of you know there is some level of secrecy going on with this stuff, but everything you see and hear today will be things that are known to the public or that no one cares about anyone else knowing. Plus, this testing is for this past season's car, not the coming one.

“We’re going to get a tour of the place and then get to work. Any questions before we get things going?”

The group is quiet and after a few seconds Iman nods and then turns. She leads the group up to the pit lane where McLaren mechanics await them. There are greetings and then another explanation of what they’re doing there. Then they’re led off on a tour of the spaces. They field questions from the drivers and to round out the tour they end up back in front of where they started.

“Okay, so we’re trying to figure out what went wrong with this engine during one of the races this season. We had to replace the whole thing and it didn’t become a priority to take it apart and find out, so that’s what we’re doing now to see if there’s anything we need to change in the future,” the head mechanic says.

He looks around at everyone in the way one does when ensuring that they have a listening audience.

“Okay, so you’ll see what Iman and our team do to figure that out. I know this could be more exciting, but we decided this is a good glimpse to really show what she does and in a way we’re comfortable showing. You’ll pair off and our people will explain what’s going on. Feel free to ask questions and point out any oddities you see, we need all the eyes on this that we can get. It’s all preliminary, so they won’t be at it for long and then that’s where the fun begins.”

He shares a mischievous smile with Iman and by the looks of everyone it makes them a bit unsettled.

“What does that mean?” Lance asks.

Iman shrugs. “You’ll see. Now go get changed.”

They do what she says even though she could see the questions they want to ask.

About ten minutes later everyone returns in coveralls. Iman is already dressed in the clothes she works in so she’s sitting on a rolling chair when they return.

“Ready?” she asks.

They nod.

“Okay, I’m not going to treat this like a class room so everyone in groups of two and then you’ll be with one of us.”

Much like all Iman’s years of school, all the drivers freeze. Then they all scramble toward their chosen person. Despite the small group - or because of how small it was - some end up losing out. It takes all of her not to burst into laughter when Carlos goes for Charles and Lewis snatches up the Monégasque. Which means Carlos is with Daniel. The man pouts while Daniel grins ear to ear, but you could tell it was more playful.

Lewis and Charles laugh at their antics and Iman knows that those two groups are going to be a chaotic mess.

And because she’s so busy holding back giggles at their nonsense, she misses the chance to grab a group that doesn’t contain her brother. She knows that part of this whole thing is wanting them to be together, but she would be a bad little sister if she didn’t act indignant about it.

“I guess I’m stuck with you too,” she says, rolling her eyes.

Lewis grins. “Yes, you are. You’ll love it. Won’t she Charles?”

Both men turn their heads to face each other and they share similar grins. Then they turn to her and she sees devious intentions in their eyes. Iman feels like they’re plotting against her and she doesn’t like that.

“Of course. We are a delight,” Charles says.

Now she really knows they’re going to be a handful. Though she hopes putting them to work will help.

“Sure, you will be. How about using that delightfulness to help me disassemble this.”

She gestures to the problem engine. She’s to take care of that one while the others look at two others. Both of them cling to their little creep show and then finally nod and help her disassemble the thing. Lewis is a little competent in it because she always talked about it and forced him to learn, but Charles is a little surprising to her. But it’s nice to only have to give a little guidance and get to focus on her work.

Of course she gets so into it that she forgets that she should probably talk to them a little after Charles clears his throat. By the sounds of it he’d been trying to get her attention for a little while.

“Sorry, can you repeat that?”

“You work for McLaren?” he asks.

“This year.”

“Only this year? They seem very okay with this for such a short time.”

“Once before, but for a shorter amount of time then. I’ve done about four internships, two of them with them. One in Nascar and another for a different IndyCar team.”

“Wow, that’s a lot. How do you find the time?”

“I don’t. Just chaos twenty-four seven.” She laughs. “But to be fair, the first IndyCar was when I was a senior in high school. They were doing a program for kids of that age to get them interested and I was a test subject. Since my mother worked for them it was more likely they’d get better feedback versus the kids who might be scared saying anything could get them blacklisted.”

“Really?”

Iman smiles. “Really. There weren’t many issues and nothing major though, so it was fine.”

“No, I mean in high school?”

“Yup. It’s what happens when you tell the people in your life what you want to do for a living and they have the connections. The moment my mom knew I was serious she had me applying everywhere and brought me in to shadow her and anyone else she could have agree. I was annoying, but good enough that they didn’t tell her to stop.”

Talking with Charles is easy and the conversation is one that helps her focus on the task of disassembling the unnecessarily greasy mess that is her side of the engine. Something is peaceful about it too. Nice even.

When she looks up and past Charles to her brother Iman sees a weird expression on Lewis' face. It’s one he wears when he knows something or thinks he knows something and a weird smile. She wants to question it, but thinks better of it. Knowing Lewis it will irritate her and there is a part of her brain that is sure she knows what that look is for and she refuses to address it.

Not stepping into that shit show. Nope.

“Okay, what happened?” Lewis asks.

“It stopped the car completely and then when we went to check it there was a small-ish fire.”

“Excuse me?”

“I was the furthest from the fire, Lew.”

There’s some grumbling, but his expression and body language mellows out. Not much though. For some reason Iman looks to Charles for support, but instead she’s on the receiving end of a look that gives off mild anger and a silver of disappointment. Of course she doesn’t know Charles well enough for her to fully understand his expressions, but she’s familiar with the reactions of siblings.

Iman groans. “Oh come on. Not you too.”

“I’d be mad at my brothers for it as well,” Charles says.

Lewis fist bumps the man and they both stare Iman down as if expecting something like an apology from her. One that she isn’t willing to give, because while she gets the worry and is appreciative of it - especially when Charles barely knows her - this is her job. She’s made a career choice and these kinds of situations are the kind of shitty parts that she expects and that need to be expected. Especially from people who’ve seen their fair share of chaos and tragedy in the world of motorsport. She knows that that’s probably why they’re worse about it. But Iman also knows that there’s something more to it.

Instead of indulging them she rolls her eyes and focuses on the engine. They join in after a couple seconds and she guides them through it, telling them the running theory on what they think caused the fire and answering the questions they have about all the ways their hypothesis could be true.

The help feels nice. They don’t slow her down at all and even if they did she realizes that she wouldn’t mind it. Their interest makes it enjoyable.

By the time they finish they’ve mostly ruled out what it wasn’t but have no confirmation on if what McLarens mechanics think went wrong did. It’s frustrating, but Iman knew enough about the job to know that eliminating possibilities was sometimes better than finding the answer right away. In this case it meant she could catch anything that was also an issue, but didn’t get its chance to show out. And there were at least two of those issues she had to document.

Iman follows the other mechanics to give a report and compare notes and she returns changed into clothes she brought with her. When she emerges on the track the drivers are also back in their clothes and standing in front of some of the newest cars from their respective brands or the creators of the engines their F1 car uses.

