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cmkren · 2 months ago

Text

— do you yield?

; gregory house x gn! Reader

Unsurprisingly, a night out between House and Wilson doesn’t end up uneventful. Tensions were strung in a-- stranger way, now with Amber in the picture. One of House's grand schemes goes sideways when the person he provokes ends up punching him right in the face. In an attempt to get Wilson in trouble (due to the whole curfew agreement), House got ahead of himself and now Wilson dumps him onto someone else rather than face the wrath of his girlfriend.

And of course, no one’s ever happy to see House on their doorstep.

a/n; sorta just ! Self-indulgent!! This fic leans towards sub bottom house roles, no sex just sloppily making out. Written in 3rd person, they/them for reader! Honestly not too proud of this, but I wanted to get this out 😓

tws!! Suggestive, minor blood play (like incredibly minor), and house bein house — 4.5k words

The plan had been going smoothly. Drinks were going down quickly for Wilson, lord only knows how stressed he had been to be downing alcohol like it was water, and thankfully for House he recalled scoring over God a couple years ago. Meaning he knew what had been haunting Wilson's always-ready-to-please mind.

The connection that Amber had been so similar to House had already been scrounged up, and even House would be lying if that made him think just a little too. Oh, nothing crazy maybe just the fact that if he'd been a woman, Wilson might have been all over him. Her?

The details didn't matter.

What did matter though, was his loss of control over the situation. House didn't know what he had been thinking. No one had been paying them much attention, and his goal was to just get Wilson drunk. Only Wilson. He supposed that he thought he needed to convince his friend to keep drinking? Maybe that's why House started drinking too. And maybe that's why he started picking fights with strangers.

It started off as passing remarks he made to Wilson, the infamous smug smirk that showed how he thought himself omniscient in a sense. That he was so sure he could read people like a book. To a certain degree, that was true. How else was he capable of coming up with schemes that would puppet the parties involved for his own benefit?

Eventually though, passing remarks would eventually turn into what seemed like heckling. No wonder he ended up getting socked right square in the face by a patron. House was always self-sabotaging, but sabotaging his own plans to sabotage Wilson's relationship with Amber? Now that was a little ridiculous.

Didn't change the fact that it happened though.

"Oh-- come on House, I can't bring you back to my place and you know it." Wilson's voice had some strain in it, one of his arms hooked around his friend's (questionable title given to the likes of House) waist as he led him to his car. "Especially not since you started this... this meaningless war." He muttered, the hesitance in his voice to say meaningless suggested that maybe he didn't think it was entirely meaningless. Perhaps a hint to the fact that he did find amusement in it. Hell, maybe even enjoyed it for a bit.

House was disoriented. Not by liquor, but by the fact that he had blood gushing out of his nose and perhaps even a bit of a broken nose at that. "She's got you on a leash, Wilson." He swallowed, wetting his dried mouth. "If I say I'm sorry for leaving you at the pound and give you a treat, will you come running back to me?" He spoke with a certain monotonous that always indicated that he was just being a dick. Everyone's heard it enough to recognize it.

On the other hand Wilson decided to ignore that remark and start tapping away on his phone. Scrolling through contacts in an attempt to make some sort of solution for this mess. “I’m handing you off to someone else House. Whether you like it or not—” he swung open the car door to the passenger seat, muttering a few ‘careful’s as he lowered the man into the seat. Impaired judgement kept him from stopping the bloody nose first, and instead opting to do it when he got into the driver’s seat first.

”Are you dialling Thirteen?” House tilted his head forwards, just letting his head hang before Wilson shoved a bundle of tissues against his face. In turn he winced and complained ‘oww!’ dramatically. “Better be Thirteen.” His voice all muffled by the tissues.

Little did he know, it was the nurse that worked under a couple of his former ducklings.

House usually didn’t care for the other staff around the hospital, but he cared when he thought he could squeeze out some information out of some. That’s what he’d done to them. But not only did they refuse to sell out their fellow coworkers, they had also exacted revenge on him not too long ago. They didn’t necessarily win but they also didn’t lose.

What they were capable of doing, was bruising his ego.

