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Chapter Text

Korra’s house was only accessible through a single, unmarked back-road which ran some forty miles north of Fairbanks. Very few people outside of her immediate family had ever driven on it, and ever since the house had become hers and hers alone, it had become her duty also to maintain this road, at least enough that it was consistently driveable. Raava, the off-white Jeep she’d been driving for her entire adult life, was more than capable of handling rough, uneven terrain, so admittedly Korra didn’t make too much of an effort when performing upkeep on her road. A weekly run-through with the snow plow would clear it off enough in the winter months. It was harder to maintain when it was warmer, since any sustained rainfall would quickly turn the whole thing into one long mud-slick. To Korra’s luck, her little slice of Alaska didn’t get very consistent rain. It always seemed to pour at least once or twice a year, but never for long. Consequently, living way out here all alone wasn’t unmanageable, and Korra liked it.

She had no problem with people; she really liked people, in fact. Her day job as a gym instructor in Fairbanks was nothing but dealing with people, and yet her home was entirely devoid of them. It wasn’t that she wanted to live alone, she just did. Once her mother and father got a new place for themselves off further northeast in the Yukon, putting them a lot closer to Korra’s extended family, her childhood home had become her adulthood home, also. The fortyish acres of land around the house came along with it, as did the two cows which had been in her family since she was a kid–Gertrude and Mildred. They weren’t good enough as milk cows to provide any financial incentive justifying their presence, but Korra didn’t really care about that. She loved the two of them like pets, almost as much as her dog Naga. And that was how she lived: out in the middle of nowhere with three quite large animals and a whole lot of nothing else.

The closest habited settlement to her house was a microscopic dot on the map called Oak River, which boasted a population in the double digits and a singular large building which served as just about everything the people could need: schoolhouse, town hall, general store, even a bar in the evenings. It was as good a place as any to socialize, mostly because it was insulated and had working heating. This was where Korra spent a lot of her free time, meeting Bolin there every Wednesday evening. In his opinion, that wasn’t nearly adequate.

“You’ve gotta get out more. You’re not going to meet anybody in this shack.” Bolin had recently begun dating a girl named Opal who was living in Anchorage for college, and this had made him unceasingly determined to play matchmaker for his friend. Korra was plenty happy for him, Bolin seemed very content with his relationship. Still, she couldn’t help but groan at his constant, unwanted advice.

“Bo, how many times do I have to tell you this? I’m not looking for somebody right now, okay? Summer’s around the corner and that means we’ll have more tourists, which means-”

“More temp clients, yeah I know,” Bolin finished. “For the record you’ve told me that at least ten times.”

“That doesn’t make it any less true.”

“So? What’s more work got to do with it? If anything, shouldn’t the summer be your best opportunity to meet somebody? More out-of-state people equals more chances to have that perfect, meet-cute moment you’ve been waiting for.”

Korra snickered, then shook her head. “Between the two of us, it’s pretty clear that you’re the one waiting for it, not me.” She sipped her beer then began to pick at the bottle’s label, and shook her head a second time. “Besides, a summer fling isn’t what I want anyway. I’m not about to go prowling through a college campus looking for some upperclassman to hook up with.”

“Okay one, offensive, and two, haven’t you seen any Hallmark movies? The small-town loves all arise from some big-city guy winding up in the boonies for a while, where he’s charmed by the local culture and a lonely homebody looking for someone to settle down with. Or vice-versa, the dude’s the small-town one in about half of them.”

“Who said it has to be a guy?” Korra asked incredulously. She didn’t have much history dating women (or anyone, really), but she never made any secrets about her sexuality. Perhaps she was such good friends with Bolin because he was so easy-going about that sort of thing. In such a rural place as this, not everyone was.

“Well, Hallmark movies are always heterosexual, but you could easily swap those roles out and it wouldn’t change much. The scripts are all so similar, you could probably just Mad Libs in new names to one of them and make a whole new film out of it. I’m sure they’ve done that before.”

“Since when do you watch so many Hallmark movies?”

“I don’t, actually. Opal’s seen about every one of them, though.”

Korra furrowed her eyebrows at him. “And you don’t watch them with her?”