Lance is looking at her with a raised brow as she enters their field of view and the others appear curious.

“What’s happening here?” Daniel asks, though with how giddy he is Iman knows he knows.

“Friendly race.”

As if they weren’t professional drivers that did this multiple times a year an electric kind of excitement filled the circle. It’s classic teenage boy behavior as they nudge each other and talk shit.

Anne steps in and grabs everyone’s attention.

“We’re going to have a friendly race. Everyone will be paired up and though there is only one tandem here, you can’t be paired with your teammate.” There is some groaning from the Ferrari boys. “And, because we have a McLaren IndyCar driver here waiting around, Pato O’Ward, will be joining in on the fun.”

Pato appears the moment his name is mentioned. He wears a wide smile and shyly waves to the group.

“Hey, guys. Hope you don’t mind me crashing this.”

“Dibs!” Daniel yells.

Everyone startles, but then it’s a bunch of eye rolling and some bashfulness from Pato.

“That’s fine, Daniel. I was going to choose who gets who, but it's free for all. So pick yo…”

Before Anne can finish what she’s saying everyone scrambles and Iman crosses paths with Lewis. She knocks into him, sending him a little off kilter and with enough force that he ends up next to Carlos and her next to Charles.

“Hey!” he shouts.

Iman waves. “Hi.”

“You know what.. How dare… Why?”

“I haven’t caused you suffering in a while, which I’m obligated as a little sister to do. Also I’ve driven many Mercedes. I want to try out a Ferrari. Plus, even if I didn’t go for Charles the odds of me reaching Carlos before Lance chooses between him and Albon were low. Shit end of the stick, Lew.”

Everyone laughs as they watch a series of emotions play on the man’s face. He huffs and puffs as he tries to find the words.

Realization dawns on Lewis’ face.

“Wait. No. You’re not racing. You can’t… This isn’t… No.”

Every sentence he starts is clearly going to lead to the interaction turning from funny to a little more serious, so Iman lets him work through finding his words.

“Then you shouldn’t have taught me how. I’m not the one who got grounded at his big age for letting me race a car by a woman who is not their mother.”

Alex snickers. “Wait. He did?”

“Yup. Of course she couldn’t make it stick, but she was trying hard to figure out all the ways she could.”

Lewis winces, probably remembering it. Then he rolls his eyes and sulks. “Fine.”

With a much gentler smile Iman walks over and places a kiss on Lewis’ cheek and ruffles his braids, then retakes her spot next to Charles. Though he fights against it she watches the sulking stop

“Okay, just don’t cry to her or dad when I kick your ass.”

“Bring it.”

Anne retakes control of the conversation and directs everyone to their cars. They’re all given helmets, because this is hot lap adjacent.

“Everyone will get one lap, then you’ll swap. This is about speed and I know that every one of you is capable of doing this in this type of vehicle, but I’m reminding you all to be safe. Nothing crazy unless you’re sure you can execute it without risk to yourself and everyone else. Got it?”

There’s a chorus of agreement.

They all discuss who is going first, but Iman just directs Charles to the driver’s side. He looks at her with a brow raised in question, but then he follows her gaze and sees that Carlos is taking this lap. He smiles and nods.

Once in the car they strap in and Charles takes a few deep breaths. They’re given the signal to get into place and they get into a formation that works for them. Charles looks at her, a smirk on his lips that is equal parts cocky and confident.

“Ready?”

“Yes, I am.”

He extends his arm, his hand in a fist. Iman bumps it without question. Then they both turn forward and wait for the go ahead.

Despite seeing it at the same time as Charles and preparing herself, Iman's heart drops to her ass once he hits the gas. It takes a few seconds for her to chill out and by then they’re on the first turn.

Charles drives seamlessly and despite the blur of their surroundings Iman doesn't feel like she’s going terribly fast. Then a Mercedes sails by and then another. Without having to think about what’s happening. He is pushing it, but he’s holding back.

“I’d be disappointed if you didn’t let loose Charlie.”

He barely glances at her, probably to gauge if she means it, and then he pushes it. In about ten seconds he’s passed one of the cars in front of them and is fighting off the other. The others behind them catch up and it’s a battle back there, but it’s irrelevant to the one in front of them.

At every instance he tries to get around the Mercedes she knows Carlos is driving, but despite almost getting past he misses the mark by half a second. Before they know it they’re crossing the finish line barely behind the Mercedes. There’s a three way tie for the others about two seconds later.

And then everyone exits their cars. There’s some bragging and arguing. As Charles and Iman change sides he lightly bumps into Carlos with a frown on his face. He’s trying to seem upset, but the smile he’s wearing is wide.

“What about being comrades?” Charles jokes.

Carlos laughs. “Not here.”

Iman slides into the driver’s seat and takes a few deep breaths as her fingers trace the steering wheel. Nerves creep in, but they leave her the moment she feels a hand on her shoulder. She turns to see Charles looking at her with a bit of concern.

“Are you okay?”

“A little bit of nerves. Nothing I won’t shake as I put them behind us.”

That brings back the smirk that he wore when he was behind the wheel. There was obviously going to be some uncertainty about her being the only non-driver in the race, but as she smiles back at Charles she realizes he didn’t bring that up or seem bothered when she snatched him up from someone who he’d seen do this for a living. It was a nice reassurance. Even if she knew damn well she could hang with the big boys. At least in this kind of situation, behind an F1 car was another thing entirely.

A muffled shout interrupts the moment and Charles puts down his window, revealing Lewis with his own down. He’s smiling, but it’s that stupid lazy one he puts on when he’s feeling himself.

Annoying man.

“Ready to lose, Immy?”

Of course he uses that nickname while being annoying.

“You should be asking yourself that, LuLu.”

“Well, I am a seven time…”

Iman flips him off and he shuts up, looking appalled. Charles puts the window back up while laughing, but she catches Lewis’ returning the gesture.

Again Charles reaches out and they bump fists. Then it’s lights out and away they go.

In comparison Iman’s take off is delayed, but despite the few inches everyone has in front of her when she does get going, she closes and surpasses it. She puts her speed over one hundred and keeps it there on the first turn. Lewis pulls ahead and so does Lance, but she manages to evade being boxed out and puts a little over a second between them.

The next turn has her losing speed a little, but she regains it and keeps herself next to Lance and Daniel for the straight and then on the next turn, she guns it. With ease she ends up in front of Lance and then she’s next to the Mercedes. Lewis increases speed, but it doesn’t beat her out. In the final turn she does what she did in the last one and pushes the car to its limits. The last few feet before the end of the track are a close race, but at the last second she pushes further.

With her speed the car goes past the finish, but it’s a second or two before her brother crosses the line. Everyone else trails by a second or more and then they all leave the car. Iman is shaking from the speed and the excitement. Charles rushes over and pulls her into a hug she happily returns.

“That was great. No, excellent. You crushed it,” Charles says.

“Thank you.”

There’s some shit talking, but they all praise her.

