Pairing: Y/N x Paige Bueckers
Fandom: WNBA- Dallas Wings
Summary: naps aren’t just for toddlers
🏷️: @aubreygriffin , @authentic-girl03 , @atimelessheaven , @azziswrld , @buecker5s , @bueckersbucket , @cowboybueckers , @courtsidewithlani , @elalfywhore, @evry1luvzzae , @fairyblossomsav , @gabischeeseballs , @graceeeeeesblog , @iowahawkeyes22 , @intoblonde6ftwbbplayers , @issilovesherself , @iloveyou-lu , @jadasogay , @jupitermoonbaby , @kaliblazin , @kamspeaks , @latenighttalkinqwp , @lessi-lover , @let-zizi-yap , @lightsgore , @marleymarleymarleymarley ,@melpthatsme , @nicebellee , @paxaz535 , @paigeluvvr , @paigeshirleytemple , @private-but-not-a-secret , @runfor-roses , @sayurireidotcom ,@sitawita , @starfulani , @tenaciousglitternerd , @thatonesuschix , @unknowgirlypop , @vamptizm , @wbbszn , @yailtsv
I was convinced my girlfriend was part toddler.
Not because she was immature…far from it actually. Paige had somehow managed to become one of the most disciplined people I knew.
She woke up before her alarms, hell that if she sets any, meal prepped like her life depended on it, when she wasn’t being a big procrastinator.
She had her assistant/manager color-coded her schedules.
But, yet somehow she still had a way for balancing being a professional basketball player gearing up for year two in the W while still remembering things like my favorite coffee order and which gas station had the best fountain ice. All while planning a wedding on top of it all.
Now, she was a toddler because if her nap schedule got disrupted, everybody suffered.
And today? Today was shaping up to be catastrophic. Our day had started at seven in the morning sharp. Not “around seven.” Not “we should probably get moving soon.”
Because Paige had sat up in bed like she’d been activated by military command, stretched dramatically, kissed my forehead, and announced, “Big errand day, baby. Up.”
I had groaned into my pillow.
“Respectfully,” I mumbled, voice muffled, “leave me alone.” She laughed, already climbing out of bed. “Nope. You made the list.”
And unfortunately, I had.
So now here I was, twelve hours later, regretting every life choice that had led me here. By 7:45, we were already dressed and out the door.
Paige looked disgustingly put together for someone who had barely been awake forty-five minutes. Black jorts, oversized hoodie, sneakers so white they practically glowed.
Meanwhile, I looked like a woman being held hostage by capitalism. Braids thrown into a messy bun. Sweatpants. Emotional damage.
“You look cute,” Paige said, handing me my coffee as she drove.
“I’m literally obsessed with you.”
I took a sip of my coffee and narrowed my eyes at her. “Flattery won’t erase the fact that you kidnapped me before sunrise.”
“That is sunrise-adjacent.”
The first stop was the dry cleaners.
Then the pet store because apparently our dog needed “better enrichment toys.”
Then a stop to drop off packages.
Then a bridal supply store because my bridal shower was coming up and suddenly my life had become ribbons, pastel tissue paper, tiny labels, and aggressively cute party favors.
By noon, I could already feel Paige shifting.
There was a subtle change in her aura.
It started when she checked her phone.
Her lips pressed together.
We were walking through another store, grabbing little glass jars and decorative tags, when I noticed Paige getting quieter.
Normally, shopping with Paige was like bringing a Labrador into public.
Commentary on everything.
Picking things up and asking if we needed them when we very obviously did not.
Sneaking snacks into the cart.
She trailed behind me, hands shoved into her pocket.
Her head lifted immediately.
“You’re doing the thing.”
“The thing where your nap is being delayed and suddenly the world is your enemy.”
I stopped walking and turned to face her fully.
“My nap time was supposed to start at one.”
“Oh no,” I said, fake serious. “A national emergency.”
“You’re joking, but my body has a system.”
Paige’s recovery schedule was sacred.
Sleep, nutrition, hydration, treatment, workouts—everything mattered.
Especially with preseason prep ramping up.
It was objectively funny watching a six-foot-tall professional athlete become emotionally compromised because she missed her nap window.
“You wanna go to lunch and then head home?” I asked.
Her entire face softened slightly.
Like I had just offered her salvation.
So lunch became our final outing.
We grabbed food at one of our usual spots, something quick and easy, and by then Paige was running solely on vibes and desperation.
She leaned against me in the booth while waiting for our food.
“You’re literally using me as a pillow.”
I smiled, playing with the strings of her hoodie.
“You’ve been up since seven.”
“Yeah, but I’m built different.”
Mostly because Paige barely talked.
And looked increasingly like someone counting down to freedom.
By the time we loaded groceries into the trunk and got home, she was practically vibrating.
The second we got inside, grocery bags still sitting by the door, Paige kicked off her shoes.
She turned toward me with sleepy eyes and messy cap hair.
“Babe,” she announced, already walking backward toward our bedroom, “I’m gonna nap. See you in a bit.”
She paused dramatically in the hallway.
“We still have stuff to do.”
Her expression dropped into betrayal.
“We still have to unpack groceries, drop off those decorations to the decorators, finish party favors, and I need to pick up the bakery order form.”
Then shook her head like I was speaking another language.
“No, I physically cannot absorb this information right now.”
She pointed at me accusingly.
“Do not laugh at my suffering.”