After that, the two just kept interacting. The rivalry the two shared was almost akin to a friendship, but neither of them would admit to such a thing. After all, they hated each other’s guts.

There was a mutual respect there though, hidden somewhere. Wilson liked to think that at least. He would mention it or make a comment about it to House but of course he was always met with a response like—

“Tomato, To-mah-to. Only respect they ever receive from me is purely superficial. Happy to see them go, even happier when they turn around and I get to watch them leave.”

Wilson had rolled his eyes then, taking it as another one of those jerky comments House made to be a dick for the fun of it. The longer he had let it marinate though, and the tone shift at the time, perhaps it had an underlying meaning to it. Or he could just be giving him the benefit of the doubt. Again.

The car engine roared to life when Wilson inserted his car key, his other hand pressing his phone to his ear as he gave his friend one singular glance to make sure he wasn’t doing something stupid. He wasn’t. Just popping some more pills.

”Wilson it’s—” a voice picked up. They paused, as if looking off to the side.

”It’s 10 pm. This is well after office hours.” They spoke with a certain exhaustion in their tone. Expected, to be fair. They were all employees of a hospital, hard to keep up a good amount of energy when you’re running around the place all the time. Especially a nurse.

”Listen, I know this is a big request but,” he put his hand on the steering wheel, grunting when House would knock the butt of his cane against his forearm, “House— you’re going to cause us to crash!”

“House? He’s with you?” They sounded surprised at first before it all melted away, “Oh, who am I kidding, of course he’s with you.” The tone of their voice simply went from quizzical to bemused really quick. “I’m not doing anything for that bastard— this is too big a favour to ask of me Wilson.” Their indignation to aiding him in whatever he was about to ask didn’t keep Wilson from having his foot on the gas pedal though. He was convinced he was going to have them agreeing by the time they get there. If they don’t agree well… too bad they were going to show up to their house anyways.

As the conversation continued out on the phone, it didn’t take long for House himself to realize who had been called to their rescue. It made him scoff in amusement, “oh yeah smart move Wilson. Get stick-up-their-ass to keep me from bleeding out at their place that��ll work out!” He raised his voice loud enough that he knew he’d be audible through the phone.

Wilson furrowed his brows, his mouth agape for a second as he struggled to formulate a sentence but they cut him off before he could.

”Bleeding out? What the hell were you guys doing?” The concern was real but they eventually sputtered and tried to backpedal, “you know we’re not close enough for me to be covering whatever illegal activities you guys are doing!” Which was reasonable reaction, honestly.

“No— no— nothing illegal!” Wilson opposed, having to fight the urge to just knock his head against his steering wheel. God, it was like having two children in each ear yelling at him. House was talking about something but so were they. It just became a garbled mess. Not to mention the fact that he was still driving.

”I warned you. We’re on our way.” In the end, Wilson stood his ground. Pocketing his phone, he would keep his eyes straightforward on the road.

__________________________________________

“You’re lucky to have a friend like Wilson.” They murmured, lips pulled taut as they dabbed a cotton swab around the other’s nasal area. It was reddened with blood, bits of it dark from it already coagulating and drying out. House remained still, for the most part. Pale blue eyes staring right at them, not necessarily happy about this situation either. He wasn’t even tipsy anymore, just sober and in pain.

To be fair though, that was kind of regular day to day for him.

House’s eyes looked down briefly, flexing his fingers. “Yeah? Well friends like Wilson end up dumping you to get butchered up on a chopping block.” Then he wiggled, “or I suppose on a kitchen counter.” Not even an amused noise from them. Just the knitting of brows as they were wary of his squirming to make his point.

They were firm with him, as many would have to be with House. A hand holding his face steady, thumb and index holding his chin so they could tilt his head if needed. House was surprisingly cooperative.

”Well good for you,” they paused their actions, giving him an obvious look over, “nobody actually likes old meat. Too tough, too chewy.” They scoffed, before going back to dabbing the bloody areas of his face. Unfortunately, he’d also gotten a busted lip. It wasn’t drastic but it was most definitely going to take more than just a couple weeks to fully recover from it.