Lewis is pouting, but it’s not fooling her at all. He’s the last to pull her into a hug and it’s tight.

“You did fucking phenomenal, Immy. I didn’t expect that. You blew away all expectations,” he says.

As he pulls away he kisses the top of her head and refuses to let her go. Pride shines on his face and she feels even more proud of herself. She feels like she’s the shit. There are no delusions of grandeur on the level they’re at, but she beat multiple professional racers at something adjacent to their own game and that’s good enough.

“I did learn some things from the best,” she says.

He laughs, throwing his head back a little and then pulls her into another hug. They pull away and Pato walks up, patting her arm.

“Maybe you should be in Nascar, that was better than your IndyCar test,” Pato says.

“Her what? You’re what?” Lewis moves so fast to look at Pato and Iman that he should have whiplash.

“Uh…”

Pato winces. “Was that supposed to be a secret?”

“Iman Marie Hamilton. You’re what?”

He moves toward her just as she ducks behind Charles. With how serious - but not in a bodily harm way - he looks she’s sure Charles is going to move out of her brother’s war path, but he reaches a hand around and takes hold of her shirt. As Lewis tries to get around him he moves with her, using the shirt to leverage her.

“Maybe we should forget this and go to dinner.”

Sweet Charles is trying to de-escalate, but it’s not working and that’s in part because he can’t stop himself from giggling. Which turns Lewis ire from just Iman to both of them.

“LeClerc. Is this the war you want?”

Everyone holds their breath and seconds tick by.

“Yes.”

And without a word Iman breaks into a sprint with Charles following suit. Carlos has chosen Lewis' side so he goes for his teammate. Pato and Lance run interference for Iman while Alex and Daniel join in the sport of being the first to get to Charles. It’s chaos and it dissolves into laughter and labored breathing so quickly. Yet none of them stop.

You’d think they were all a bunch of children and not very much grown adults. But it’s so funny that Anne puts the camera people to work chasing them down for all the actions.

#charles leclerc x reader #charles leclerc x black reader #f1 x reader #f1 x black!reader #formula one x black reader #formula one x reader #formula 1 x reader #formula 1 x black!reader #charles leclerc fanfic #charles leclerc fan fiction #f1 fanfic #f1 fan fiction #f1 imagine #formula one x oc #formula 1 x oc #charles leclerc x oc

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wandabear · 1 year

Text

WISH YOU WERE HERE - WANDA MAXIMOFF X FEMALE READER

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Summary: 17 years ago, a New Jersey high school girls’ soccer team travels to Seattle for a national tournament. While flying over Canada, their plane crashes deep in the wilderness, and the surviving team members are left stranded for nineteen months. Based on Yellowjackets

Jules is portrayed by Adelaide Kane. Here.

Author's Notes: A little advice? Please, listen to 'Lighting crashes' when you start 'NOW'.

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Warnings: death, angst, fluff. This is the finale.

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CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN FINALE

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ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤCHAPTER EIGHT

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BEFORE

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The following months were as hard as they expected. Surviving became harder and painful, especially for their spirits. The girls could barely move in that cabin that was surrounded by snow.

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Despite the care of his sister and friends, Pietro's pneumonia ended his life after fighting for weeks.

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Desolation was all Wanda knew for a long time, but thanks to the support of Y/N and the girls, she was able to move on as the months went by. Guilt choked her for a long time until she realized it was beyond what she could do. The death of her twin brother hurt Wanda in the depths of her heart. Soon they will die too.

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But the one who didn't seem to find peace was Y/N; inside her, the guilt grew more and more. Pietro died to save her, and now she was there. Leading a group of hopeless girls trying to survive another day, and in the only way they could.

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Finally the snow disappears, allowing them to bloom with spring, revitalizing their spirits. Of course, that didn't mean they were going to be saved, they had all lost that hope a long time ago. They were just a bunch of girls when before they were a huge team.

But when they least expected it, one day, a small plane flew over that lake, noticing the signals they sent. They all screamed and made as much noise as possible to be seen until Y/N fired the flare with a look full of hope.

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They will return home.

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“The investigation into the cause of the accident remains preliminary.” One of the journalists commented live along with many more outside the New Jersey airport room. “The crash site was over 600 miles north.”

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But before the journalist could continue, the doors opened and some hooded girls left there to go to the truck parked outside. The policemen tried to shield them from the journalists who charged at them like wild beasts thirsty for blood.

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“Here they come!” One of the reporters yelled. “Let's go!”

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The reporters were clamoring for answers, the camera's shutters clicking every second; the despair on the faces of those girls. Wanda's green eyes widened, completely terrified. Taking care of her, Y/N and Natasha took and tried to get their friends out of that place.

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“Can you tell us anything?” One of them was trying to get the mic closer to Jules, but Natasha just pushed him. “Natasha, what happened?!”

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“Y/N, Who survived?!”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ “How did you survive the cold?” ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ “Wanda! Where’s your brother?!”

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“How'd you survive for so long?”

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“What happened to the rest?”

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“Tell us something... anything!”

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All those questions haunted them all the way to the police station. Some cried with happiness while others were simply anxious to see their families again.

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The first to arrive were Wanda's parents, who hugged the brunette with so much love and support. Between tears and various affectionate words, they celebrated her return but also mourned the loss of Pietro. Oleg said that they could talk about it later, that the important thing now was to go home.

Everyone's parents came for them, including Natasha and Alexei, the big man ran up and hugged Nat and Yelena like a huge protective bear.

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Everyone was again surrounded by their loved ones, except Y/N and Jules who called home several times but no one came. Auntie Claire never left the house alone unless she was working.

The black-haired girl hung up the public phone and walked towards Y/N in that police station.

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“I tried it like six times.” Jules sighed and sat down next to Y/N, who was looking worriedly towards the door. Why was her aunt taking so long?

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“Me too, I called Claire and mom's house but got nothing.” Y/N sighed and slumped back in the seat. She looked around, noticing how Nat and her parents were approaching them.

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“Hello, girls. We were thinking… Do you want us to take you home?” Alexei offered with a warm look. Melina nodded quickly, delighted with the idea. They always adored those two, they were an odd couple but really good people.

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“Umh… we're actually hoping that-” Jules tried to say but then swallowed hard. “Actually, I would like to know… my mother is not answering the phone. Did mom say that she would come later or something?”

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At that moment, the Maximoffs, who were also nearby, approached standing on one side of the Romanoff’s.

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“Everything's okay?” Oleg asked curiously, noticing how the girls were getting more and more nervous.

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“Mr. Maximoff… My aunt isn't answering the phone. Do you know if she will come?” Y/N stood up, looking at the man with concern. “I was thinking maybe you knew because you’re neighbors.”

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“Oh, sweetie.” Mrs. Maximoff said with sadness, as did Natasha's parents. “Has no one told you?”

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“You don't know yet?” Melina murmured worriedly.

