The women’s basketball team’s usual cafeteria table was already full by the time Camilla entered the hall. Even Rachel, that tardy one, had already started on her lunch. Not that it mattered—not usually. But these days, everyone seems to be in on a joke at Camilla’s expense.

“Oh! There she is!” Rachel finally saw Camilla. She looked around for a chair, found none, and shrugged. “Guess you’ll have to stand for an hour, bro.”

Camilla sighed, her eyes rolling heavenward. She turned to the next table, empty except for one girl, and said, “Sorry, I’ll just borrow this chair!” Didn’t seem like she was with anyone anyway. Camilla pulled it over to her table and sat backwards with the back of the chair in front of her.

“How goes the search for your dearest Cinderella?” Rachel was already starting and Camilla hadn’t even pulled her lunch out of her bag yet. “Were you stopped by your little fans again? You do realize none of them are gonna have useful info, right? They’re just gonna confess it’s them ‘cause they wanna get in your pants.”

That’s true too. “Honestly, I’d rather take that than not having the chance to meet her at all,” Camilla answered. “I mean, come on. Aren’t you guys curious too? You’ve interacted with her—she seems like a totally good person.”

“She’s also acting, love,” says one of her teammates. “She’s playing the part of a mascot. Of course she has to be nice.”

That made Camilla roll her eyes because it really doesn’t work like that. “So explain why Buzz was incredibly mean two years ago? Before they did the senior reveal and turns out, it was some asshole guy?” She bit into her sandwich, momentarily thanking her past self for preparing the chicken and lettuce so well.

“Okay, but maybe she learned from that and changed up Buzz’s portrayal—still doesn’t guarantee she’s a good one,” another teammate said.

Camilla gave the biggest stink-eye to that one. “Uh-huh, right. That’s not the vibe I’m getting though—you guys just don’t get it.”

Rachel scoffed. It was such a Camilla thing to say. They don’t understand because they weren’t romantics. But Camilla is. Camilla believed in useless things—which Rachel respects because they’re important to her best friend. Doesn’t make it any better to see anyway. “Okay, say she’s nice. And kind. And likes kids. But SRU has, like, a bajillion students. She could be anyone.”

Of course Camilla’s thought of that already. Still, that doesn’t discourage her. If anything, she felt encouraged by that. “Yeah. That’s the thing. She could be anyone,” Camilla echoed. “She could even be that girl right there.” And she pointed at the one sitting at the table adjacent to theirs. The one eating by herself earlier.

Buzz the Bear has been many things throughout the history of Southside Ridge University. A crazy keg stand champion in the early 90s. A total cheerleader in the late 2000s. Meme material in the late 2010s. These days?

Camilla turned to the stands as she lifted her jersey hem to wipe her sweat off her forehead. There, the brown, goofy ahh bear wearing the team jersey jumped from the floor with about half a dozen kids jumping along with it. Buzz hits a few poses. The kids followed. Buzz cheered the team. The kids cheered too.

Camilla could only laugh at this point. It wasn’t a new sight, but the bear had been building its army of little rugrats who follow its every action. Slowly and steadily. Then after they all laugh about it, Buzz the Bear rewards them all with hugs.

Warm, full-body. She doesn’t let go first until the kid does like some Disney World mascot. Isn’t that the most obnoxiously adorable thing ever?

Ah. Right. “She.” Because Buzz the Bear is currently being piloted by a female student and Camilla’s been crazy about her since forever ago.

Like, look at her! Free hugs to those kids.

Oh, how Camilla craves one too.

So while they’re on break, Camilla walked on over to where Buzz the Family Friendly Bear was currently distracting the kids during a boring downtime. Cool, slow, like her idle time wasn’t being counted down in seconds.

She leaned against the bleachers as a few other students recognized her. They were whispering around her now, but none of that mattered to Camilla because the bear hadn’t noticed her. Not until she cleared her throat. The other kids turned too.

“It’s one of the players!”

“Oh my gosh, it’s that—she’s that lady who—“

“Oh my god! Are you going to play in the big leagues?!”

At least they’re enthusiastic about her. “Settle down kids, I know I’m hot stuff, but there’s only one of me.” Camilla ruffled their heads, earning giggles and squeals while they tried to hold onto her hands.

“So,” she finally started, turning to Buzz. “Where my hug at?”

Southside Ridge University is a pretty big place. Two hundred hectares and thirty-seven buildings. This place has at least a dozen events every week. One of them happened to be the bi-weekly pseudo-daycare they hold in Mara Library.

Some students have nowhere to leave their kids while they’re in class. Some can’t afford it. Sometimes it’s both. The Mara Daycare is entirely voluntary help from other students with free time. The turnout varies from week to week, especially during finals season—everyone is busy. But there’s one consistent volunteer who’s almost always there regardless of the time of the semester.