House had his neck craned up, brows furrowed a little as he stared up at the ceiling. His eyes would shift downwards, looking to his begrudging caretaker. They had their lips pursed, their eyes a bit sunken from a long day.

He took the time to look at them though. Oversized band shirt over a pair of shorts. If he craned his head to the side just a bit, he could see that their shirt had hiked up just a little. Resting right above the small of their back, making it so that the front draped down but their ass visible.

His obnoxious ogling was cut short when he felt a dull pain, hissing as he felt just a little too much pressure being applied on his wound.

“I’m doing this for free already. If you want more, you’re gonna have to pay.” They muttered, voice thick with sarcasm.

House let sucked in a breath, “is this about the hookers? Just because I support sex work doesn’t mean I’ll let you drain me dry of my money! You’re not even a hooker.” He winced again, but not because they pressed too hard again. It was more a culmination of his leg and the busted up face situation.

For a brief moment, their eyes softened. They paused for a moment, pulling away and putting down the cotton pad they had held in their hand.

”Your Vicodin?” They questioned, as if expecting him to already be reaching for any sort of pill bottle. House gave a frown, not even really trying to feel himself to find said pill bottle.

He clicked his tongue, “must have dropped it back at the bar. Maybe Prince Charming will find it and return it to me and we’ll live happily ever after.” Actually, he was pretty sure if he ever came face to face with the guy again, he was going to end up with a black eye next.

They rolled their eyes. “I’ll get you something. Hold this.” They then passes him a bag of frozen… strawberries. Huh. Then they left the room, going to fetch something.

”Don’t even bother,” he held the frozen strawberries, and instead of using it as intended he opens the bag and pops one in his mouth, “it’s not going to even work.” His face contorted when the frozen fruit touched his tongue.

He supposed that was effective too. Brainfreeze. Maybe once or twice.

”I’ll just go on and skedaddle as soon as I can. Say, where are your car keys? A question of curiosity.” He called out, already turning his head to look about. When they popped their head back into the room they held what seemed to be clothes and a bottle of pills.

”You’re not getting my keys House.” They huffed, before walking back to him. The grown man sitting on their kitchen island with his legs dangling off the side, shirt bloodied and smelling of a rank bar.

This exchange caused him to raise a brow.

Not necessarily because they wouldn’t give him their car keys. But the fact that they held a change of clothes for him. Either they were just feeling generous, pitied him, or… they had actually planned for him to stay the night.

”Are you trying to get into my pants? You know, there’s different ways to do that—”

”Yes I want to have sex with you.”

The two stared at each other. His mouth agape as if he was going to speak, but they cut him off.

”No, House,” they gave an exasperated sigh, pinching the bridge of their nose. “I’m not trying to have sex with you.” They dropped the clothes right next to him, “you just smell like dog food and shit.”

Then they showed him the bottle they brought with them.

”Ibuprofen? That shit doesn’t do anything!” House reached out for it, though his tone spoke of a child who had maybe received fish sticks instead of his preferred mozzarella sticks.

At his complaint, they clenched their jaw. “Either take some or I’m going to shove them down your throat.” That made him give a faux look of offence, “and you work at the hospital! I’m surprised Cuddy hasn’t canned you yet.” Though the look they gave him made him finally unscrew the cap.

They took a moment to watch him take a couple, before walking aside. “Go take that shower. I’m not taking you anywhere, but honestly,” they turned to give him a look, “I wouldn’t stop you from wandering out.”

House recognized that their first instinct might have actually been to care. Hence the actual attempt at cleaning up his mess. Even giving him clothes and letting him take a shower. But he also knew that their history wouldn’t allow them to just will themselves to be happy around his presence.

That’s why, as a fuck you towards them and Wilson, he was going to stay. Prove Wilson wrong by pissing them off they just have to go yell at Wilson tomorrow morning.

__________________________________________

The bright light of the TV flickered, colours danced along the surface of his gruff face as he sat on the couch. He made himself comfortable in their home, meaning he made a mess of the living room. It was almost midnight now. They told him off earlier, but after him not budging the slightest, they just slinked away into their room.

He knew they were still awake though.

It was that stupid pirate cartoon. Only played at night! When else was he supposed to watch it?

