Chapter Text
Paige notices it first, in the locker room.
She's not next to Azzi, like their stalls are.
She's across the room, dicking around with Za as she looks at Saniya's Tiktok of her and Marina after the Sun had played the Tempo a few days ago.
Paige isn't next to Azzi but she's aware of her the way she always is, the way she has been for half her life now.
Azzi had pulled her hair back, into her usual low practice bun and there was a long curl that had escaped from the front.
Every few minutes, she blew it out of her eyes as she turned a page in her book.
They were early for practice the way they always were and Azzi killed time the way she always did, slicing through whatever book was in her stall that week.
She was leaned back in her stall, legs stretched out, hot pink sneakers untied while she rested.
She was so gorgeous at rest. Fuck. Paige loved her, didn't remember how it felt when she didn't. Paige was so grateful to have her in her everyday again, that she felt like she might explode with wonder at her luck.
"Nah, they're locked in as fuck. Look familiar, P?"
Za double tapped the Tiktok and opened the comments to gas up her former college teammate.
Paige waved it off, pretending she wasn't blushing the way she always did when people brought up the longevity of her and Azzi's relationship, finally turning back to Za after glancing over (staring) at her girl.
"Yeah, nah, they're cute. They got a while to go before it's anything familiar to me."
Paige flexed a little bit, brushing off how pleased she was that her relationship was so airtight, people could joke about other romances in relation to theirs.
"Man, they're both better than me, though. I thought Connecticut was far from Dallas. Toronto is insane foreal."
Paige pulled her hair up from around her shoulders, slicking her hair back with one palm, with a hair tie around the other.
"Nah, wake it up." Aziaha replied. "I actually could never, I'm not gonna hold you."
"And that would be why you're single, probably. Love takes sacrifice!"
Paige was fucking with her, the way they always did but she was also kind of being serious. Distance was hard but it was a gay rite of passage.
She wouldn't wish it on anyone but it happened often enough, especially in basketball that it wouldn't be that bad and true love was rare enough that it was worth it, to Paige.
"Alright, fuck you. Not because we didn't all get married right outta high school doesn't mean I don't know anything about love."
Aziaha had tossed her phone beside her in the stall, Tiktok forgotten, as she got into her daily rhythm of bickering with Paige who had actually become one of her best friends over the year they were in Dallas prior.
"First of all, marriage is wild." Paige replied, face cracking with laughter at having successfully ragebaited Azaiah another day.
"Second of all, it's okay to be a late bloomer, homie. No worries." She ran a hand over Za's locs like a wise old sage, mischief spilling out of her grin.
"Bro, I'm literally young and turnt. I do not need to be in love right now. Fuck being a late bloomer, I just have more time to play the field, you feel me?"
Za swatted Paige's hand away, hopping up to tie her locs up before moving to change out of her street clothes into her practice kit. Looking over Paige's shoulder where her back was turned to Azzi's stall, Aziaha snickered at the sight that met her as she looked across the room.
"Damn 5, Shep coming down on your girl? Not her breaking up a happy home."
Za cackled before turning into her stall to lace her shoes up and Paige turned around next to her, looking towards Azzi's stall.
Azzi had brought her book slightly closed around her index finger, marking her page. Jess was stood in front of her stall, legs slightly apart in her loose sweats around Azzi's own, still outstretched feet.
Jess had both hands notched on the crossbar of Azzi's stall, leaning in to speak softly to her in a stance Paige knew (from experience!) was a flirting stance.
"Yeah, here you go. Married people can't have friends?"
Paige replied, staring towards Azzi and Jess, neither of whom had seen her looking.
Jess reached a hand down from where she was staying balanced to tuck that one problematic curl behind Azzi's right ear softly, two fingers brushing Azzi's cheek, barely there, as she pulled her hand away.
Now this made Paige tilt her head slightly. She was being serious with Za, she and Azzi had been together long enough that the closeness of each other's friendships didn't bother them.
Paige had Nika, Azzi had Caro and they were both stuck with KK.
Friends became family when you had them through success, failure and the danger of injury. But neither of them had really known Jess that long. And more importantly, Azzi wasn't a huge fan of being touched casually.
At least not usually. Now she saw Azzi list forward as Jess pulled away, almost leaning in to fill the space the taller woman had created that boxed them in.
"Wait, Jess?"
Azzi had called out just loud enough for Paige to hear as the older woman had turned to go to her own stall. Paige didn't hear what the follow-up was as Jess stopped to listen.
But watching was enough to garner Azzi's question, as Jess dropped to a knee almost immediately after, tying Azzi's shoes, where her legs were no longer outstretched but pulled in right under her knees, at a right angle.
This brought Jess eye-level with Azzi's chest, though she was looking down. Focused on the actual laces, Jess didn't see Azzi preen, holding back a blush at getting a hot dyke to do her bidding.
This made Paige both fond and considering. Her girl really was a princess, and everyone knew it and fell in line. But also, hmm. Paige didn't really know where she was going with this but it felt like she had an idea.
"5? You in there?"
Paige came back to Aziaha waving a hand in front of her face, breaking up her line of sight of Azzi and Jess.
"Yo, are you jealous jealous? Cause Shep wouldn't do that, man." Azaiah bent down, tying her laces as she talked softly to Paige.
"Jealous? Me? Be serious, bro."
Paige waved her friend off, setting to cross the room where Jess had smiled at Azzi before walking off to her own stall on the other side of the locker room door from Azzi's.
Paige roams into her own stall, winking at Azzi as she pulled up next to her, lifting one foot then the other to fix her socks in her Nikes.
Azzi blushed and rolled her eyes, going back to her book with a soft,
"Hey, P. You done arguing with Za?"
Paige tilted her head again, looking at Azzi where the girl's eyes were back on her book.
The thing was, Paige knew Azzi, knew her like she knew herself. She knew when Azzi was blushing out of shyness or embarrassment or genuine pleasure. And that blush was the same one she blushed at Jess before asking her to tie her shoes.
The other thing was, Azzi flirted in ways that might not have been apparent to most other people.
Azzi was very capable and loved to show it, almost hyperindependent to a fault. Flirting, for her, looked like not necessarily accepting help, but soliciting someone's service.
It's why Paige carried all their bags whenever they were together, why Paige opened all her doors or fetched Azzi whatever she wanted no matter how inconvenient it was for her personally.
Azzi genuinely was indistinguishable from a princess sometimes, and flirting was one of those times.
Flirting, for her, was akin to having knight tryouts. How well can you serve at my beck and call? How efficiently? How reliably?
The other thing was, Paige wanted Azzi to have whatever she wanted literally all the time. She deserved it.
Azzi was smart, unfailingly kind, beautiful, an excellent friend and sister and daughter and was so, so easy to love.
The part where she liked to be catered to materially did nothing more than make Paige want to give her everything she could, just to make her happy.
By volunteering to fix her hair, and subsequently, obeying when Azzi had asked something of her, Jess had passed the test.
Paige knew it was a test. What she didn't know was if Azzi had done it on purpose, if she wanted Jess or if she just wanted her shoes tied and someone was nearby.
Paige would continue watching. And well, if Azzi did want Jess, Paige wanted Azzi to have anything her heart desired. And Paige is both obedient, efficient and reliable. If Azzi wanted Jess, Paige would make sure she had her.