Chapter Text
Lena Luthor was a consummate professional. She had worked for many sports teams before in several different sports, like football, basketball, baseball and tennis. Most recently, she had been working in soccer, a game completely unfamiliar to her 2 years ago.
Her employment contract as a sports nutritionist and medic for the up-and-coming National City Women’s Soccer Club was originally only for one season. She was incredibly glad and a little surprised to see it had been extended for another season due to her high performance.
Many of the clubs’ players had told the manager, Cat Grant, about Lena’s care and attention and insisted she be kept on. Cat had a reputation for being a strict but effective leader and manager. Under her supervision, the club had gone from being ranked in the bottom 5 out of 15 for every year the club had been active. In just one season, she was able to take the club’s league table ranking from 12 to 5th.
Media outlets reported it as being a significant improvement and achievement and listed the team as one of the clubs to watch out for in the coming seasons. Adidas, Emirates and many other large corporations had just announced a sponsorship of the team too.
When Lena told her best friends all of this and the news of her unexpected contract renewal, Sam laughed.
“Look at you! Not even a few months ago, you didn’t even know what a penalty was!” Sam laughed.
“Hey, c’mon! That is such a dramatic exaggeration. I wasn’t that bad, guys.” Lena groans.
“I think I once heard you refer to a goal as a touchdown, in all fairness,” Jess replies.
“I picked things up pretty quickly, though,” Lena said, trying to defend herself.
She was aware she was probably coming across as whining a little bit like a petulant child.
“All jokes aside, we’re proud of you. It’s a good accomplishment.” Sam said warmly.
There wasn’t a trace of irony or mocking in her tone or voice. Lena smiled at her best friend.
The tight-knit group of women then ordered another round of drinks.
“How are you feeling about the upcoming season then?” Jess asked interestedly. “I heard they’ve signed a bunch of new up-and-coming players in the line-up and there seems to be one who is very mysterious and particularly talked about in the media right now.”
Lena chose to ignore Jess's last comment. “The last season was such a whirlwind. Cat mentioned in a club-wide email she plans to really crank up the hours the team spends training and preparing. The more time and effort the players put in, the more likely they’ll need physical therapy and a closer eye on their health and nutrition.”
“You are no fun,” Andrea complained. “I’m with Jess. I think the new girls are interesting. Have you heard they signed their youngest player ever? She’s only like 22.”
“No,” Lena frowned. “I don’t really keep up with the mainstream sports news. It can be really intense, and it distracts me from the job sometimes,” the brunette admitted.
Andrea shoved her phone in Lena’s face. It was opened to a local newspaper's most recent article, dated a few days ago. The headline read, “NCWSC sign hotshot player Kara Danvers!” The picture showed a blonde woman from the waist up in a dapper navy blue suit, smiling and holding up a jersey with the number 10 on the back and “Danvers” in lettering above it.
The player was undeniably beautiful, with warm blue eyes, wavy blonde hair that reached a few inches past her broad shoulders, and an undeniably bright and dazzling smile. If Lena wasn’t involved in sports for her job, she thinks number 10 could definitely pique her interest enough to watch a match or two.
For the love of the game, of course, and nothing else funny…She wonders if the player is queer. It isn't uncommon, especially in women's sports. She had never dated a player before, but many of her colleagues had.
She told her friends nearly everything, but her thoughts of the player being hot could be a private secret just for her. She could never tell her friends her last thoughts without them teasing her relentlessly.
They move on to grilling Jess about her boyfriend, and the others tease her about being the ‘token straight girl’ in their friend group who added sexual diversity.
“I don’t think I would be a good lesbian,” Jess said. “Too much pining, and yearning, and confusion and will they, won’t they. It must be really difficult to tell when a girl is into you or just being friendly.”
“Oh, you have no idea.” Andrea groaned. “It’s so rare and hard to find other queer women in real life, and the dating apps aren’t much more promising either.”
“I’m sure you’ll find someone, Andrea. You’re rich and hot. That’s gotta be a good date magnet.” Sam says.
They spend the rest of their fortnightly evening dinner and drinks discussing their work and dating lives. Lena doesn’t have much to add or say and is happy observing and listening to her friends. She nods sympathetically at Sam and Andrea’s bad date stories and congratulates Jess on her promotion.
Lena hugs them all goodbye when she starts to feel a little lightheaded and tired. She gets a taxi to her apartment and quickly takes her make-up and house off before practically collapsing into her bed and falling asleep half-naked.
Even on days when she is hungover, she doesn’t stray from her perfectly timed routine. The brunette awakes just as the sun is waking from its slumber.
The view from her apartment’s bedroom window gives her a beautiful view of the light yellows and deep oranges of the sunrise. She showers, makes coffee and some breakfast which consists of porridge, an expresso and some neatly cut-up fruit. Her diet is very clean, thanks to her own training and education in nutrition.
Her phone pings from the other room, and she gets up to see what the notification is. The unusually early notification is on her work email. She quickly skim reads it and sees it’s asking her to come in this afternoon, as there has been a training session that all medical staff are expected to be at.
In the last season, the team of 3 alternated and always had 2 staff onsite at every session. This season it looks like all 3 of them are expected to be present. The brunette makes her bed and does some light cleaning, laundry, and yoga before collecting her dry cleaning.
The doctor then checks her watch and sees there is an hour and a half until her work commitment. She sets off early and spends her time in one of the club’s staff-only rooms reading. The room is run down and not the best-furnished room Lena has been in. It is sparse, with two couches, a handful of plastic chairs, and a mini fridge in the corner. The club’s signature colours of red and blue are present, with the couches being blue and the chairs red. There are also a few posters of players lining the walls.
She’s lost in the latest hottest book in queer circles, The 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. She manages to read three chapters when she hears the creak of the door open. It doesn’t stir Lena. She assumes it is Siobhan or Kate, her colleagues, arriving. All of them have the same trait of being early rather than late.
The new entrant clears their throat. Lena assumes Kate or Siobhan might have a sore throat.
“If you have a sore throat, I think there’s some herbal tea in the staff kitchen,” she says without looking up from her book.
“Thanks, but it’s not herbal tea I’m looking for.” The voice is unfamiliar and has a hint of nervousness. Lena looks up.
The person is a woman who looks somewhat familiar to Lena, though the brunette can’t place where she might’ve seen her before. It is strange, considering she thinks she can name nearly every player and staff member she worked with last season because the club is relatively small and tight-knit.
Lena looks at her again, more thoroughly this time. Her brow is furrowed, and her eyes narrowed. The stranger is tall for a woman, and well built- 5’8 and muscular. She is wearing an Adidas training t-shirt and shorts with a small ‘10’ emblazoned on them. The stranger has warm blue eyes and a lop-sided grin.
“I’m looking for the player changing rooms,” she says.
“Ah, they’re just over there down the long hallway and to the right,” Lena says. "You're a bit early," she says, checking her watch.
"I thought I'd better come early. I heard Cat Grant runs a tight ship around here.” the stranger says. She thanks Lena for the directions with a charming smile before turning to leave.
"You heard right," Lena says quietly, more to herself. “I didn’t get your name!” Lena blurts out, her curiosity getting the better of her.
“I’m Danvers, Kara Danvers.” the player calls out, the hint of a playful smirk ghosting her lips. Her bashfulness and shyness are gone now, replaced by an attractive confidence and self-assuredness. Her quick transition from being adorable and cute to hot caught Lena off guard.
Kara Danvers, Lena thinks to herself. That smile looks like trouble.