#briathena

The Sophomore Slump

Words: 35,004

Chapters: 11

Relationships: Briar Blush/Athena Dion, Nini Coco/Myki Meeks, Juicy Love Dion/Jane Don’t

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/85168161/chapters/224891991

Summary: The campus was practically dead; it always was this time of night. Sounds came from the occasional bells from the nearby track, indicating a train’s passing through, the flickering of the old streetlights, and the squirrels scurrying through the trees. But those were sounds that one would quickly become habituated to.

Quiet was something that did not come easily on a college campus, even one with less than 1,500 students. Working on a project in the library, having late-night chats around the fireplace by the dorms, making a choice they will regret in the morning, somebody was always awake, even on a ‘school night’.

i went with briarthena purely bc of the idea that hit me like lightning yesterday lmao

also, i wrote this with the image of juicy being a 16yr old who talks like my sister does so please forgive the new gen z/alpha slang and hope you enjoy the ridiculousness sjmxzkhnbdjk 😊🥰

31. “I’m sorry, you’re a what?”

After an exhaustingly long day at the office, all Athena wanted to do was sit on the couch in her pajamas with a glass of wine and shut off her brain. But her luck in doing so was nowhere to be found. 

She was late leaving the office, which caused her to get stuck in a wave of traffic that took twenty minutes to get through, on top of the twenty-five minutes extra she spent clueing up the last of her emails.

When Athena finally did get home, she hoped her luck would turn around. The sight of her girlfriend sitting in the living room – and the fact that her daughter was staying over at a friend's house for the weekend – was definitely a start in Athena's mind.

However, when she was halfway from the bedroom to the kitchen, Athena realized she had misaligned the buttons on her pajama top, making it slant on her body. With a huff, she fixed the buttons as she walked the rest of the way to the kitchen, happily grabbing a bottle of red wine and a large glass.

And just as she goes to take a long sip from her freshly poured glass, prepared for the taste of the smooth liquid, Athena manages to miss her mouth and spills the dark wine over her pale pajama top she had just fixed. 

A pathetic whimper escapes the older woman’s lips, “Goddamnit, I’m such a chud,” 

Briar’s head snaps up from her doomscrolling to the woman in the kitchen, “I’m sorry, you’re a what?” She questions, not believing what her ears had heard.

“I said I’m a chud. I’m chopped and unc. I–” 

“Hold on, wait,” Briar interrupts, “Do you even know what you’re saying?”

“Yes, I know what I'm saying! I’m not that old that I don’t know new slang,” Athena snapped as she feverishly dabbed at the new stain with a paper towel.

Briar looked at her doubtfully with a high arched brow – sometimes a look can say more than words ever could.

The glare was like a truth serum as Athena caved to honesty, “Juicy gave me a Gen Z vocab lesson so she didn’t have to keep explaining the same things to me,” 

That seemed like a much more possible scenario than Athena learning these of her own accord. 

Briar got up from the couch and wrapped an arm around Athena’s waist, walking her back to the bedroom, “Alright, c’mon, I’ll take care of the stain while you change. I’ll even bring you your glass of wine after so you won’t spill it again and lose more aura points,”

“I know that one,” Athena moped to herself and it took everything Briar had to stifle the laugh that crept up upon hearing what was probably an inside thought spoken aloud.