Scratching the back of his neck, Bolin shrugged and muttered, “Sometimes.”

She could appreciate what he was trying to do, but she would appreciate it more if he wasn’t nearly so persistent. Plus, talking about relationships around Bolin always felt a bit strange. She’d dated his brother once upon a time, and it hadn’t exactly ended very well between them. Mako was off working as an FBI agent in the continental states these days, and she’d barely seen him in half a decade. Though none of that past drama had had anything to do with Bolin, talking to him about dating still dredged up some unsavory memories. Today was no different. Korra sighed. “Look, it’s just not a priority for me. If it makes you feel any better, I don’t plan on dying alone, but in the short-term I have other stuff to worry about.”

To Bolin’s credit, he never pressed much past this point. “Alright, point taken. I’ll surrender for now. But I want you to know that if I happen to meet anybody I think you’d like, I’m going to text you immediately.”

Korra nodded and gave a sarcastic smile. “Thanks so much.” Their regular meeting spot could only be considered a bar because they served discounted beers in the evenings, but it did have a pool table in the far corner. To switch topics, Korra turned and pointed at it. “If I challenge you to a game of pool, will it distract you from this subject?”

“Sure,” Bolin agreed, and got up from his stool.

***

Korra hadn’t even meant to do it, but she’d wound up spending that night curled up on her couch with Naga, watching a Hallmark movie. The protagonist of this one was a businesswoman who worked some vaguely-described job at a marketing firm, and she was made to come back to her small hometown due to a family emergency which was similarly vague. Just as Bolin had described, some local boy she’d never met before just happened to run into her early in the film, and from there they’d had a charming, if clichéd, whirlwind romance. Usually movies this corny would amuse her, but Korra watched the whole thing, beginning to end, and then just sat there for a while silently. Naga looked at her and her eyes almost looked expectant, which didn’t help. Eventually Korra forced herself to get up and get ready for bed by taking a long shower she hoped would clear her head. It didn’t, and that weird feeling in the pit of her stomach persisted until she was asleep.

A typical work day for Korra began at five in the morning. The cows were early risers, and she would not be able to leave for her job until they were properly tended to. So Korra would get up before the sun came out and lace up her boots and trudge out across the field to the barn on her property, one which, generations ago, was home to a whole host of livestock and horses. Nowadays it was the dwelling of just her two cattle, and they sure liked to make a mess of the place. Almost every morning she had to rake up a large quantity of randomly strewn-about hay, and shovel up several cow patties. Then she’d brush them both, and let them loose into the field so they could graze to their heart’s content. In the winter months Korra restricted their movement much more to ensure they didn’t get stuck outside in a storm, and would load up plenty of food for them in a trough in their barn. But the winter was over, and the grass outside was verdant. Gertrude appreciatively rushed out the second Korra unlocked the door, while Mildred remained laying down in the barn, and looked content to stay there for a while.

“Alright, see you girls this afternoon,” Korra told them as she started back towards the house. She was met by Naga halfway, who had come rushing out from the house excitedly. She knew Korra’s schedule as well as Korra did, and now it was her turn to be tended to. Naga was a rather free-spirited Great Pyrenees and tended to wander whenever she was out of the house, but she was also fiercely loyal, and incredibly well-disciplined. Korra could trust her not to run off if she was given free-reign of the property whenever Korra wasn’t home. Thus, Naga was free to roam wherever she pleased, and as such didn’t require nearly as much tending-to as the cows did. Korra would fill up two bowls of water and food, and that would sustain Naga for the duration of the work day. She had a dental chew which Korra would play tug-of-war with her over, then they would go on a short walk around the property before Korra herself prepped to leave for work.

Getting to the gym she worked at from her house took about fifty minutes, assuming her road was in good condition. Whenever it snowed or rained overnight, she’d either be looking at a delay of several hours or an unplanned day off, in which case her co-worker Kuvira (who lived in Fairbanks full-time) would step in to instruct whatever classes Korra had scheduled. Today, the road was in tip-top shape, and Korra got to work exactly when she needed to.