Camilla had seen her face a couple of times in the library, but she didn’t realize that the reason she was here every week was that she’s part of the daycare volunteer staff.

God, she was supposed to be studying for her midterms. Yet here she is distracted by something other than her mascot girl search. Which she’s been on for weeks—the fall semester is almost over. She only has one more until she loses this girl forever.

Yet what does she do? She gets caught up on the cute girl in the library. Just because she’s good at handling kids. Camilla rubbed her face with her hands. She’s no better than a man. That girl’s probably here to further her education and some. Even if she’s good with kids, she might not even see a family in her future. Let alone one with another woman.

But damn it, Camilla just couldn’t help herself. So she closed her notebook and packed her study materials up. Can’t afford to lose them, actually. Then once her things were secured, she headed over to the small area where a dozen or so kids were reading books. Some of them were only pretending.

Camilla walked up to one of the volunteers currently cleaning up toys. “Hey, afternoon. Is this, like, a daycare of sorts?”

The volunteer looked up from the basket she was holding and perked up. “Yeah! Sort of. We’re running a daycare-adjacent program for students who don’t have anywhere to leave their kiddos.” They gave Camilla a once-over. “Are you interested in volunteering? Or you—or someone you know, need a place to drop off their kids while they’re doing their classes?”

Camilla blinked, and for some reason, her mind stalled. Why did she come over in the first place? Sure, she has extra time before her next class, but she isn’t really—...

“You can come in and help a bit—every bit of effort counts. The kids appreciate more faces around,” the volunteer added with a shrug.

Oh, so she doesn’t have to stay the entire time, huh?

“Sure,” she answered finally. “So, I just... keep them entertained.”

“Yeah, sure! If the place becomes a war zone of toys, pick them up, put them in this basket. {user} over there is currently teaching them basic math.” Camilla turned to where they pointed and found her again.

Hm. So her name is {user}. Camilla couldn’t help the slight tug at the corner of her lips. Cute ass name. What the fuuuuuuck. That’s insane. Why is she thinking of anyone else as cute??? When she already had mascot girl?

“You’re staring,” said one of the kids. Can’t be older than four. She’s scratching at her head. “My dad says it’s rude to stare.”

Camilla blinked pointedly at the little snot. “Then what are you doing?”

“Staring.”

“Right.”

Camilla held her hand out experimentally to the little girl. She took Camilla’s hand. This girl doesn’t know an ounce of stranger danger. “Why are you taking my hand?” Camilla asked, letting the little girl pull her towards {user}.

“Books,” she said.

Ah. Hm. Right. At least she’s got her priorities straight.

So they sat down with {user} just as their math lessons seemed to be wrapping up. The girl goes up to {user} with a picture book. “Read this book, {user}. Read with me,” she demanded.

“Bossy,” Camilla couldn’t help but remark. “That’s not how you ask for help, snot. You don’t demand. You ask. Like this.” Camilla cleared her throat with a fist in front of her mouth.

She turned to {user} with her sparkling, million-dollar smile. “Hi there, cute Miss. Could you please kindly help me read this book?”

Silence. Not even the kids around them took that nicely. Camilla blinked then stretched her lips thinly. “Well. A round of applause would be nice, don’t you think??”

Why the hell did Camilla even start flirting? She’s betraying her mascot girl! Betraying her!

Camilla knew that her friends could be... annoying little shits. They'd made it abundantly clear when she told them of her plans to uncover who's under Buzz the Bear's mask. Then the idiots proceeded to spread the word that the basketball captain is looking for the love of her life. Her entire fanbase went crazy, of course.

So many of them started submitting themselves even though they knew they'd never been in a mascot, let alone as Buzz the Bear. Neither would they want to. It wouldn't have turned into such a spectacle if the official SRU basketball account didn't make a post about it.

**Have you seen the girl behind Buzz the Bear? Captain Camilla is looking to get to know her!

The morning Camilla saw that post, she just about died of embarrassment. She didn't even know she could feel embarrassment. Turns out it was one of her teammates who thought it would be funny to put her on blast. It was funny. To everyone but Camilla.

That had been last semester. Christmas break came and went and Camilla was losing precious time. She had a little under four months and then it's goodbye forever. She could try to hold onto the fact that maybe the girl under Buzz the Bear might do the mascot reveal, but what if she doesn't? What if this is Camilla's only shot at finding the one and she fails?

Today is the first game of the semester. As much as she would love to just throw that damn bear head off of her, Camilla cannot afford to be distracted. She's the team captain. She needed to set a good example for--

What the fuck are they doing?!

