#womensba

pairing: Marina Mabrey x Saniya Rivers

Fandom: WNBA (Connecticut Sun)

Content warnings: Vulgar language (like once)

A/N: Cross posted on AO3! Also tell me why there are ZERO pictures of them and also no fics??? Crazy.

Summary: Saniya is Marina's, and Marina is Saniya's. Even if they never quite defined what belonging to the other means.

dividers by @enchanthings-a

It started as a joke.

First day of training camp and Saniya had already claimed Marina as her vet. They clicked quickly, maybe even too quickly. Glued to the hip, inseparable.

Niya, who’d always been more observant, just picked up on it and quietly carried on. Collected it and tucked it away for her own knowledge.

They were menaces together by the end of the first week.

Laughing together, bouncing off the walls with energy. The kind of interlinked that makes coaches threaten to split you up. The kind that makes you question where the lines blur.

Still, it was normal. Friends. Rookie and vet and nothing more.

Then the TikTok’s came.

Dances. Dances that Saniya would spend almost hours teaching Marina. Dances that made Marina discover that dancing was not her territory, not for a lack of trying. Even then, she still said yes when Niya begged her to do “one last” dance.

And the comments.

People being people. People seeing two girls exist side by side and shipping them, simply because they were in the public eye and it was funny.

And really, it was funny.

Until the jokes bled into reality and neither could tell which was which.

Until they stopped trying to figure out which was which.

Longer glances, lingering touches, eyes swimming with affection. Marina’s arms already open when Niya turned to her after a hard loss. Saniya always ready to be a menace.

They didn’t blur the lines on purpose, but they made no effort to change it.

And when the edits started, Marina wasn’t sure what her reality was anymore.

For so long, she’d learned to block out the media. Block out the good with the bad because the former is as harmful as the latter.

But the edits got to her.

Because it was personal in a way she’d never known.

Because it was Saniya.

There was no dramatic buildup because it was something that could exist. An entity of its own that neither of them wanted gone, even if they never said it aloud.

So it went on.

They joked. Marina making a comment about Niya paying for her nails, even though the rookie definitely did not. Niya clinging to her in the ice tub, fully on top of Marina.

Neither of them acknowledged that it made their stomachs flutter.

But both of them knew.

It was enough for them, for a while. The forehead kisses that they didn’t call romantic. The hand-holding when no one could see. The tiny whispers that no one needed to hear.

The TikTok lives were more than that, though.

More quiet, more intimate. Two of them in front of screen, not pretending.

Comments calling them out, and they never once tried to deny it. Niya would just smirk knowingly, Marina would just give that noncommittal shrug, and they’d move to another topic like they were just taking a stroll in the park.

But it was only a matter of time until one of them cracked.

And that one was Marina.

She’d just been in her apartment, doing her skincare when Niya (who already knew where the spare key was hidden) barged in.

“Can I use your bathroom to film? It’s cleaner than mine.” Marina didn’t blink. Just stepped off to the side, out of view from the camera.

And she watched Saniya film, because whether she realised it or not, she had a gravity that made your eyes snap up and watch her.

And oh, fuck.

She was in love with her rookie.

The video wasn’t dramatic at all—just the same thing Saniya always did. Lip syncing, overly heated eye contact with the camera like she knew what she was doing. Body swaying like she knew she was hot.

And Marina wanted to melt.

When the video was done, Niya glanced at Marina, who was frozen watching her. She let out a sound that was part-exhale-part-laugh, mostly disbelieving.

“Ri? You good?” She asked quietly, voice going warm in that way it only ever did with Marina.

“Yup. Doing great.” Marina blinked a few times as if that would be enough to pin her consciousness down to the earth.

“Okay then.” Saniya dragged out the ‘O’ sound at the start before awkwardly turning around to leave.

And Marina—well, she wasn’t good with big moments.

“Can I kiss you?” The words were blurted out, like she was scared her chance would run away if she didn’t chase it down. Saniya turned around, blinked, and smiled.

She entered Marina’s space like she belonged there—slower and calmer than Marina had ever seen her. Just broke into her bubble and occupied it. And in a way, she did belong there.

“Yeah.” She reached out to touch Marina’s face gently, smile kind and warm and eyes just full of tenderness and it was all so loving and Marina could only think of how seen she felt.

She tilted her head upwards—not a lot, given the younger girl was mere inches taller, but enough to close the gap. Didn’t surge forward like Niya was her life source. Didn’t kiss Niya with desperation.

There was no rush. Just love. Understanding. Tenderness that dissolved and fizzled out into warmth. Being held because you were cared for.

Within these four walls, they were just Saniya and Marina. Within their bubble, they didn’t need to be more or be less. They just needed to be that that was enough to be seen.

Nothing changed in the public eye. Hell, not much changed even in front of their team.

But behind closed doors? Everything changed.

Maybe not dramatically—Niya at Marina’s place even more now, or how there was basically a silent agreement that she would stay at Marina’s. (The older girl would never admit she bought toothbrushes just for Saniya. Just said they were spares.)

Or how Saniya would cling to Marina after losses or hard games, both of which were draining in their own right.

The two of them didn’t need to love loud. Marina had cracked open her heart, poured it into Saniya’s waiting hands. Niya had torn off a piece of her soul and given it to Marina. There was nothing they needed to tell the world because they were each other’s worlds.

Loving behind closed doors doesn’t always mean hiding. For them, quiet love meant peace. It meant sharing knowing glances when they saw a comment about it. It meant being themselves because they had each other, and trust was the relationship.

It meant more than loving loud.

NOT ON MY PHONE

I hope we're gonna se some wedding pics😶