The only people who came to the gym at eight in the morning on weekdays were either athletes from one of the local schools or elderly folks there for an aerobics class, which meant the place was always sparse when Korra got there. She gave a polite wave to the front-desk guy Bryce and headed back to the employees-only area, finding Kuvira had already arrived. Ever-punctual, that one.

“Hey,” Korra said, slinging her duffel-bag off her shoulder and heading for her personal locker.

“Hey,” Kuvira parroted. “When’s your first class today?”

“I’ve got a yoga session at eight-fifteen. You?”

“Exercise bike instruction,” Kuvira said, glancing at her watch, “...in about half an hour.”

“What’re you here for so early then?”

That question seemed to irk Kuvira a bit. She frowned. “I can’t just want to be at work early?”

Korra finished unloading her bag and threw it into the locker before closing it up. “I didn’t mean anything by it,” she said. Kuvira wasn’t the most personable of individuals, but she was typically very civil. Or maybe she just kept her feelings to herself very well. Either way, she didn’t show any outward emotions often.

Fiddling with her hair, which was in a much less tidy bun than normal, Kuvira sighed. “It’s fine, sorry. Just stressed.”

“What’s going on?” Korra sat down on the couch where Kuvira was and looked at her. Her co-worker didn’t look like she wanted to talk about whatever was bothering her, but she also looked acutely bothered by whatever it was.

“I got into an argument with Baatar… something stupid.”

“If it’s bothering you this much, is it really stupid?” Korra hazarded to posit.

Kuvira persisted in messing with her hair. Eventually she huffed angrily and removed the bun entirely so she could knot it all up into a ponytail. “I don’t know. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal.”

“What was it? If you uhm, if you don’t mind.”

For a second, Kuvira seemed to debate with herself over whether she ought to tell Korra about it. Then she took a deep breath and said, “I was thinking of re-enlisting.”

“With the marines? Really?”

“You sound like he did. I didn’t say I was actually going to do it, but I mean, I sort of miss it. The mission, the structure… a purpose.”

Korra had multiple relatives who had served, her father included, and she had nothing but respect for the armed forces, but she couldn’t really think of a reason why somebody would want to return to that life after they got out of it. Kuvira hadn’t just been one of the recruits who went through basic and then spent the rest of their service time on a base somewhere as a glorified doorman, she’d seen combat. The way Kuvira talked about it, at least in the few times Korra had gotten her to open up, she’d seen death, also, close-up and personal. Why Kuvira would want to go back to that, Korra could not understand. “You’d go back to it all?”

“I can’t tell you one way or the other, and if somebody came and offered it all back to me, I’m not sure what I’d say. I mean, I’d be lying if I said that I hadn’t seriously considered it a little bit. It’s not like I’m super content where I’m at now. I never thought I’d be teaching noodle-armed teenagers how to stretch properly for a living.” Kuvira arched an eyebrow. “You know what I mean?”

Korra shrugged.

“Come on, Korra, you can’t tell me you’re totally satisfied with all this, right?”

She was reminded of Bolin, and the conversation she’d had with him just the night before. “I mean… I don’t know, I don’t really think about it. I get up, I tend to the cows and Naga, I come to work and then I work and I go home. That’s just how it is.”

Kuvira’s voice gathered some level of staunch determination. “So? You don’t want some sort of purpose?”

She wasn’t sure where any of this had come from, but Korra couldn’t help but get a tad bit offended by that. “Why does what I have now have to be purposeless? I’m providing a public service. I’m plenty happy where I’m at.”

Her co-worker waved a hand dismissively. “Whatever. I’m just projecting, I guess.” She stared down at her shoes, then rose from the couch. “I’ll stop bitching, you’ve got a class to prep for.”

“Are you sure you’re alright? I can cover for you if you need to go.”

“I’ll be fine. I always think better when I’m busy anyway.” Kuvira stretched and checked her watch again, then left the room. Korra watched as she left, and the same strange feeling in her gut she’d felt the night before returned.