“House.”

He looked over, a clueless expression on his face as he then looked to his wristwatch, “is it early morning already? Wait, nope. Go back to sleep.” He made a dismissive gesture with his hand, as if shoo’ing them away. From their own living room.

The look on their face wasn’t even exasperation or frustration. They just looked done. They walked over, stepping in front of the television screen with their arms crossed. “Turn it off, you need rest.”

He tried to look around them at first, but it was all but futile! He groaned, “get out of the way. You really going to stand there the entire time?” The irritation in his voice didn’t necessarily match the glint in his eye. Amusement, perhaps even a hint of a challenge in them.

They squinted their eyes at him.

It was always that. The look in his eyes that presented a challenge that was supposed to push people away. Yet for people as stupid as those who willingly stuck around House, it did the opposite. Before their own experiences, they always thought it strange for Wilson or hell, even Cuddy to entertain him. Because for a lack of a better word, that was exactly what they do.

Now that they’ve been in a similar position, they understand why.

“Does it turn you on to be such a dick? Surely you’re getting some sort of sick gratification from what you do.” They sneered, approaching him and his smug son of a bitch face. He stared, like he always did, before turning his head and sticking out his lip a little ‘in thought’.

Then he gave a shake of his head, his expression dumb as he said, “my body says no but my mouth says yes.” Then taking a moment before furrowing his brow, “actually, pretty sure I mixed that up.” Just another one of his snarky remarks that made the recipient’s anger burn hotter. It wasn’t even good, the things he said sometimes. Not objectively.

Sometimes they were so stupid that it provided the same effect. The same results. And that was all House ever wanted— results.

Before they could get in another word though, House graciously interrupted them. “I’m not kidding. Step away.” He nudged his hand again, trying to wave them aside. His other? Rested on his thigh. Running along the problem site, up and down as if trying to soothe. Not that it ever worked.

“You didn’t take the ibuprofen.”

That seemed to strike a nerve. “No— I did. Would my incompetent nurse like to see me try again? It’ll only keep proving that I’m right.” He inhaled sharply, wincing. “It. Doesn’t. Work.”

At that, they finally took one step to the side. Allowing for the light of the TV to light him up again. He was sweating, just a little bit, on his head. If he was in so much pain wouldn’t he get up and go? Or was there something else he was trying to prove? Surely he didn’t hate them enough to endure his own pain to inflict pain upon them. Then again, that would be a House thing to do.

Silently, they sat beside him.

House scrunched up his nose, turning his head as he shifted, leaning further back against the plush of the couch. "That’s it?” He let out a shallow breath, turning ever-so-briefly to look at them. They didn’t return the gesture, just staring straight forward.

”That’s it.”

There was a quiet lull between the two, only the over exaggerated voices of the pirate and the princess audible in their space. Quiet wasn’t really House’s thing, though. He turned to them again, arm raised to rest against the back of the couch, “you’re just giving up? Just like that?”

Giving up?

They snorted. “I’m not giving up anything. You were the one with expectations.” Then they finally turned to meet his eyes, “I’m not in the mood for games, House. If you aren’t going to listen, then you aren’t going to listen.”

For some reason, he looked confused. “You don’t just give up. It’s the one thing that actually makes you interesting.” He spoke as if he was the one getting offended. Even if he wasn’t planning on it now, they couldn’t help but feel some anger bubbling up again. What did he want?

”Then you should fucking leave, shouldn’t you, Greg?” They hissed under their breath, trying to turn back to the meaningless cartoon.

Out of all the petty things they’ve argued about, this felt the most genuine. Over an… animated cartoon?

”No. I shouldn’t. You’re supposed to— to…” he paused, biting his tongue. As if the Gregory House was hesitating. When there was virtually no reaction from his uncharacteristic doubt, he grunted. “You’re supposed to fight back. Keep me here.”

A look of surprise crept up to their face. “What?” They blurted out, turning back around to see the man with his head down, eyes flickering up to get one glance at their face. To see what reaction he had received. There were so many things that could be said. So many things they probably should have said. One of them being ‘get out’ which so gingerly danced upon the tip of their tongue.