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“Tell us what?” Jules asked, raising an eyebrow, fearing the worst. “Please, tell us what?”

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“Oh, girls.” Melina placed a hand on both of their shoulders and sighed. “I think you'd better come with us, okay?”

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“I would like to stay, I don't want my mom to come and not see us here. She will freak out.” Jules said quickly, taking a step back. Of course, she could tell that they had some bad news to give them and she was completely refusing to receive it.

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“Mama... What's wrong?” Natasha frowned, standing next to them.

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“Sweetie…” Melina started and then looked around the other parents, getting their approval. They deserved to understand why Claire hadn't arrived. They deserved the truth, maybe not in that way, but the girls didn't seem to accept leaving without an answer. “Claire had a heart attack some time ago.”

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“She died.” Iryna took courage when saying those words, feeling a deep sadness when she saw how tears formed in the eyes of those girls. “She had a heart attack when the plane crash happened. I’m so sorry.”

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Shaking her head, tears running down her cheeks, Y/N was not willing to hear that. Of course she wasn't going to accept it.

She wasn’t going to accept the death of the person who cared for her all her fucking life, after having seen suffering and death in the Canadian taiga.

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“That's not true, she wouldn't leave us.” Y/N narrowed her eyes, taking a more defensive position due to the pain. Like a wounded animal.

Y/N just hugged Jules, who just started crying uncontrollably.

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Feeling enormously sorry for them, their friends tried to comfort them and the adults just decided to give them the necessary space for it.

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“You can come with us if you want.” Alexei offered them, hugging Y/N and Jules for some time. Claire and Melina had always been good friends, that's how she met Nat.

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“I- I don’t know.” Jules stammered through tears, she couldn't even speak. “I just want to know what happened. I just want my mom, I wanna go home-”

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“Please, at least for tonight. Come with us, okay?” Melina asked both of them, taking their hands.

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“You know that you count on us for whatever you need.” Iryna, Wanda's mother, offered with immense tenderness. Wanda nodded quickly.

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After a moment, Jules nodded and took a step forward, realizing that her mother wasn't coming. Her mom passed away a long time ago and she just wanted to know why.

But unlike Jules, Y/N couldn't just leave it like that. The pain inside began to consume her, the rage and the anger that she felt against this world so difficult and destructive. How is it possible? After suffering so much. This was messed up.

Y/N clenched her fists tightly.

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“Y/N?” Wanda noticed the tension in her girlfriend and approached her, taking Y/N’s fist in her hands. She didn't care that her parents saw it, Wanda loved that girl with all her heart. “Please, come with us.”

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Green eyes looked at Y/N's, and even though that connection was still there, something was broken in Y/N. And she knew something was off.

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“I just-” Unable to speak of what she felt or accept it, Y/N swallowed and moved away from her, letting go of the brunette's hand. “I have to get out of here.”

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Y/N took a few steps back, ready to escape.

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“I’m coming with you.” Wanda followed her steps but Y/N got in the way, shaking her head.

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“No.” She said quickly, noticing the disappointment in her girlfriend's eyes. And yet, despite that, Y/N decided to swallow hard and move on. “Stay with your family.”

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She couldn't deal with all of this right now, she needed to find some way to escape. “Just… stay.”

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Y/N walked away leaving the sokovian behind. Leaving the police station, not knowing where to go, she just started walking without a destination. Not knowing that that moment would be a terrible break in her life, and in the lives of those who loved her.

NOW

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Lightning Crashes

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The hospital doors opened, letting in a desperate woman looking for answers. Her eyes showed the uncertainty and desolation she felt. The place was full of injured people, apparently there was a pretty serious accident nearby. Wanda came after her, trying to keep up.

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“Excuse me? Excuse me!” y/n approached the receptionist, who seemed to be quite busy with all the cases coming in. “I’m looking for Julia Y/L/N. She works here, she's a doctor.”

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“Excuse me, right now I can't-” The receptionist muttered trying to help many people at once, Y/N was about to lose her mind when a familiar voice made them turn around.

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“Y/N? Come with me.” When she turned around, Y/N sighed, finally seeing a familiar face. Christine, one of Jules's coworkers in the hospital, took her arm and led them to another room.

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Y/N quickened the step, noticing the woman's hurry. “Christine, what's going on? They called me saying I should come-”

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“I know.” Christine stopped when they got out of the operating room. Wanda frowned, this was not a delivery room. It was the damn operating room. “We don’t have time so… Look, I shouldn't be telling you this, but I feel like I have to because she's my co-worker and a good friend, and I owe her so much.”

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Christine swallowed hard, trying to be strong. In a job like this, she had often been the bearer of bad news but she had never had a case so close to her.

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“As you can see, there was a chain reaction crash, we have many injured.” The redhead took a cap and disposable scrub and handed it to her. “Jules and Natasha were there, a van crashed into their car when they were coming here because her water broke two hours ago.”

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Wanda covered her mouth, terrified. But full of innocence, Y/N nodded and looked around her. “Okay, where are they?”

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“Y/N…” Wanda reached out to take her hand.

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Christine cleared her throat, trying to be professional and not shed a tear. “Natasha... she died instantly.”

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Her face paled. Wanda just tried to sit in the nearest chair, feeling horrible dizziness.

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“What? No.” Shocked, it’s all Y/N could say. Tears filled her eyes. “No, that’s not possible. She's fine. She's going to be fine!”

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“I know you're in shock right now and it hurts, but I need you to pay attention to what I'm going to tell you.” Christine put a hand on her shoulder. “Julia is injured, a piece of metal went through her shoulder, and she needs you to be present at the birth.” She sighed. “She doesn't want general anesthesia, so... please put this on and come with me.”

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But Y/N just stood there, not knowing what to do. Her face pale, the ringing in the ears again. “I- I don’t know how to do it.”

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“You're the only family she has right now. She needs you, she doesn't know that Natasha died.” Christine persisted, hoping Y/N would do it. “She’s having the baby, you must give her strength to stay with us. Okay?”

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Wanda approached and hugged her for a moment, showing her that she was not alone. “You can handle this, detka.”

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Y/N just nodded quickly, like an innocent child without understanding anything that was happening around her. She put on those clothes and entered the room with Christine.

Swallowing, Y/N blinked as the lights from the operating room blinded her for a second. Several doctors were around Jules, who was already in labor.

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“You're dilated enough now, this baby is coming right now.” One of the doctors said.

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“I know, I can fucking feel it!” Jules grunted and narrowed her eyes, the pain was too much. Sweat and tears poured down her face, a bit bruised, but nothing serious for now.

Seeing Jules like that, Y/N left that state of shock to walk towards her and take her hand. “Hey, sis… are you ready to bring the little bee into this world?” ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Jules smiled a bit exhausted, squeezing Y/N’s hand gently. “Hey you… I'm ready to kill Strange when I get out of here.”

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“Now, push!”

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“Push, Jules.” Y/N looked at her and nodded, giving her all the strength she needed. Jules took a deep breath, then pushed hard, squeezing her sister's hand. The pain is exponentially intolerable.

