Let's Dive! (Ereri/ Riren)

The New Task

"TEAM TALK, HUDDLE UP, HUDDLE UP!" Coach yelled and we all immediately stopped what we were doing and went and sat in front of coach Pixis. "So, as you all know, we are going to be competing in 2 weeks. I just signed us up today and they are requiring that we compete in ALL of the events, including synchro. Obviously, we don't have a synchro pair... yet. I have decided that I'm going to pair everyone up and I will watch everyone. Whoever I think is most compatible will be competing. SO! HERE ARE THE PAIRS!" He yelled, startling all of us. I was kind of nervous, but the only thing that I REALLY didn't want to happen is Levi to be my partner. I don't know, he just gives off some weird vibes and it's kind of unsettling to me. "Here are the pairs."

Coach started listing off everyone. Armin with Marco, Jean with Nico, I started getting worried when there were only four people left. That was Jerry, Marvin, Levi, and I. I gag. Well. Out of everyone on this team, Jerry was with Marvin and I... oh lord. I was with *coughs dramatically* ...Levi. Ew. If I wasn't so hungry I would throw up right now. Mostly because of that look that he was giving me like I was the most disgusting human being in the world. Maybe because I might be giving him the same look.

We stood up and we had 3 minutes to put together what we were going to do and how we were going to do it.

"Okay, listen, new guy, we're gonna do things my way and if you have a problem with it, you'll just have to take that up with the coach." Levi threatened. I honestly didn't feel threatened at all, though. I was more just kind of done with his bs. Plus, if his way doesn't work out maybe he'll realize that he's not as superior as he thinks he is.

"Okay," I said calmly and he looked kind of surprised, like no one has ever reacted that way.

He proceeded to tell me what we were gonna do and I just went along with the whole thing. I didn't really care. It was for one competition, if we even ended up being the coaches pick. Levi wanted us to do a front flip, double cork and I just said that that was fine. I can do that easily.

"ALRIGHT! ACKERMAN, JAEGER! GET ON THOSE DIVING BOARDS!" Coach yelled and we casually walked over to the ladders. Once we were at the top Levi counted "1, 2" and on each number we bounced and on the last we thrusted our arms forward to jump off the board. From what I could tell, we landed in the water, relatively at the same time.

When I surfaced, I could see that the look on Coach Pixis' face was not good. Not good for me at least. He looked pleased, damnit!

"Ackerman, Jaeger. You're going to be competing." Oh no. "Work on it. I'll give you a little bit of practice time each day until competition and I expect you two to work on it on your own time as well. Go ahead and start your practice, everyone else, go to the gym and practice with the spring board." Coach Pixis instructed and we were sent off.

Levi looked at me with a glare so sharp it could cut a bitch. I just shrugged, even though I was kind of scared and I started to climb back up the ladder to the diving board until Levi's hand landed on my shoulder, stopping me.

"What?" I said with kind of a snarky edge and he puffed.

"You need to tighten your fucking arms when you twist." He snarled and turned straight back around and approached his ladder. I scoffed and headed up my own ladder. Deciding to take his advice, I tried it. It was a lot easier to snap from tight arms to the piercing position.

There's a reason that Levi is the captain of the team, I get that, but sometimes people in power become too cocky because of their superior position and I, sometimes, can't stand direction. That's why I criticize myself a lot. Maybe sometimes too much.

Once practice was over, Levi and I stayed afterwards for about an hour. We practiced different sequences and combinations until we finally just settled on a double backflip, triple cork screw, which was honestly, close to impossible. Although, the way I looked at it, if we didn't get three twists in we could always just change it to two or take out a flip. Which, also, might not fly with Levi. He seemed very set in his ways.

"It's a good thing we have so much time to work on this, Jaeger, cuz you need all the time you can get!" Levi said, frustrated as we got out of the water. At that moment, I was triggered.

"YOU KNOW WHAT, LEVI? I HAVE NEVER SAID NOR DONE ANYTHING TO YOU EVER SO IM KIND OF SICK AND TIRED OF YOUR BULLSHIT! THIS NEEDS TO STOP! WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT, WE ARE SYNCHRO PARTNERS AND YOU CANT BE SYNCHRONIZED WITH YOURSELF!!" I was furious. I could feel blood pumping through the veins in my forehead and my heart pumping so hard that it actually hurt against my chest. My breathing sounded like I had just gotten done running a mile.

Levi just stood there, arms crossed with a blank expression. It was completely quiet in the tense atmosphere. All you could hear was my heavy breathing. Levi waited until I calmed down, which was signaled with the crossing of my arms and leaning to one side, putting all of the weight on my left foot.

Levi "tch"ed and sauntered back into the locker room and I stood my ground. I waited for him to be done sulking while tapping my right foot on the wet cement. I waited, and waited, and waited... and waited. I finally gave up and walked into the locker room, in search of a raven-haired teen. When I finally saw him he was sitting on the floor with his head leaned against the locker and his knees tucked up against his chest. His face still wore a blank expression but seemed to have a triumphant flare when he saw me enter.

"Are you ready to practice or do you want to continue complaining about being my partner?" His words were smug when they came out of his mouth.

"Whatever," I rolled my eyes. "I just need you to understand that, even though we don't really like each other, for some reason, we need to get along because, whether we like or not, we're competing and we have to work together on this."

Seeming to understand a little more of what I was trying to tell him, Levi emotionlessly slid up the locker to stand. When his knees were locked, he stayed leaned against the metal. His silver eyes slowly looked around the room until they met with mine and rolled.

"I guess you're right, brat. But if you expect to get any better, you're gonna have to accept the fact that I'm going to correct you. And I hope you do the same." He said calmly, pushing off the metal wall and approaching the metal doors that lead into the hallway into the pool area. I followed after him into the humid room and nearly crashed into him when he suddenly stopped dead in front of me.

He turned around to face me saying, "what are some things that you want or can do?" He sassed and I raised an eyebrow.

"I can do a lot of things. What I want to do is a double twist, double back flip." I raised an eyebrow and stood in the exact same sass position as before.

"Tch. You probably couldn't even do a single twist, single backflip." He rolled his eyes and I rolled mine until we ended up having a staring showdown. We stood there, neither of us wanting to give in until I shoved past him to the ladder, still staring all the way until I passed him. I started to climb the steel structure all the while Levi just patiently watched. Waiting for me to get up onto the high dive, jump off and embarrass myself.

I did get up onto the high dive and I did jump off but I most certainly did not embarrass myself. I went up there and did the double twist, double backflip almost perfectly (for the first time in my life). When my head popped out of the water, my eyes met Levi's impressed and surprised ones to which I smugly grinned.

"Alright, alright. Get out of the water. We're doing the doubles."

I chuckled and dragged myself out of the pool and approached the ladder once more, but this time, with Levi.

***A/N- sorry for the sudden ending but I hope you enjoyed! :)