pazzi long before they were pazzi

Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd grow up a thousand miles apart, bound only by basketball, ambition, and a feeling neither of them has language for yet. Paige, raised between two households in Minnesota, learns early how to be adaptable - how to love people across distance, how to exist in the in-between. With a blended family on both sides, she grows up observant, guarded, and driven, carrying quiet questions about herself she's never dared to ask. Azzi, grounded in Virginia by two loving parents, loud brothers, and dogs that always greet her at the door, grows up confident on the court but uncertain about her heart. She's never lacked support - only clarity. They meet as teenagers at USA Basketball and AAU camps, where chemistry crackles instantly but goes unnamed. Over the years, tournaments blur into summers, texts stretch into nights, and admiration deepens into something heavier - something that feels like longing. As distance, injuries, expectations, and self-discovery pull them in different directions, Paige and Azzi must navigate who they are becoming - not just as athletes, but as women learning how to love, how to want, and how to choose each other.

Azzi Fudd, the 21-year old princess and second in line to the throne after her elder brother, Thomas, always seems to find herself in some fit of mischief. At least, after years of being confined between stone palace walls, she's finally living her American-dream and causing all that mischief. Paige Bueckers, the 22-year old bodyguard that the King and Queen hired for Azzi when she turned 18, always seems to get right in the way when Azzi is just trying to enjoy herself. But that's her job. As the tension between them grows and grows over the years, and resisting it only gets harder, what would happen when Azzi and Paige finally decide to make a move? Would they ever make a move, or would they keep running in circles around each other, like they are supposed to for the rest of their lives? Paige & Azzi Fanfic AU Includes: Violence, smut, NSFW, cursing, death, angst

Paige has had feelings for Azzi since the moment the met at Team USA. There was simply just something about her. They clicked. Became best friends. Now, years later, Azzi is dating Caleb, the starting PG for UConn's men's team. Paige despised Caleb with everything in her, not just because he took Azzi from her, but he was abusive, manipulative, controlling. Paige wants nothing more but to protect Azzi from Caleb's grasp, and that is what she'll do. Little does she know, they'll fall in love during the process.

They've always been close-too close to ignore, too close to let go. Paige wants her in ways she can't admit, Azzi fears feeling more than she should. Every look, every word, every silence stretches longer than it should, pulling them closer and threatening to break them both. In a world full of expectations, pressure, and unspoken truths, love isn't instant-it's terrifying, fragile... and slow.

Azzi Fudd entered the LAPD as the academy's brightest star-top scores, flawless instincts, and a reputation built on discipline and drive. But none of that mattered the second she met her training officer. Officer Paige Bueckers is everything Azzi wasn't prepared for: sharp, relentless, impossibly composed, and feared by every rookie unlucky enough to land in her patrol car. Paige doesn't bend rules. She doesn't accept excuses. And she definitely doesn't get close to anyone she trains. From day one, Paige makes one thing clear-Azzi will earn her way, or she'll break under the pressure. But Azzi doesn't break. She learns. She listens. She grows. And somewhere in the long nights and high-stakes calls, she becomes the one rookie Paige can't forget how to breathe without. A year later, Azzi is no longer Paige's trainee. She's her equal. Her partner. And the one person Paige should never want. The LAPD has rules. Their careers have boundaries. Their feelings have consequences. But some lines were meant to blur. And on the streets of Los Angeles-where danger waits around every corner and trust can save a life-Azzi and Paige are about to discover that the hardest thing to protect... is each other.

They've always been best friends. Until they weren't. Secrets weren't a thing between the two. Nothing was too personal, too embarrassing, or too sad. They told each other everything except for one extremely important thing. The thong that could either destroy their friendship or turn it into something more. A realistic take on a Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd love story-built one real moments, real teammates and real emotion.

Basketball is all that's ever mattered to Paige. After years of chasing a championship at UCLA, she transfers to UConn for her final season - one last chance to make her dream come true. But life at UConn turns out to be very different from what she's used to in Los Angeles, and her quiet, guarded nature is quickly put to the test. Everything begins to change when she meets her new captain, Azzi Fudd - a charismatic and kind leader who has led the team to two straight titles. Known as "the people's princess," Azzi is confident, magnetic and cool - everything Paige isn't. From being the good girl who only ever cared about basketball and her education, Paige finds herself navigating the parties, alcohol, friendships and the unstoppable fascination with her captain.

Love is love. Until the world wants you to break. This story is completely fictional. This doesn't correlate to real life. I deleted my first story and starting over with it here. I wanted to add things and take things out.