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“Oh my god!” She screamed. Her jaw tensed as did every muscle in her body. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“It's going great, it's almost ready... Now it’s going to be harder, but we need it, okay? Push!”

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Y/N stayed by her side every moment, smiling, crying, saying the most beautiful words of support.

Felt her hand about to break many times but she didn't care, feeling the pain as an ally to endure the moment.

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“You’re so brave, you know? This is really beautiful, Jules.” Y/N smiled tenderly and whispered in her ear. “You're doing great, I'm so proud of you. You’re going to be such a good mom.”

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The raven-haired girl nodded and took a deep breath, knowing she had to push again, but before reason came to her.

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You're going to be such a good mom.

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“Y/N?” Eyes brimming with tears, Jules turned to look her in the eye. “Where's Natasha?”

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Y/N didn't know what to say, just swallowed and cradled Jules's hand in hers, she didn't know anything. No one told her anything so that her condition wouldn't worsen, but how could Y/N hide something like that from her sister?

The heartbreaking silence caught them again like a wild beast. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Y/N… Please tell me, where is Nat?” Jules pleaded with a shaky voice. This time, tears of sadness began to fall down her face.

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Y/N sniffled. “She… Natasha did not survive the crash. I'm sorry.”

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Jules brown eyes only expressed deep, heartbreaking sadness.

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“No… God, no… She can't be dead, I still feel her here.” Jules begged and placed a hand on her chest; they both began to cry together before the loss. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

The loss of a best friend and of a soulmate. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“PUSH!” The doctor's requests became more and more insistent, they were the last pushes.

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In a scream of pure pain, physical and especially emotional, the woman screamed, pushing harder than ever. Screamed because of the helplessness she felt, she screamed because of the injustice, she screamed because of her broken heart.

A heart that was beating wildly.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ “I'm here with you, okay? You will never be alone. I love you.” Y/N reminded her over and over again, closing her eyes and giving Jules all the support in the world in that last push.

And after that, a hopeful cry made them both look at the doctor, who soon handed the little baby over to the nurse. After wrapping it in a blanket, Christine walked over to show the baby to them.

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“It's a beautiful girl.” Christine said tenderly seeing how Jules smiled completely in love, excited, destroyed. That beautiful, reddish baby who moved her hands desperately seeking connection.

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“Look at her… You’re a mom now.” Y/N smiled and kissed her sister's forehead, watching her niece with enormous tenderness. “Baby bumblebee is a girl, look at her.”

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“She’s beautiful… kinda looking like a red potato tho.” Jules laughed and leaned down to kiss her little girl's forehead gently. Jules closed her brown eyes for a moment, holding the baby against her chest so she could say some last words to her. That was it, all she needed.

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In soft whispers, she said the most beautiful things and the most beautiful promises that Y/N could have heard. And Y/N knew at that moment that this baby would never suffer the same that she suffered with her own mother.

Looking at that tiny adorably newborn, who now had their hearts forever.

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“Y/N…” Jules barely whispered, feeling her muscles begin to lose strength. That was the sad cue to give the little one to Y/N to hold. “You have to take care of her…”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Sure I will. With you, with Wanda and Yelena... We will all do it together.” Y/N held the little girl in her arms and nodded. She didn't even know how to hold a baby, but she tried. It was such a small thing in her hands, how was it possible?

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Jules swallowed and blinked rapidly, reaching out to take Y/N's arm. Her breathing seemed somewhat agitated, quite abnormal. “Y/N, look at me, promise me you'll take care of her.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I promise. I swear.” Y/N nodded, not quite understanding what it meant.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Smiling sadly but lovingly, Jules raised her hand to caress her sister's face. “You know I love you with all my heart, right? There’s no better person than you to do this… I'll be forever grateful.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Do what? What are you talking about?” Y/N frowned.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Tell my little girl that we love her, okay? Always remind her of that. Her moms will always take care of her.” The woman sighed, her eyes closing but she fought with all her might to stay awake for a few more seconds. Please, God, just a few more seconds.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Shaking her head, Y/N approached her sister. “You will tell her, okay? Just stay awake.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

A screeching beep made Y/N jump, the little girl in her arms began to cry. ㅤㅤㅤ

“Jules, what's going on?” She tried to keep Jules awake, but the paleness on her face worried her even more. “CHRISTINE, WHAT’S WRONG?”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“She's losing a lot of blood!” Christine hurried over so she could see what was happening. Sure enough, blood loss from childbirth was to blame.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“I'm feeling a little tired.” Jules muttered tiredly. “Remember you promised.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Please, don’t… don’t do this.” Y/N took her hand and began to cry, begging her to stay by her side. “Please, she needs you. I need you… You are all I have left. You're the only family I have left!” Y/N pleaded, sobbing.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“I love you, Y/N/N. I'll always be with you.” She smiled at her one last time, finally allowing herself to rest.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Crying inconsolably, Y/N felt fear, anguish and desolation destroying her.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“She’s coding!”

ㅤㅤㅤ

One of the nurses came over to take the baby away, telling Y/N that they should take her out now.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Where are they taking the baby? No, tell me! where is she going?” Y/N screamed in despair.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N put their hands to their head, completely overwhelmed by everything that is happening around her. The sounds, the screams, the crying.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“No, no, no.” Y/N repeated over and over again, moving closer to Jules to try to wake her up, cup her face and talk to her.

One of the nurses reached out to pull Y/N away from her, but the woman struggled to hold on to her sister's body. It took three nurses to get her away from Jules, allowing them to start the defibrillator.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“One, two.” Christine ordered before placing the paddles on Julia's chest. “One, two.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N screamed inconsolably, seeing how they tried to save her sister's life but after several attempts, they only found that her heartbeat was no longer heard.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Come on, Julia! Stay with us!” Christine asked, trying many more times.

ㅤㅤㅤ But after a few minutes, they stopped. She was gone.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Fuck!” The doctor tossed the paddles aside, completely heartbroken.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Lightning crashes, a new mother dies.

ㅤㅤㅤ

But the one who was heartbroken was Y/N, watching her sister's body, taking slow steps towards her. But far from seeing that tender look, that adorable smile, she found just a pale and abandoned body.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Jules?” Y/N whimpered like a little girl, reaching out to take her hand. “Jules, no, please. Don’t leave me, please.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

She allowed herself to stay by Jules' side for a while, venting all her pain.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Time of death?”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“04:30 AM”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Feeling like it was all a huge sadistic joke on the fucking universe. Auntie Claire was gone, but she still had Jules. A beautiful part of her aunt had remained in her.

Now Jules was gone, and all that remained of her was this little girl.

