Chapter Text
When college kids need a way to make money, they usually deliver pizzas, flip burgers, wait tables, or sell tickets at the theaters. Those jobs are great and all, but compared to what Kara does, they’re… a little mundane, and pay way less.
Not a lot of people think she has a good job. They’re fair to say it has more cons than pros. After all, it’s guaranteed to get you hurt, it’s dangerous, and━you’ll love this one━it’s illegal .
But that sort of makes it a lot more interesting; for the fighters, the ones placing bets, and the heads managing everything in between. Kara happens to fall in the first category.
A fighter.
Hank likes to brag that she's his best one, that she's even better than the boys he brings in. Kara tries to pay him no mind. It’s probably only because she bring in the most money each night, and he owes that to people underestimating her. Most bet against Kara. They see her and think, ooh a girl. Easy money . But eventually, they learn not to underestimate her.
It all takes place underground in the stripclub on Pacific and Montgomery, placed in the far corner of town as if it was meant to be hidden away. Hank says after he bought the building and finished installing everything, the last thing he needed was a name to complete it.
He turned on the neon lights that accompanied the empty space where the sign should be. It glowed, dark-blue and purplish in hue.
That’s when he decided to name it Indigo .
Those who aren’t in on the business don’t suspect much from the place besides pretty girls on the poles and good drinks. But to those in the know, the real fun happens underground.
***
The only time Kara makes eye contact with the other fighter in the ring is at the beginning of the match. Most of the girls that work for Hank are upstairs as strippers, servers, or bartenders. Not a lot of them are down here like her, so most of them are new faces━challengers .
They give Kara one look, and then she finds out everything there is to know about them. She can tell if they’re ready, excited, scared. She sees how much they want to beat her, how hard they want the money promised to them if they managed to win.
But they usually don’t. It’s rare they ever do.
Once the bell rings, Kara's eyes are on their stomach. At the slightest movement, their core gives them away. She's blocking their punch and throwing her own before it can even come close to touching her.
Challengers aren’t usually much of a challenge at all. But tonight, hers had endurance. She knew how to dodge and block, and she lasted until the eighth round before Kara got annoyed and knocked her out.
People were already out of their seats going wild before she hit the floor of the ring. The overhead speakers declared Kara the winner, but she was already walking off. All she could think about was the 7am class she had to attend the next day
***
Lena's alarm was so damn loud.
She slapped it quiet and turned over in bed. She's had to haul some ass for the past couple days juggling shifts and schoolwork (National University can stuff it up their━), but hey it was all worth it.
Now she has more than enough for rent and she could put the rest into savings… or maybe she could go shopping…
Lena pulled the covers over herself, trying to go back to sleep but every time she closed her eyes all she could see was the haze of Indigo’s bluish-purple neon lights, wrapping her legs around poles, and fishing out the cash that eager customers left in her thong.
She opened her weary eyes and forced herself up.
*
Jess has been Lena's #1 since sophomore year of high school and honestly, since then nothing has changed. She’s just as confident, wild at parties, boy crazy, and responsible as she has been since they've met.
Actually, one thing that did change was her love for tea.
Jess and Lena had so much coffee during their first year of college that it basically coursed through their veins. Believe it or not, it’s easy to get sick of it when you have it as often as they did.
One of their friends at the cafe on campus introduced them to tea and boba and Lena swore it saved them from their coffee addiction only to throw them into a different one.
The two had some time before their classes started so they went down to the cafe to grab some breakfast. Their usual? BBS baby. Bagel. Breakfast. Sandwiches. Whenever Jess bit into hers, crumbs and toppings scattered everywhere on the table and her lap. It made Lena laugh every single time.
Something across the room caught her eye. When she recognized who it was, Lena nearly hid under the table to avoid being seen.
Jess questioned her actions and looked around. “What are you doi━”
Kara strolled into the cafe and stood in line, eyes on the menu. Lena pulled at Jess’s sleeve, harshly whispering for them to make their great escape, but Jess yanked her arm away from Lena's grasp.
“Oh will you just relax ?” she snapped. “There’s plenty of people here. You’re fine.”
She bit into her sandwich, scattering more crumbs and Lena glared at her.
“We dated for years , we could recognize each other from a mile away!”
Jess gave her a scolding look. “Well maybe if she sees you, you can finally stop avoiding her. Maybe you could even man up and talk to her.”
Lena shook her head. “No, she doesn’t want to talk to me. She hates me! I’d hate me too after the way I broke up with her.”
Jess shrugged. Lena didn’t understand how she could just keep eating during a crisis like this.
“Then you can apologize and you can both move on.” She raised her eyebrows at Lena before she could even try to form her rebuttal.
Lena rolled her eyes. “You really suck.”
She kept her eyes on Kara as they remained in the cafe, somewhat paranoid that Kara's glance would catch onto her like a lit Las Vegas sign against the dark night sky. Lena didn't even know what she'd say to her if they actually ran into each other.
Eventually though, Kara got her drink and left, and Lena was able to breathe a sigh of relief.