Knight_3rd
Kim Carter doesn't do quiet. Olympic gold medalist, walking sunshine, and the proud owner of a neon-yellow referee card she is not afraid to use on national television. So when she trades cleats for a season of Dancing with the Stars, she figures her only real opponent is gravity.
Then she meets her partner.
Valentin Chmerkovskiy is a multi-time champion with the warmth of a locked studio door - all clipped instructions, crossed arms, and a scowl he's worn since roughly birth. He has never met a smile he trusted. She has never met a person she couldn't crack.
What starts as a fight over tempo, technique, and one confiscated cell phone slowly turns into something neither of them can blame on the choreography. But between the cameras, the leaderboard, and two people who've spent their whole lives guarding themselves, falling for your dance partner was never part of the routine.
Val Chmerkovskiy x OC.