“I have been fighting for my life since 1:00 p.m.”
Then before I could say anything else, Paige crossed the room, wrapped both arms around my waist, and buried her face into my neck.
“They’ll still exist in two hours.”
She pulled back and looked at me with sleepy determination.
“That is not a short nap.”
Because sleepy Paige was impossible to resist.
“Compromise,” she said confidently. “Two.”
“That’s not a compromise.”
She was already dragging me toward the bedroom.
“It is if you stop resisting.”
Somehow, despite all logic, I ended up under our blankets fifteen minutes later.
Paige was spooned behind me, one arm heavy over my waist, face pressed into the back of my neck.
She sighed like a woman who had finally reached heaven.
I rolled over to face her.
Her eyes were already half closed.
She cracked one eye open.
“You’re ruining the energy.”
“I have responsibilities.”
“You have a fiancé who needs emotional support.”
I snatched my phone from the nightstand anyway.
Set a forty-five minute alarm.
Paige made a wounded sound.
She grumbled something unintelligible and tucked me closer.
Like the kind of sleep where your body completely powers down.
Paige breathing softly against me.
I groaned and blindly reached for my phone.
Before I could even grab it, a sleepy voice mumbled from behind me.
“Shut that off and go back to sleep.”
Paige tightened her hold on me.
She buried her face deeper into my shoulder.
“My body still has another hour and a half, babe.”
She looked impossibly soft.
Hair sticking up everywhere.
She groaned like I’d broken her heart.
Then blindly reached toward her nightstand, grabbed her wallet, and shoved it vaguely in my direction without opening her eyes.
“Use my card for whatever else needs to be done.”
“Sleep is still calling my name.”
She was already gone again.
Fully asleep within seconds.
So I slipped out of bed quietly and got moving.
Dropped off some decorations.
Ran to grab a few last-minute things.
By the time I got back, the apartment was quiet.
Two-hour nap supremacy, apparently.
Not wanting to wake her, I set up camp in the living room.
Spread out all my bridal shower supplies across the coffee table.
Everything looked like a craft store had exploded.
I sat cross-legged on the couch, focused on assembling party favors.
Until exhaustion started creeping back in.
Because apparently my forty-five minute nap had not been enough.
My eyes started drooping.
Then leaned back against the couch cushions for just a second.
Apparently, famous last words.
I shot upright so fast I nearly launched myself off the couch.
I blinked wildly, disoriented.
And found Paige standing in the kitchen looking far too amused.
A container had apparently fallen off the counter.
She was holding it in one hand, eyebrow raised.
I pressed a hand to my chest.
A full-body, slightly evil laugh.
She walked over, still grinning.
“This,” she said, gesturing at me sprawled among ribbons and tissue paper, “is why we take two-hour naps with no alarms, baby.”
She leaned down, kissed my forehead.
“No, seriously. Look at you.”
“You were asleep sitting up.”
“That is none of your business.”
Then glanced around at my progress.
Because beneath all the teasing, Paige was stupidly sweet.
She sat beside me on the couch, one arm draping over the back cushion.
“You should’ve woken me.”
“You needed your sacred recovery nap.”
She grabbed one of the unfinished favors.
She looked at me like I was ridiculous for even asking.
“This is your bridal shower.”
“Our bridal shower,” I corrected.
Something warm bloomed in my chest.
Because moments like this always got me.
Paige freshly awake from a nap, hair a disaster, sitting beside me in one of my oversized hoodies while helping tie tiny ribbons onto party favors.
Domesticity was dangerous.
“Okay, don’t mess this up.”
“You have athlete hands.”
“Your fine motor skills are questionable.”
Still, she concentrated hard.
Tongue peeking slightly between her lips as she tied a bow with unnecessary intensity.
When she finished, she held it up proudly.
She leaned over and nudged my shoulder.
We settled into an easy rhythm.
Soft music playing from the speaker.
The occasional rustle of tissue paper.
Our knees bumping under the coffee table.
Paige stealing pieces of candy meant for gift bags.
And for a while, everything just felt…quiet.
The kind of love that lived in ordinary moments.
Paige glanced at me while tying another ribbon.
“You know,” she said casually, “you were kind of cute sleeping out here.”
“You had tissue paper stuck to your face.”
“That does not sound cute.”
She leaned over and kissed me softly.
Sleep-warm lips and lingering affection.
When she pulled back, she rested her forehead against mine.
“Thanks for letting me nap.”
“You say that like I had a choice.”
“No, you would’ve become unbearable.”
By the time we finished the last party favor, the coffee table was finally visible again.
Paige stretched dramatically.
She looked proud like she’d completed manual labor.
I started gathering supplies.
Paige gently took things from my hands.
“We can clean the rest tomorrow.”
It was later than I thought.
The day had somehow slipped by.
Paige stood and offered me her hand.
“Post-errand survival reward.”
Now that got my attention.
We ended up in the kitchen making late-night mug brownies while leaning into each other and stealing bites of batter.
At one point Paige got chocolate on my nose.
Soon enough we were both laughing like idiots.
When our brownies were finally done, we curled up on the couch together.
Dessert balanced on our knees.
The apartment dim and cozy.
Paige tucked me into her side.
“You gonna rub it in that your nap was superior?”
She kissed the top of my head.
“You are never letting this go.”
She sounded far too pleased with herself.
I shook my head, smiling into her shoulder.
-Thank You For Reading!💚💙
