Kara was in the zone before she even stepped onto the poolside. It was the National Diving Championships and Kara had been training upwards of 30 hours a week, her season had been great.
She was one of the best 10m platform divers in the country, a shoe in for a spot on the National Team, heading to the World Championships in a few weeks. All she had to do was secure a spot on the podium in this competition, not that she’d be happy with anything else than gold.
The only competitor she really had to worry about was Lena fucking Luthor: she was a member of Metropolis Diving Club and had been Kara’s arch rival since they began
competing more than 10 years ago. Of course National City Diving Club was the best club in the country, no competition, in Kara’s eyes but MDC were up there among the best, majority of the National Team trained in Metropolis.
“Hey, Danvers.” Kara rolled her eyes, she could already hear the smirk in Lena’s voice. She stopped riffling through her bag and turned, scowl permanently fixed on her face. “Aww, don’t do that, you’ll give yourself wrinkles.” Lena pouted.
“What do you want, Luthor?” Kara sighed.
“I just came to wish you good luck. You’re going to need it.” She paired the condescending statement with a sweet smile.
“Shouldn’t you be over there with your team, Luthor?” Alex said, coming to her sisters aid.
“Do you always let your sister fight your battles for you?” Lena pouted, Kara growled and took a step towards her. Lena just laughed, not intimidated at all by Kara “The Human Puppy” Danvers. She tapped her on the nose and sauntered away, swinging her hips.
“You always let her rile you up,” Alex groaned.
“Yes, Alex! I’m very aware of that fact, but she is incredibly fucking irritating!”
“Kara!” J’onn chided, he looked at the floor. Kara growled through her gritted teeth and dropped onto the floor to do her set of push-ups, she kept her eyes on Lena who was stretching across the poolside.
She was shorter than Kara, her body the perfect mixture of hard muscle and soft curves, not the traditional body type for a diver which meant she had to work extra hard to make sure she was perfect.
Kara was tall and muscular with long, lean legs and a natural talent for the sport. That didn’t mean she didn’t work as hard, Kara was the most dedicated athlete on the team, she adored the sport and would put in the same amount of effort in the dryland as she did in the pool.
“Maybe, don’t stare at her the entire time. You’re giving her the wrong impression,” Alex smirked.
“I’m not staring, I’m channelling all my disdain towards her.” Kara muttered, shooting dangers towards Lena who was stripping her team tracksuit off.
“Just don’t let her get to you. This is your last chance to show everyone how talented you are, just compete a solid list and you’ll earn your spot on the National Team.” Alex squeezed her shoulders and Kara nodded.
They warmed up and Kara grabbed her shammy from her bag, heading up to the highest board, ready to start her final training session. Lena was already up there, pressing up into a perfect back armstand and Kara definitely did not stare at her ass while she was doing it.
Kara ran through her dive list twice before getting out of the pool and finishing her session, heading to the showers so she had plenty of time to get changed. She let the warm water run over her muscles, relaxing them, she rolled her neck and shook out each of her limbs. She was feeling loose and limber, fully prepared for the competition.
She heard that distinct giggle and every muscle in her body tensed up again, Lena and her best friend/synchro partner Sam Arias rounded the corner. Kara immediately grabbed her stuff and went to leave before Lena wound her up again.
“Going so soon, Danvers?” Lena teased, Kara didn’t say anything she just scowled at the pair. “You know, your list is really shaping up this season, now you might be able to keep up for once.” Lena ducked under the spray and ran her hands over her hair.
“What are you talking about? I’m the defending champion and my list has been higher in difficulty than yours for the past three years.” Kara spat, Lena may be her toughest competitor but she wasn’t unbeatable.
“Yeah, but your season hasn’t been the best,” Lena snickered. “You’re inward 3-1/2 has been... below par. We both know the only reason you choose that dive is because you need the extra DD.” Sam giggled at the remark.
“Whatever, Luthor, we’ll see who’s on top at the end of the day,” Kara stormed out of the showers before they could see the blush coating her cheeks and went to get changed.
She put her headphones on and laid on the poolside, there were three more competitions before hers, she put a podcast on and relaxed. Alex woke her up just as the third competition started, it was a small one so she made her way to the dryland to begin her warm up.
In a short amount of time it was time for the parade, Lena was too occupied with her own preparations that she didn’t have time to irritate Kara. They both had their own competition routines which meant they didn’t have any interaction during the event.
They’re lists were both relatively the same with only one difference: Lena competed inward 2-1/2 somersaults pike and Kara chose the slightly harder dive: inward 3-1/2 somersaults tuck. It was more of a risk but Kara knew she could score 9’s most of the time.
They were pretty much neck at neck up until the last two rounds of dives, five points separated the top two spots. Kara managed to score 9’s on her dive, Lena on the other hand, scored perfect 10’s, grinning as she climbed out of the pool, knowing she had nailed it.
It all came down to the last dive: front 3-1/2 somersaults pike. They were neck and neck, Kara was ahead by just 3 points due to her higher dive difficulty. Kara took a deep breath and set off on her run up, she knew as soon as she hit the water that she’d over rotated slightly, she could feel it on the back of her calves. Kara scored 8’s, it was a solid score but she knew it would be close.
She watched with bated breath as Lena measured her run up, she ran her shammy over her face once more before throwing it down to the pool side. Lena closed her eyes and visualised the dive going perfectly, she set off and Kara felt her stomach drop and Lena entered the water with a perfect rip entry.
Lena Luthor was the new Women’s Platform National Champion.