His head swayed to the side, mouth opening once but then pressed together in a thin line.

This was probably the withdrawals talking. The pain talking. It wasn’t anything he could really stop from spilling out, either way. “Come on. You’re not stupid now, too.” He clenched his fist, then unclenched, nervously fidgeting. “You might be boring but you’re not an idiot.”

”Stop speaking in fucking riddles and spit it out.”

House scoffed, maybe out of amusement. He made eye contact again and straightened out his back just a little. “You hate me. I like pissing you off.” They raised an eyebrow at this, opening their mouth to speak but House shut them up by just putting his whole hand over their mouth.

”Shut up. I know, stating the obvious.” He mumbled, watching them carefully before slowly lowering his hand again once he deemed that it was ‘safe’. “But you haven’t made any real effort into pushing me out. And I…” he furrowed his brows, pinching the bridge of his nose.

”I don’t know.” It all came to an abrupt end. House looked at them as if he expected them to understand what he was saying. What all this stumbling over words meant. There was a certain look in his eyes though, one that had replaced his smug piece-of-shit look from before. The one they were used to.

Too many silences. There’d been too many between them in such a short period of time. But whose fault was that, huh?

”You’re saying… that I… need you? Or what? That I like you?” Shock was still riddled all over their face— a mixture of shock and anger that is. Every time they calmed down he always managed to rile them up again. That has got to be a skill.

A sort of relief seemed to wash over him as he leaned back again. He made a gesture with his hand, giving them another look. The ever familiar House stare.

He was still playing a game. Whether or not his intentions were to simply screw around with them no longer mattered. Because even if he was being genuine the bastard didn’t know how to express himself without hopping through loops. His reaction to them finishing his thought spoke louder than any sort of response he could have followed up with. Even if they said that it was completely untrue it was too late, he made up his mind.

His reaction also meant that the thought of them needing him wasn’t a thought he disproved of.

They relaxed, eyes downcast for a second before they met his eyes again, “you’re a piece of shit.” They muttered, eyes then shifting to his hand that was closest to them. His other was still on his thigh. It had been the entire time. Right now though, it slowed down its ministrations. His attention was on them.

”I should be proving you wrong.” They were slow, grazing their hand over his before interlocking their fingers with his. Warm. Stiff but not dismissive of the touch.

”But you’d see through me, right? Because you always do. You know so much.” He didn’t lean in, but they did. It was like the air had gone still, nothing held either of them back. Not sure House wanted to be held back in any way. Especially considering the way he looked to their lips, ever slightly parted for him.

He was quiet. Waiting. Wasn’t this what he expected? Or— something adjacent?

They tilted their head, lightly lifting themselves off the couch to reach him, leaning over him just a little. “You’re not stopping me.” They mumbled, taking a brief pause. Their eyes stared at his face, appraising him. What did he look like? Hazy. Supposedly, they should back off now.

They got their answer. Didn’t they?

“You’re such a piece of shit.” They breathed out before kissing him. When did the mood change? Perhaps the very moment they decided to entertain his childish game of feelings.

House didn’t waste any time to reciprocate. His hand moved off his thigh, hiking around their waist and pulling them close, so they didn’t have to hover as much. Mouths moving in tandem, both of them warming up as hands travelled up and down and groped. He tried to advance, but they pushed back.

”Don’t you even think it House.” They whispered against his lips, one of their hands on his other thigh and another against his chest. Kissing him again, he chased after them as they pulled back again to give him a smug smile, “under my roof, my rules.”

”Taking my credit? For this? Didn’t think you a thief.” He spoke, but his eyes were trained back on their lips.

“You think I want the credit for initiating?” They muttered, their hand trailing up from his chest to his face. “No. I want the credit for this.” They leaned back down, inching their bodies closer as they kissed again. As feverish as they were, the heat of the moment wasn’t enough to cover the sudden sharp pain he felt on his lip.

His shoulders tensed, what was akin to a whimper slipping past his lips. His eyes fluttered open, and he saw them above him. A gleaming of something besides saliva on her own lips.

