Chapter Text

Edelgard von Hresvelg did not get nervous. As the pride of the Adrestian junior division synchronized swim team, she was calm, cool, collected, confident, and, of course, a champion. And yet, standing in the women's locker room of the swim complex at Garreg Mach University, thousands of miles away from her home pool, she could feel the dampness of sweat on her palms. She tried to deny the foreign fluttering of 'butterflies' in her stomach, but could only do so for so long. She held one hand on her left breast, stretching it as well as she could as she used her other hand to press tape over the nipple, but cursed under her breath when sweat again caused her hand to slip and crease the tape. She groaned as she discarded the stretch of ruined tape and let her hands fall to her sides, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

She was currently in the process of getting suited up for her performance in the finals of the women's solo free show at the annual international showcase meet hosted here at Garreg Mach. Simply getting to this stage had been her goal for as long as she could remember, and now she had not only gotten here, but she had a shot at her dream. She had a shot to win the gold medal, to win an international competition. For herself, and for her team and her country. But, in her current state of nervousness, she thought, not only was she going to fail at that, she was going to fail at even getting into her goddess-damned swimsuit.

Part of getting suited up included taping over her nipples with skin-colored tape, as the transparent lycra swim suit that she wore was liable to move during the strenuous performance, and you didn't want to flash the judges should it happen to move in the wrong way. The problem was, getting the tape to lay flat and properly over your nipple was not such an easy task, and she had just proven so by failing to do it properly three times in a row.

"Need some help with your tape?"

The unfamiliar voice brought Edelgard out of her self-pitying stupor, and she opened her eyes to find another swimmer standing next to her. This newcomer was tall, several inches taller than Edelgard herself. She had messy blue-green hair that fell down past her shoulders, striking cobalt eyes, and a confident and powerful stature. Her expression was blank but somehow welcoming, the barest hint of a smile wrinkling around her eyes.

"I--," Edelgard began, but wasn't able to get in even a second word before the other girl was right in front of her, almost pressing her back into the lockers behind her, and her tape had somehow found its way to the other girl's hand.

Girls helping each other with taping wasn't an uncommon event in the locker rooms, and indeed Edelgard's teammates had done it for her many times in the past. But this time, when Edelgard felt the other girl's hand on her breast, already beginning its work with a slow and practiced ease, her breath caught in her throat. Edelgard flushed and her world seemed to come to a standstill as she felt her breast being slowly but expertly spread around her nipple by the girl's skilled fingers, the other hand ready to apply the tape. This girl's hands were strong, firm, unyielding, but not uncomfortable... sensitive, even.

Edelgard was looking up at her face, and she saw the girl bite lightly on her tongue, which she had stuck out of the side of her mouth the tiniest bit in concentration. Adorable, she thought, then flushed further because she had, and averted her eyes downward... Which turned out to be a mistake, as she took in the toned shoulders that peeked through messy, wavy hair, muscled arms which were currently reaching out to touch her, and finally the girl's rather generous chest which currently left little to the imagination, contained in her own lycra swimsuit. Edelgard thought her heart may have skipped a beat, then, or even just stopped entirely.

Before she knew what was even happening again, she felt and saw the girl's hands pull away from her, looked up to see her tongue was now entirely back in her mouth (disappointingly, Edelgard thought), and then wasn't quite so disappointed when the girl's lips quirked up into one of the cutest smiles she had ever had the pleasure of witnessing.

"There you go--all done," the girl said matter-of-factly, and indeed, once Edelgard's brain had caught half-way up, she looked down and saw that her taping had been done flawlessly.

She felt one of those wonderful hands again, on her right shoulder this time, which was less nice than on her breast, but still better than not being there at all, and looked back up to that amazing smile.

"This your first time at Garreg Mach?" The girl questioned, and Edelgard could do little but swallow and nod in response. She was racking her addled brain trying to figure out if she knew who this girl was, but she didn't think she had ever seen her before, in person or in any of the online competitors' registries.

The girl nodded in response, and squeezed her shoulder lightly.

"Look, you're in the finals of an international competition. You deserve to be here. I know it, the judges know it, and most importantly," she said, moving her hand to push a finger into Edelgard's chest, just over her heart, "you know it."

"You just need to remember that, and you'll kill it."

With that, the girl gave her one last smile and then turned away, striding down the line of lockers. Just before she was out of sight, she turned back, as if an afterthought, and said,

"Oh, I'm Byleth, by the way. See you around."

Byleth gave a nod and then strode off around the corner.

When Edelgard's brain finally caught up a full second later, she called after her,

"E-Edelgard! Edelgard von Hresvelg!"