Completely numb, she left that room with a lost look. What had to be done now? Where to go? Y/N walked slowly down the hall, until Wanda finally saw her.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Detka? What is it?” The sokovian asked desperately. Those red eyes showed that she had been crying for a long time over the loss of Natasha. “Is Jules okay? Are they both okay?”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Still looking blank, Y/N murmured: “She died.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“What? No!” Wanda shook her head, she couldn't believe all this.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“She died after giving birth.” Y/N swallowed. “I'm so sorry.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Oh my god.” Wanda burst into tears, holding on to the wall for a moment. “a-and the baby?”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“It’s a girl. She’s at the baby nursery now.” Finally coming out of her shock at seeing Wanda suffer like that, she went over to hug her. So tightly, allowing both of them to cry together. “What the hell is going on?”

ㅤㅤㅤ

The hours passed, Y/N looked down, seeing her black coffee that she was holding in her hands. Wanda was on the phone with Yelena and Natasha's parents to explain the situation to them. Of course it was one of the most difficult moments of her life.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“They’re going to fly from Ohio, going to the airport now.” Wanda sighed, walking over and putting her phone in her pocket. “Yelena was really pissed off, but I heard that Alexei was devastated. Melina too.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Gently, she took her girlfriend's arm and rested her head on Y/N’s shoulder.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“I'm sorry you have to go through all this.” Y/N murmured, drinking that coffee that didn't even seem to save her this time.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“You don't have to be sorry, they were my friends too. Our friends, our sisters.” Wanda sighed. “I love you, and I will always be by your side. I'll support you in everything.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N tilted her head to see Wanda and confirmed once more that this woman was the love of her life. That she had always been by her side, and she always would be.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“It's all so unfair, you know? How is it possible?” Y/N swallowed hard so she wouldn't sob again. “How is it possible that we survived so much to end up like this?! Is this karma for what we did?”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“No, detka. Of course not.” Wanda cooed, hugging her.

ㅤㅤㅤ

A few minutes later, one of the nurses came out of the door and invited them inside. After agreeing to sign some papers and follow some steps, they approached the nursery ward, looking through that huge window at the adorable babies in their cribs.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N looked for the little girl somewhat worried, what if she wasn't there? Fear washed over her until she was finally able to recognize her, not far from them.

Wanda smiled as soon as she saw her.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“She’s a beautiful baby.” The nurse smiled, showing them the test results. Everything was okay, the baby girl was healthy. “What's the little girl's name?”

ㅤㅤㅤ

That question clearly affected Y/N deeply, she justtried not to get emotional again. Those eyes were tired from crying.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“They wanted to keep it as a surprise.” Wanda answered for her girlfriend, squeezing her arm in support. “They didn't get to tell us.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

The nurse nodded sadly and was about to leave until Y/N spoke.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Natalia.” Y/N whispered. “Because… because their names were Natasha and Julia… and… i-if you mix the names… I think Natalia sums it up pretty well.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

The nurse nodded, wrote down that name so she could put it on the bracelet that the baby would wear for the rest of the night. Natalia Romanoff Y/L/N.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Is it stupid?” Y/N whispered to Wanda, who just shook her head. “Do you think they would like it?”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“It’s a beautiful name, detka.” The brunette kissed her cheek. “Do you know what it means?”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N just shook her head, trying not to pout.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“It means ‘natale domini’, christmas day. A sweet name like Natalia will always remind her how loved she is, they'll love it.” Wanda hugged Y/N's, both watching that adorable baby. The nurse took Natalia in her arms and brought her closer so they could see her.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Oh, she was adorable even yawning.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“I don't know how to do this.” Y/N confessed quietly, completely terrified but ready to face that huge monster called fear.

ㅤㅤㅤ

And by her side, Y/N had the most important woman in the world. Wanda looked at her with those green eyes full of love, swearing her loyalty forever. “I will help you, detka, everything will be fine. You can do this.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Desperate and tired, Y/N moved from one side to the other holding that baby of barely eight weeks. She spent nights without being able to sleep well, completely in despair.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Please, Natalia. Stop crying.” Y/N begged, squeezing her eyes shut to keep from exploding. Little Natalia had been crying for a long time and nothing seemed to calm her down. Y/N was holding a bottle with the infant formula that the doctor recommended.

Y/N gently left the baby in the crib next to her favorite bear, but nothing happened. Natalia kept screaming even more, as if she was daring her lungs to explode.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“You don't want to eat, your diaper is clean! What the hell do you want?!” Y/N yelled so tiredly, but after a few seconds she started crying next to the baby. “What do you want from me?! I miss and need them too!” Y/N sobbed.They both shared that moment of pain.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Auntie Claire was gone. Jules was gone. Natasha was gone.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Now there was only that little baby left, that adorable little thing next to her and it wasn’t her fault for coming into a desolate world.

She was all Y/N had left of the people she loved the most. How not to be patient with that little bee? It wasn't her fault, and it wasn't Y/N's either.

She allowed herself to cry for a moment and then wiped away her tears, taking Natalia in her arms again. “Now it's just the two of us, okay? They screwed us like that, we have to deal with it.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N sighed.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Okay, let’s try something new…” Y/N walked to the window, looking around with the baby in her arms. She got a nice apartment some months ago. “Your grandma Claire used to sing this… she was such a fan, and your mama loved it too.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“I hear your voice. It's like an angel sighin'. I have no choice, I hear your voice… feels like flying. I close my eyes, Oh God, I think I'm fallin'...” She sang softly, like a lullaby. “Like a child, you whisper softly to me. You're in control, just like a child now I'm dancing.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Incredibly, the little girl began to calm down little by little. That heartbreaking cry now turned into A curious look, those little hands trying to catch Y/N's face.

Y/N smiled seeing this great progress, encouraging herself to move a little like a little dance. “It's like a dream… No end and no beginning. You're here with me, Natalia, it's like a dream… cause when you call my name, it's like a little prayer.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Life is a mystery, everyone must stand alone. I hear you call my name and it feels like home.” Natalia moved her hands excitedly, watching every movement of Y/N's lips, even gurgling.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“That’s it. You liked it, didn't you?” Finally achieving the first bond with the baby, Y/N let out a small laugh of happiness between tears. “I love you, Natalia… I will take care of you forever, even if I have to give my life for you.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

She kissed Nat’s forehead and continued rocking her for a while, noticing that now the girl was no longer trying to let go. She just relaxed in those soft arms, beginning to fall asleep until someone knocked on the door.

Y/N walked towards the door, meeting a worried Wanda on the other side.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“I read your message, I came as soon as the twins left with Vision.” The brunette approached to kiss her then watched little Nat gurgling. “Everything's okay? What is it?”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“That’s from the past, now we are at peace.” Y/N smiled and took the bottle to see if Natalia wanted to try it. After a few seconds, the little girl accepted. “She was crying and I didn't understand what she wanted.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“I'm proud, Y/N.” Wanda smiled tenderly. She took off her jacket and walked Y/N to her bedroom.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Can you stay with me?” Y/N begged with cute eyes and an adorable pout. “With us?”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Biting her lower lip, watching the love of her life rocking that baby slowly, Wanda just nodded, feeling a strange sensation of familiarity and peace inside her. “Of course, my love.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Fifteen minutes later, they were both lying on the bed, watching as Natalia drank her bottle happily cuddling between them. ㅤㅤㅤ

"We've been waiting for you, now you are here. More perfect than I imagined, our house is now a nest. No matter where you go, sunlight shines on you.’