House’s hand goes up, pressing it gently against his lip, “you bit me.” There was blood, not too much, but enough. It was the busted lip they’d nurtured, now it was bleeding again. Yet he didn’t find it at all insulting. Instead, he almost looked pleasantly surprised.

”Want me to kiss it all better?” They mused, chest heaving still, and giving him time to either accept or decline. Maybe they should have asked first—

“You’d be sleeping on the couch if you didn’t.” He hardly finished his sentence before he reached for them again, the two clawing at each other desperately as saliva and blood was smeared against their faces. They were kind enough to not do much more to fuck up his lip more, instead going to plant kisses against the side of his neck and down to his chest.

A few red imprints left in their wake, which looked like red lipstick at the time but would most certainly just look like dried blood in the morning. And most certainly not look like kisses.

The hickeys though— that was most certainly going to be a conversation topic between House and Wilson in the morning.

”Admit it House,” they murmured against his skin, their hands quickly working to unbutton his shirt, “you’re the one who needs me.” They kissed and gently nipped at his skin, their hands moving to his belt when his upper body was exposed for them.

He tilted his head back, hissing out a breath as he tried to muster up some words without giving them too much gratification. Looking back, he eyed their close proximity to where he needed them most. “Says the one with their hands practically down my pants.”

“Fine. I’ll take them out.”

“Don’t you dare.”

Guess they were both going to be sleeping on the couch that night.

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sommerbueckers · 8 months ago

Text

𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬¹

___________________________________________________________

PAIGE WAS SITTING patiently in the living room of her hotel as she waited for KK and Ice to get ready. Their plane to New York City had landed last night and they had yet to stock up with snacks for the week. Ice was only going to ensure that Paige and KK bought something other than junk, she knew how slow they'd in practice after living off nothing but Tollhouse cookies and Pepsi for seven days.

"Y'all ready?" the blonde asked, shutting off her phone and slipping it into the pockets of her shorts.

"Been that, jus' waiting for Ice slow ass," KK responded, shooting the taller girl a side eye.

"Okay," Ice chimed in, "I don't wanna go either, everybody else is making me."

"Everybody except the two other people going," KK scrunched her nose up, playfully judging her.

Ice held her hand up in front of KK, moving to grab the keys off of the counter. Paige followed suit as they headed out the door and toward the elevator. She scrolled idly on her phone until a picture of the New York Liberty team popped up, triggering a question in her mind.

"Yo what time does the game start tomorrow?" she furrowed her eyebrows, looking between her two friends.

KK shrugged while Ice pulled out her phone.

"Seven."

"So are we eating before or after? 'Cus everything goin' be closed if we try to go after," KK said.

Snorting, the blonde turned to her, "Is food the only thing you think about?"

KK glared at her, not bothering to respond.

"Not to insert myself, but this grocery trip was literally your idea Paige," Ice said.

"So we was supposed to starve all week?" Paige asked, raising an eyebrow, and when neither of them responded she continued, "That's what I thought."

___________________________________________________________

"--No i'm telling you, we're gonna need more than one family bag of Doritos."

KK stared blankly up at Paige, the single bag of chips being crushed in her grip.

"You don't think this bag will last?" she frowned.

"Dude," Paige said, "there's seven of us here, no the bag isn't gonna last KK." Paige took it upon herself to grab a couple more bags off the shelf before tossing them into the cart.

"We need milk, and probably some break-away cookies, breakfast stuff too," Ice mentioned as she looked up from her phone.

"I can get those," Paige offered.

"I certainly wasn't getting 'em," Ice frowned with a laugh.

Paige, mocking the girl's laughter, set off toward the dairy aisle in search of the items Ice had named. She saw the milk first, pausing while she debated on whether to get the full cart or the half cart. They'd be here for a week, and if she got three half cartons then they could distribute them amongst the rooms. A full carton would have to be shared...That would be a lot of back and forth.

As she began to grab the cartons off the shelf, a soft voice called out to her from a few feet away. When she turned, her eyes landed on the one person from high school she hadn't forgotten about after graduation -- that hadn't been on the basketball team of course.

Myla Mintz.