“Well done, Kara.” Alex gave her a hug, Kara could help but feel disappointed, silver was still an incredible accomplishment but it wasn’t the spot she wanted. “2nd is still something to be incredibly proud of and the National Team would be stupid not to take you.” Kara nodded, “now, go get your jacket on. They’re presenting the medals in a moment.”
Lena was elated, Sam swept her up in a tight hug, congratulating her over and over again. Lena couldn’t keep the wide grin off her face, smiling from the moment they announced that she’d won the title, all the way to the moment she locked the door of her private shower cubicle. Her team mates knew that she needed time alone after a competition to decompress and reflect on her performance, no matter where she placed.
She heard a soft knock on the door and she opened it to tell Sam she would be out soon.
Instead she was met with bright, blue eyes. She allowed Kara to slip inside the cubicle and pull her into a tight hug, “congratulations, baby. I’m so proud of you,” Kara mumbled into her ear.
“Thank you,” she sighed, it had been a gruelling year for Lena, she was at the pool every single day working as hard as she could and it had finally paid off. It was just a shame that for Lena to win, her favourite person had to lose. “I’m sorry you didn’t get to retain your title.”
“Hey, no, we agreed to leave it in the pool, remember? Besides, you’ve worked your perfect ass off for this title, you deserve it.” Lena chuckled and captured her lips in an earth-shattering kiss, it had been months since they’d last seen each other.
They broke away to catch their breath and Lena looped her arms around Kara’s neck. “Just three more months.” Kara hummed, holding her close.
In three months, Lena would be moving to National City for college and they could finally be together. Lena’s family were incredibly strict, they were hell-bent on their daughter being the Olympic Champion one day. That meant no distractions and no dating, oh and they were also incredibly homophobic so Kara wouldn’t be invited to Thanksgiving any time soon.
The young couple had to pretend to hate each other until Lena could move away for college. They had an agreement that any mean comment they said to each other, they really meant the exact opposite. Kara got so wound up because she couldn’t go up to her girlfriend and wish her good luck or give her reassurance without saying something horrible to her.
“You dived so well today, you don’t have to worry about getting picked.” Lena kissed up to her ear. Lena had already been chosen for the team and they were both still nervously waiting to hear if Kara had a spot.
“What if I don’t?” Kara mumbled.
“Then I’ll sneak you into my suitcase and they’ll have to pick you,” she heard Kara’s small chuckle. “I love you, darling.”
“I love you too.” Kara whispered back.
They had started off hating each other, their clubs had the worst rivalry in the country and the pair were always pitted against one another. Up until two years ago when Lena had placed third at a local competition and Kara had found her crying in the stairwell after her mother had yelled at her. Lena had told her to go away but Kara hated seeing her beautiful, green eyes look so sad. She was so used to them being filled with mirth and mischief, instead of leaving she pulled her into a hug and held Lena’s shaking body. From then on they were friendly to each other, they were still competitive but the comments weren’t as harsh. Until one particular meet when Lena cornered her in the showers and accused her of deliberately putting her off during her final dive. They’re heated argument quickly turned into an, equally as heated, make-out session.
Kara was stood in the shower, basking in the glory of her third win this season when Lena came storming into the showers, tears in her eyes. “Hey, what’s wrong?” Kara grabbed her elbow, but Lena pushed her away.
“Just get away from me! This is all your fault,” Kara was taken aback.
“Whaa? What do you mean it’s my fault?” Kara accused, she furrowed her brow and stepped closer to Lena.
“You whistled during my last dive, you put me off!” She yelled, pressing a finger against Kara’s chest.
Kara scoffed, “oh my God. I didn’t put you off! You lost! Get over it.” She said through gritted teeth. Lena didn’t just lose, she came fourth, she hadn’t not medalled in years, her parents were going to kill her. In return, she was going to kill Kara.
“You’re such an asshole! I thought we were friends now,” Lena had gone from teary eyed to full blown rage in less than a second.
“Your head is so far up your own ass, you can’t handle the fact that you messed up on you own!” Kara yelled back.
“I hate you more!” They were so close that Kara could see one of her green eyes was slightly blue, she surged forward and captured Lena’s lips in a bruising kiss. Lena let out a squeak of surprise before kissing her back feverishly. Kara gripped her hips and pulled her closer, Lena moaned into her mouth, tugging on her hair. Kara spun her around and backed her up against the tiled wall, she cupped Lena’s face and ran her tongue across her bottom lip.
Lena suddenly stopped and pushed at her shoulders, “I can’t, I’m sorry.” Lena said, breathless. She tried to brush past Kara but the blonde stopped her.
“Wait. Don’t go, please. I’m sorry if I went too far, I just-“
“Kara, it’s okay, you didn’t go too far. It’s just my parents don’t approve of... this.” She gestured between the two of them.
“Screw them! Do you want this?” Kara circled her wrists and ducked her head to look into Lena’s eyes. She searched her eyes and dropped her gaze down to her parted lips.
“Yes,” Kara backed away, leading Lena towards the shower cubicle. She locked the door and recaptured her lips.
After that day, Kara had asked for Lena’s number and the rest was history.
They still had to keep up the facade until Lena moved, but Kara quite enjoyed the sneaking around, it meant she could have Lena all to herself and with everyone knowing she was off limits already, she didn’t have to worry about anyone else trying to worm their way in. Not that it would worry her anyway, Lena was head over heels for Kara and vice versa.
“You think you can sneak out of your hotel tonight?” Kara asked.
“Mhmm, Sam is usually out like a light after a day of competing,” Kara began swaying slightly, soothing the girl in her arms.
“Meet you in the parking lot at 9?” Kara suggested, Lena nodded. “It’s a date and I can’t wait to spoil the new National Champion!” Kara grinned.