ㅤㅤㅤ

Surprising Y/N with her beautiful voice, Wanda smiled seeing that Natalia closed her cute eyes and relaxed with that lullaby, letting go of the bottle.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“That was beautiful.” Y/N whispered, lost in the beauty of her beloved.ㅤㅤ Wanda smiled tenderly. “You are.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Wanda gently leaned in to give her a short kiss, trying not to disturb the little girl.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“So… How about we get a boat?” Y/N joked. Vision deposited the money into her bank account the day before, so everything was fine between them for now. “Mmm… no… College fund, right?”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Wanda bit her lips, trying not to laugh. “Yes, college fund… And pay our bills.”

ㅤㅤㅤ “And put a down payment on a boat.” Y/N teased again, settling between the huge pillows. Wanda did the same, taking Y/N’s hand.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“We’re not getting a boat.” The sokovian whispered, closing her eyes a bit tired.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“But they're fun.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“They're expensive.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“You’re right.” Y/N grimaced and closed her eyes as well, feeling the exhaustion in her body overcome her little by little.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“College fund, pay our bills and some nice vacation on a beach.” Wanda smiled tenderly when she saw how Natalia was completely sleepy. “There's gotta be some fun in our lives.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“I like that.” Y/N smiled sleepily. “I love you…”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Watching that adorable moment in front of her, Wanda knew that the answer to the question she was asking herself for a long time had already been answered.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“I love you too, detka.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

But maybe it was time to go further. And although Y/N didn't know it, Wanda was ready to offer her to move in together. Why not?

“Okay, Natalia. Hold on tight.” Y/N said to the little girl as she adjusted the baby carrier on her chest. Little Natalia smiled tenderly and moved her little legs excited for her. “We're going on our first adventure.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

When little Natalia turned five months old, Wanda and Y/N found a nice place to live together. Of course the twins were delighted with the idea, because having a little sister for them was something really important.

Wanda explained to them the importance of taking care of Natalia and making her their family. But the twins didn't need explanations, they loved the little redhead already.

ㅤㅤㅤ

And slowly, Y/N learned to be a responsible parent.

ㅤㅤㅤ

She learned that loss didn’t mean having to destroy everything around her, and making Wanda happy and giving Natalia a better life was all she wanted.

Y/N learned how to deal with diapers as well as crying at night, or also with paranoia and fear of losing the little girl.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Sometimes she stayed watching her for a long time, thinking about how much she resembled to them. Natalia hated being around too many people and cheeky like Natasha, but she also was so warm like Jules.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Do you think she will like it?” Y/N asked the twins with some concern, showing them a small velvet box. A beautiful ring was waiting to be delivered to Wanda that night.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Little Natalia observed the ring with curiosity wanting to grab it so badly, with just a year she didn’t understand anything they said, but she could say things like: ‘Mamma' and 'mommy’.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“She will love it!” Billy grinned and Tommy nodded. They were both quite excited, and that made Y/N's heart beat faster. The twins have always been a great support.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Nodding, Y/N knew she had to take the biggest and most important step of her life.

And she did it, because the wedding was the most beautiful moment of their lives.

Wanda's tears of happiness and Y/N's huge happy smile showed it in the pictures. ㅤㅤㅤ

And of course she missed Natasha and Jules a lot, but Y/N knew that wherever they were, they would be happy for them.

Y/N and Yelena formed a much stronger bond, completely unconditional in the absence of their sisters. Both were clear that the important thing was also to give Natalia a beautiful family.

EIGHT YEARS LATER

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Natalia, your aunt Yelena is here!” Y/N's voice made the adorable redhead startle and leave her room, but not before grabbing her backpack.

Y/N and the blonde walked to the kitchen, where Wanda was baking some cookies.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“You better take care of her.” Y/N pointed at the blonde and sat down at the table to enjoy some cocoa and cookies. “If you're going to take her fishing in Alexei’s boat, don't let her fall. She's learning to swim.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“She will master it soon.” Yelena arched an amused brow and stole one of the cookies, taking a bite. Of course, Y/N's serious look made her add, “I'm just kidding with you, Y/N Y/L/N. We'll just visit my parents and fish in the boat for a little while. Talk about stuff… that’s it.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“We know.” Y/N kissed Yelena’s cheek, just to annoy her even more. “I just like to annoy you.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Ugh.” The blonde teased, wiping her cheek.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Here's something to eat, in case you don’t wanna buy something.” Wanda smiled when she saw them and took two lunch boxes and a box of fresh cookies. “Chicken paprikash, mac and cheese, your favorite I know, and cookies.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Wanda Maximoff, you are a sweetheart.” Yelena sighed exaggeratedly and leaned in to kiss her cheek, this time trying to annoy Y/N.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N just giggled and tossed her a small chocolate chip.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Okay, it's time. I'll call you as soon as we get there, okay?” Yelena said goodbye to both and walked towards the door. “Let’s go, Natalia!”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Coming!” An adorable eight-year-old girl ran down the stairs. She was a redhead, like Natasha and her eyes were light brown like Jules. Natalia was fierce, kinda sarcastic and brave, but also adorable, smart and kind.

ㅤㅤㅤ

The little girl approached Y/N, hugging her mother tight. “I’ll miss you, mom.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Smiling tenderly -and fighting not to turn into an overprotective bear- Y/N hugged her daughter for a moment. “Take good care of your aunt, okay? She’s crazy. Send some hugs to mama Melina and Alexei. Tell them we miss them.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Yes, mom!” Natalia smiled toothly. “I'm going with Auntie Yelena, I love you both!”

ㅤㅤㅤ

The little girl kissed Y/N's cheek and then ran to hug Wanda's waist, who kissed the little girl's forehead. “Be careful, okay? We love you, baby.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Yes, mama!”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Take care, kiddo!” Y/N got up to see how the girl ran towards the porch, meeting the blonde one. “Don't forget to call us, okay?”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N remained watching the place, until Wanda hugged her from behind, snuggling up against her.

There was her little girl, ready to start a new adventure.

ㅤㅤㅤ

It didn't take long for them to decide to have another baby together. Wanda tried an IUI to become mothers and after one attempt, they miraculously managed to conceive a beautiful and healthy baby.

Y/N was quite nervous, fear and memories of her sister in the hospital haunted her, but little by little, Wanda made her understand that everything would be okay.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Nine months later, they both welcomed an adorable baby girl they named Luna Maximoff-Y/L/N.