Paige remembered her like it was yesterday; the curve of the dimples in her cheeks, the faint smile lines around her mouth, the deep brown of her doe eyes as she took in her surroundings. It was almost as if no time had passed, and if it hadn't been for her outfit showing off the way her body had developed, Paige would've been convinced that none did.

"Myla," she smiled, surprise written on her face.

"Oh my gosh it's been so long, how are you?" Myla asked, the same amount of surprise plastered across her beautiful face as well.

"I -- I'm great, how're you?"

Myla laughed, it was familiar to Paige, yet so foreign at the same time.

"I'm doing really good," she nodded.

"That's good, yeah. Damn, it's been four years," Paige scoffed in disbelief, taking a step closer to the girl, the milk cartons sitting forgotten in their original place.

Myla mirrored her actions, the pair now close enough that only they could hear their conversation.

"I know right! I mean it definitely doesn't feel like it, feels like yesterday we were just sitting in Physics talking about--" she struggled to find the words, a blush creeping onto her face from the embarrassment of not being able to recall any of their conversations. "Talking about whatever."

"Yeah, yeah," the blonde smiled as she remembered, "man I don't think i've ever been less focused during a class."

"I don't know how we even passed finals."

"Screw finals, midterms!" Paige laughed loudly.

Myla ran a hand through her hair, her usual natural curls had been curled and styled with an iron, now appearing longer as they hung down her back. A few chunks in the front had been cut into curtain bangs, falling perfectly back into place when her hand returned to her side. Paige watched as the shorter girl straightened out her skirt, her gaze falling to the perfect swell of her hips as it curved in to become her stomach. Has her shape always been that perfect?

When Myla looked back up, Paige took note of the smoothness of her lips. It was hard to tell if the pink tint they held was natural or if it was a lipstick, but regardless, Paige had decided that she loved it.

Myla's mascara coated lashes batted up at the blonde, quietly waiting for her response to a question that had completely went over her head.

"Paige?" she called out.

"Yeah?"

"I asked what you were in town for," Myla smiled.

A nervous laugh escaped Paige and she briefly shook her head, "Sorry. I'm here for a week with some of my teammates."

"Oh nice. Is it for basketball or..." her voice trailed off.

"Nah, just pleasure."

Myla nodded again, anxiously biting her lip whilst she slowly built up the courage to ask her real question.

Paige hadn't even noticed her slight hesitation, but then again she had never been that observant. If she was, she would've caught on to the crush that Myla had developed on her during their junior year of high school. A crush that, let anyone other than Myla tell it, never really went away.

"Well y'know i'd love to catch up, if you're not too busy..." Myla finally breathed out, the grip she had on her basket beginning to slip from how sweaty her palms had become.

Paige, excited about the offer, immediately nodded her head, "That sounds great actually, when were you thinkin'?"

"I'm not really sure, I have some things lined up this week. If you give me your number though i'm sure we can work something out."

"Okay."

After the pair exchanged numbers and said their 'goodbyes,' they each went their separate ways. Paige proceeded to grab the things that Ice had requested before making her way back to her friends. It took her a minute to find them, their place having changed from the snack aisle over to the wide selection of alcohol. When they spotted her, KK removed her phone from her ear and Ice dramatically threw her hands up.

"We've been calling you," she said frustratedly.

"Yeah, we thought somebody snatched you," KK said, mimicking a grabbing motion with her arms.

"Relax," Paige laughed, "I was talkin' to somebody."

"A fan?" Ice asked.

"No, somebody I know from high school."

"Hm, well we gotta get back if we wanna make our dinner reservations tonight." Ice took the things from Paige's hands and put them in the car, positioning herself behind it to push. "Let's go."

___________________________________________________________

Paige sat in the living room with her warmed up leftovers sitting in her lap. The movie the girls had been watching had been paused after they learned of Paige's plans to meet with Myla, all of them bombarding her with questions about who she was and how they knew each other. Silently chewing on a few fries, her attention was grasped by Aubrey as the girl threw her another question.

"So you had one class with this girl for one year and now y'all are going out for lunch?"

