#posts brought to you by me catching up on Fukuoka's Aquatics World Championships

[regina-del-cielo]

On today's episode of "sports AUs that cater specifically to my interests and that I won't ever have the spoons to write":

JoeNicky synchronized divers AU

Hear me out

Diving is, at its core, an individual sport. It's just you and your ability to throw yourself acrobatically into the water vs a panel of judges, gravity, and a bunch of other people who are there for the same reason

But together with individual competitions, there's also synchronized diving, with two athletes from the same team diving side by side

So please imagine. Nicky and Joe being pro divers from the same country who are peak Competitive Bastards™️ about each other. In the individual competitions it's like all the others barely exist, as long as they come up higher than that guy it's ok

(They're so busy trying to outcompete the other that they constantly get better until they’re basically top ten in the world, go figure)

People think that if they were left alone in the same room they would murder each other, and then a coach (Andy? Quynh? Oscar Bertone? Who knows) has the brightest idea of the century

Put them together for the synchro competition

Shock, bafflement and scandal: "Why would you pair me with that guy?!"

"You are of similar height and also your styles are very similar, you're just too blinded by your pride to see it"

Listen. They may not stand each other, but they're still Competitive Bastards™️

They are NOT losing the chance for a medal just because they have to work with their mortal enemy

So they dive (heh) into the 'synching our diving routines until we look like a single person' training

And that's where it all goes topsy-turvy because. They are both Intense™️ in a way nobody else has ever really understood, not even the other divers in the team. And turns out they also have a similar sense of humour ("Di Genova, a sense of humour? Who would have thought"). And similar interests outside of the sport. And and and.

And they're training in the tiniest Speedos ever invented and I never said he wasn't attractive but NOW I also like him as a person and it's becoming A FUCKING PROBLEM

And then they compete, and they are ridiculously good, literally breathing in sync, what the fuck

(And then they kiss and become the most feared sync diving team in history)

(While still trying to outcompete the other in the individual competitions but now it feels like foreplay)

Not sure if the springboard or the platform would be more suited, I honestly think it could be either

Springboard is either 1 m (not an Olympic specialty) or 3 m (all international competitions including Olympics), it's 'funnier' because bouncy and also the difficulty of doing a lot of acrobatics in a relatively small aerial space before you get to the water

The platform is 10 m high and it's unhinged imo but also. Those two are canonically unhinged enough to not flinch at throwing themselves down into a pool at that height from a handstand position

#my ponderings #the old guard #sports AU #diving AU #nicolò di genova #yusuf al kaysani #otp time #immortal husbands #kaysanova #posts brought to you by me catching up on Fukuoka's Aquatics World Championships #I've spent the last two weeks watching diving competitions #this is what happens #picturing Joe and Nicky in the tiniest Speedos and moving in the air in perfect sync before splashing into a pool #it's summer. have some mercy