The children were delighted, even though Natalia felt a bit insecure, when the tiny redhead saw her new sister she swore to take care of her forever. Forming an inseparable bond.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Smiling, seeing how Wanda held her little newborn daughter, singing a tender sokovian lullaby, Y/N knew that although life was sometimes hard, it also had happy and memorable moments.

This was more than a happy place. This was a family.

And she deserved it.

ㅤㅤㅤ

And time passed, year after year, full of happiness.

Of course there were some complex moments, not everything in life is happy moments but always, there were always more beautiful than ugly moments in the lives of those women.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Wanda and Y/N had a beautiful marriage for almost forty years. They saw their twins grow up and become good, kind and respectful men.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Natalia became an incredible, respectable, successful and loving woman. Of course she was a little rebellious at times like Natasha, but she also had responsible moments like Jules. She met an adorable girl on a trip and fell madly in love.

Wanda and Y/N always reminded her that Nat and Jules were her real mothers and they always came to the cemetery to leave some flowers.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Luna was an adorable girl, she was like Wanda. Even with her brown hair and beautiful green eyes, Y/N told Luna that she was her little 'firecracker' because she had her adventurous spirit.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N lived the most beautiful years to the fullest, even when Wanda passed away two years before her, Y/N knew that together they had lived a beautiful life. And death, like loss, no longer affected her the same way.

That night, Y/N passed away sleeping and letting herself fall asleep, leaving in absolute peace.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Opening her eyes slowly, Y/N felt like someone was poking her over and over again inviting her to wake up. “Hey, you.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

A male voice made her eyes widen. “Wake up, lazy ass!”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N got up quickly from the ground, looking moved at the boy in front of her. Pietro looked exactly as he was before the plane accident; his wild hair, those green eyes sparkled.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Finally!” He smiled. She looked around her, it was a nice quiet place, like a warm spring afternoon. Though she had no idea where she was.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Without waiting any longer, Y/N hugged him tightly, closing her eyes. Saying over and over again how sorry she was, and how much she owed him. How thankful she was.

Year after year, the guilt over Pietro's death washed over her and she was finally letting it go.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Everything is okay, captain, all that is behind us.” Pietro hugged the girl and smiled tenderly.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Well, I'm getting a bit jealous over here, and you?”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“A bit, yes.” This time it was Natasha, giving Jules a little nudge at her side. They looked exactly as she remembered them, so beautiful.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Nat?” With tears in her eyes, Y/N wasted no time in running to them and hugging them. “Jules!”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“What? Did you think you'd never see us again?” Jules teased, hugging her tightly. “Thank you for everything you did for our little girl.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“We are proud to see the woman she has become thanks to you and Wanda.” Natasha smiled and ruffled Y/N's hair.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“That little girl stole my heart from the first moment, I'm glad you are happy.” Y/N sniffled.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“We are really happy.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“I'm sorry you couldn't have-” Y/N tried to say but her friends just shook their heads.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“We were always there with you.” Jules smiled and put her hand on Y/N’s shoulder.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Closing her eyes for a second, Y/N got lost in that touch that felt so real to her. Wasn't she dreaming?

Suddenly her eyes widened, looking around her with excitement. “Wanda… where is she?”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Natasha smiled. “First you must be sure of what you will choose.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N frowned. “What do you mean?”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Do you want to stay or do you want to come with us?” This time Jules spoke, all of them began to walk down that path between the trees.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“You must leave all longing behind, you must first accept it.” Pietro nodded. Of course he was referring to her family, who were still alive.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N thought for a moment. Her children would be fine, they were old enough to move on their own. It was her time to move on too.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“They'll be fine.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

With a smile, the three looked at each other and then stepped aside.

Behind them, Wanda was looking at her with a huge smile and a hopeful look.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Detka!”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Without further ado, they hugged each other again, stronger than ever. Their souls finally found each other, entwining once more. “Wands… I missed you, so bad.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N kissed her lips over and over again, desperate for having missed her so much.

Wanda smiled between kisses. “I missed you too.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

They held each other for a moment until Y/N felt how they were surrounded. Not only her friends, but also other people.

One of them made her let go of Wanda’s arms. Y/N felt that the time -if it existed there- stopped completely.

It had been a long time since she saw that girl.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Hey.” Sharon waved, smirking slightly. Sharon, Helen, Carol, Kate and all the girls who died in that place were around her. This time not like a horrible and haunting nightmare, no. This time it was a welcome.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N blinked and waking up from the reverie, she violently approached her to stop in front of Sharon. She did nothing but feel her tears fall. “I'm sorry about everything. I didn't mean it to end like that, I'm so sorry. I spent all these years thinking about that, I didn't want you to die. I'm so sorry, Sharon.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

She finally cried, letting go of the guilt. Y/N carried Sharon's death for a long time.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Can you forgive me?” Y/N asked Sharon, taking her hand, but the blonde squeezed her hand as a clear answer.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Only if you can forgive us too.” Sharon nodded and just hugged her. “I never hated you, we were young and stupid. We made a lot of mistakes in a place that wasn't for us, but all that is behind us. This place is to rest... all those pains left behind.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

All of them hugged Y/N tightly, welcoming her to a whole new place. Where pain, revenge, violence was left behind.

One by one the whole team approached to join that hug. Like the first time, like that first time after winning the match. If only that plane accident hadn't happened, oh that team would have been unstoppable.

ㅤㅤㅤ

BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ!

ㅤㅤㅤ

They all cheered, happy, free.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Okay, move on from here.” Yelena growled. “We must move on, I'm sick of seeing you all even in the fucking heaven.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N turned to look at her, confused. “This is heaven?”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Yeah, we don’t know? It's more like… a place made up of many heavens? Individual ones? Each of us can rest and lose ourselves in the moments we decide to remember.” Wanda explained, narrowing her eyes, some of the girls nodded. “We don’t need to understand, just… be here. Unless you are a very evil person, we don't know what happens there.” ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ

“But if you're not evil... everyone gets a piece of paradise.” Jules smiled widely.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“We can visit others, but only soulmates can share the same place.” Natasha kissed her wife's cheek, hugging her.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Ready to meet ours?” Wanda smiled and took the hand of the love of her life.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N inhaled deeply and then nodded. Finally smiling, ready to rest. “Yeah.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Yup, this is the end. 🐝 I hope I didn't disappoint you. And it was good for you. I know it has not much to do with the tv show -more than the plane crash and some stuff- and I'm happy with that. Maybe there are some one shots later, explaining some moments. Pietro's death and everything... So, thank you very much for reading me, it is always a delight to know that you are here with me. 🐝

the cutest and lovely BEES tags ✨ @kaiidth-wandika @yourfavunsub @pawiie @fanboy7794 @sunsol-22 @scarlettbitchx @arcturusseer @imnotasuperhero @chtte @lesbians-in-outer-space @starry-night17 @cristin-rjd @kenlymar @chtte @marvelogic @druggedduck @aliherreraaa @widowwaddles @gingiesworld @canyonyodeler smromanoff @romanoffomixam✨

#wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff x female reader

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