"Yeah," Paige nodded. She noticed the expressions her friends held, faces of uncertainty and disapproval. "What? We became good friends that year." It hadn't entirely been a lie, Paige and Myla did indeed become friends during their shared time in that class. Only that was all there was. Their entire friendship had been kept between the walls of that freezing Physics classroom, neither one of them even sparing each other a second glance outside of that. Paige could tell you every single thing that Myla had done over the weekend from the months of August to May. But if you asked her where the girl had sat for lunch during those same months, she would've stared at you, stuck.

"Good friends doing what -- cutting open animals and bonding over their intestines?" Kayla joked.

"First off, that's Biology," Paige said, "and second, the way we became friends isn't even weird. Y'all just hatin.'"

"We're not hating Paige," Azzi said, "we're just trying to make sure you're not being lured out to some remote location where none of us can find you."

"No seriously, do you know who you are? I was on Ebay the other day and I found a fake chunk of your hair for sale," Aubrey told her, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Aubrey please," Azzi frowned.

"Im for real! It was in a signed ziplock bag 'n' everything," she continued.

Jana, rolling her eyes, finally chimed in the conversation. "How about we just do a deep dive on this girl and settle this?" she suggested.

Azzi nodded with a smile, pulling out her phone and opening Instagram.

"Good luck with that, she doesn't have social media," Paige said smugly, leaning back in her seat.

"No social media?" KK frowned, sharing a look with Ice, "Oh she definitely a weirdo."

Kayla scoffed, "Tell that to her 3 million followers."

It came as a shock to the girls that Paige hadn't gotten whiplash from how fast she turned her head. Her face contorted in a mixture of confusion and intrigue.

"Lemme see that," she demanded.

Azzi was unresponsive as she scrolled through the girl's Instagram, her eyes widening a little more with every picture she clicked on.

"Azzi," Paige spat out.

Kayla snatched the phone from Azzi's hand, earning a pout from her as she threw the phone over to Paige. Swiftly catching it, her face began to somewhat mimic Azzi's. Her friends crowded around her as they all looked through Myla's account. Pictures of her in revealing bikinis as she posed in the sand or by the pool, reels of her in undergarments parading around with girls who wore similar things, and the rest were her dressed up in fancy outfits at various premieres.

Who the fuck is this and what did she do with the real Myla Mintz?

The Myla that Paige remembered hadn't even had a social media platform, and now here she was with 3 million followers on Instagram. High school Myla hated going to the pool because the thought of being in a swimsuit in front of a bunch of strangers freaked her out. She hated her stretch marks, she hated how her thighs rubbed together when she walked, how she constantly felt the need to keep her arms away from her body because otherwise it 'made her feel fat.'

Paige had never understood Myla's desire to keep her body hidden, if she had been blessed with a body like that in high school she would've walked around showing it off. But Myla wanted to hide it. Now, looking at the new image that the Mintz girl had created for herself, it was obvious to Paige that a lot about her had changed.

"She's a model," Jana said, pointing out the tagged page in her bio, "IMG models."

"Damn, she a real model. None of that fake ig shit," Aubrey spoke, her voice slightly airy from seeing the photos.

"You sure you went to school with her, Paige?" Kayla joked, using her pointer finger to tap the blonde.

Paige couldn't answer, she could hardly even hear the question as her focus remained solely on the picture that was displayed on her screen. It was a casually taken photo of Myla on the beach. Her curls were completely soaked, fingers scrunching them at the top of her head. Her red bikini top had a zipper in the middle, one that was partially unzipped to reveal her cleavage. The matching bottoms that did very little to cover what she had clung tightly to her perfect skin.

She was smiling happily with her eyes closed, pearly teeth on full show. Everything about the picture was perfect, from the rawness of her smile to the carefreeness of her energy. Paige couldn't think of a single thing in the world that could've made the post better, that was until she read the caption typed below. It made her eyebrows raise, her lips part, her heart stop for a period of time that would concern medical specialist.

'Happy Pride from your fav;)'

___________________________________________________________

A/N: so obviously this is in third person and i didn't really like that so im planning to change it going forward

BUT NEW SERIESSSSS, im hype soooo i hope yall are too

#new series #part one #love beyond the likes #wlw post #paige bueckers #uconn wbb #third person #azzi fudd #kk arnold

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