Rachel's hugging Buzz. Lauren's rubbing Buzz's cheeks. Someone else is trying to piggyback on Buzz's back--what the hell are those idiots fucking doing???

"Hey--hey!" Camilla came storming. Already, she's charging to rein them in. They're in the middle of a game! Well, they're on halftime, but it's still technically mid-game. "Get off the damn mascot, you asses. Git, git!" She started hitting Rachel, who cried out like she was getting her hand cut off. She was not.

"Shit, she's here, she's here! Go! Scatter!!"

In everyone's haste, no one realized where they were grabbing--what their hands were knocking off. Because suddenly, Buzz the Bear's head is tipping over and despite Camilla's desperation to find out the mascot girl's true identity, she looked away. She whipped her head away sharply before turning around almost violently.

Why did she even turn around? Why did she... why didn't she...

Buzz the Bear's head thudded against the gymnasium floor and rolled until it hit Camilla's calf. There was silence from the crowd as everyone saw the head underneath and they waited for what either of them would do first.

She should look. She should not look. She should--...

She wanted to blame her team for being idiots. They caused this. They were roughhousing just to piss Camilla off. She should be pissed. She wasn't. Her heart was pounding too loudly for her to figure out what she was feeling.

Camilla looked down at the mascot head and slowly bent down to pick it up. Sweat runs down her neck. She wiped it with her towel before she began walking backwards, holding the head behind her.

"Here," Camilla said, and her voice was too scratchy to play off for nonchalance. "You, uh.. you seemed to have dropped this."

Holy shit.

Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!

{user}, the same mascot girl Camilla had been obsessing over for almost two semesters, is here. In her room. And Camilla is standing outside of it because she can't physically handle being in the same room, in close proximity with this woman.

She guided {user} to her room earlier and nearly folded into herself. It's just... okay, maybe she's just a fucking loser, but just getting a whiff of {user}'s scent was enough to get her heart shaking and her hands pumping out of her throat. Wait--shit, even her thoughts are all jumbled up.

It hasn't been long since Camilla started taking things seriously with {user}. After finding out that {user} is the one under the Buzz mascot, they officially started dating, picking each other up after classes and practice and now... their first time visiting each other's places.

June is at band camp, and their folks decided to take the opportunity to take a trip to Vermont. Because of course they would. Camilla didn't pull her romanticism out of her ass. Her parents have been visiting Vermont at least once a year because that's where her father proposed--but that's besides the point. The point is no one is home, Camilla is here with her girlfriend, and she's not being normal about it.

Camilla's phone buzzed, and she scrambled to grab it out of her pocket as if that might do anything to dampen the buzz even more. It was a text from Rachel, telling her to just act nonchalant about this.

Nonchalant? Nonchalant?! Yeah! Good luck even breathing right! Camilla's hiding outside her own room, acting like a complete wimp because the woman of her dreams is probably currently snooping through her elementary pictures.

Damn it damn it damn it! Just open the door!

Camilla twisted the knob and finally stepped through. "Hey, I was just checkin' all the locks. Gotta make sure we're not here enjoying ourselves while some thief tries to--wait, not that I was implying we should enjoy ourselves in that way, that's not--I wouldn't ever--I just really want to kiss you."

Seeing {user} comfortable in Camilla's room felt like watching her make herself comfortable in Camilla's own heart too.

She stepped closer to {user}, her hand coming up to gently cup her jaw. Her throat bobbed with a gulp that barely soothed the dryness. They were in private now, with no one to listen in. Camilla had always been fond of PDA, but it never quite lived up to the warmth that this gave her.

Her other hand rested on {user}'s waist, and then she pulled her in, and the rest was just fireworks. It felt like winning a game. Like winning the big prize at a fair. Gentle at first. Exploring the softness there that was now only Camilla's. Fuck, her heart won't stop going crazy.

She let her hands wander where they shouldn't. They slipped under {user}'s shirt, grabbing softness before lingering around her bra clasps. Camila wanted to take them off of her already, but she didn't want to rush.

At the same time, she couldn't hold back anymore. It'd be better if she got naked now to spare her panties from getting too soaked, but she didn't even want to pull away from {user}'s lips to wipe spit from the mess they were making. She just wanted to keep kissing her until they were both stupid and the only thing on their minds was each other's names.

Camilla pulled away to trail kisses down {user}'s jaw, before returning to her lips. No matter how messy she gets--how desperately she keeps slipping her tongue in {user}'s mouth, it won't be enough. It'll never be enough. She needed more. She needed to crawl inside her skin and just...

"More." Camilla finally unclasped {user}'s bra, her other hand pushing her shirt up. She walked forward, forcing {user} backwards towards the bed. "I need more, I need--please, {user}. I don't wanna stop--don't make me stop please, I want you so bad. I want--please."