Chapter Text

Once upon a time, Korra had been a state-champion for swimming. She’d excelled at pretty much every event they’d allowed her to try, and almost single-handedly doubled the number of athletic awards in her high school’s history. She’d gotten a handsome athletic scholarship from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, majored in kinesiology like lots of other student athletes, and she’d had her eyes set on bigger and bigger competitions for the future. National meets, possibly even the Olympics someday. Every coach she ever talked to or worked with knew she had it in her, and Korra didn’t doubt that she could’ve gotten to that stage if she’d never quit, but then her parents had decided to move to Canada, and the old house needed a new steward. So, Korra had wound up where she was now. The gym instruction job paid well enough and her hours were reasonable, and that was enough to keep her content. Plus, working where she did was a good way to keep in shape, and keeping in shape meant maintaining the far-off dream of one day returning to competitive swimming.

In the present, the most swimming she ever did was when she was instructing others for a paycheck. She had to stop herself from showing off or rushing her students sometimes, since the activity didn’t come as naturally to others as it did to her. Her boss at the gym didn’t outright reserve the swim classes they offered for Korra to teach, but it had been a pretty long time since anybody else had taught one outside of days when Korra couldn’t be there. She enjoyed instructing others in swimming a lot, and teaching actual advanced methods and strokes to proper swimmers was quite gratifying. It almost felt like she was imparting knowledge to a new generation, people who could hopefully someday take the place in international competition that Korra herself never reached. She wasn’t delusional enough to believe she was the best swimming instructor in the world, but imagining that her students could take her lessons and excel with them later on was heartening. If she was honest with herself, as much as teaching adults was fulfilling, Korra’s favorite lessons were the introductory ones with little kids. Fresh-faced youngsters who’ve never set foot in a pool deeper than one foot before, donned in their floaties and watched carefully by their parents; these were the students Korra liked most. She always tried to be as delightful and energetic with them as she could be, because it was only if they were given a positive first experience with swimming that they would ever consider continuing with it later in life.

Korra had a lesson scheduled for two PM that day, and she was preparing to go and get ready for just that, but Korra would end up missing it. On her way to the employee-only area where she could change into her swimsuit, somebody elbowed her right in the face. Korra stumbled backwards and put a hand on her nose, which was now throbbing something awful, and tried in vain to gather her senses so she could figure out where that had even come from.

A cry of “Oh my God!” from her left drew her attention, and a tall woman with long, black hair looked right at her, face aghast. “Holy shit, I am so sorry!” She had her hands wrapped and there was a punching bag swinging back and forth behind her, and that told Korra all she needed to know. She’d not been paying attention to her surroundings very closely as she walked through the general exercise area, and this woman evidently hadn’t been aware of her surroundings either. Cue a backswing, and a very abrupt nose-ache.

Shaking her head, then checking her nostrils for blood with her fingers, Korra said, “No no, you’re good. It’s good. I’m good.” She pulled her hand back and inspected her fingers, all of which were now tinged lightly red. “Okay, maybe not so good.”

“Jesus, are you alright? I am so sorry, I didn’t even see you.”

“I’ll be fine,” Korra reassured the woman, before wandering off in the direction of the nearest first-aid kit. She’d had to get some emergency medical training before taking this job, and the first lesson had been learning where all the emergency supplies could be found. The nearest kit was behind the front desk. Bryce looked at her like she was missing her head when she got there. “Christ, what the fuck happened, Korra?”

She ignored him and went about cleaning herself up, but the first bit of gauze she plugged up into her nostril came back completely soaked in red. Taking a moment to get out her phone, Korra turned on the camera and took a good look at herself. The good news was that her nose was not crooked, so it likely wasn’t broken. The bad news was that the entire lower portion of her face was covered in blood. “Oh God,” she muttered, before hastily getting out yet more gauze and plugging her nostrils, then pinching the bridge of her nose. She used her free hand to take a tissue from the desk and wipe her mouth and chin clean.

Bryce was still staring at her like she was going to drop dead right in front of him, and she was about to give him a brief explanation, but then the woman who’d caused all this timidly came around the corner. Her face was still stricken with shock and embarrassment. “Hey, um, you dropped this, back there.” She held out one of Korra’s wireless earbuds, and it was only then that Korra noticed one of them was missing.

“Thanks,” she said, and took it from the woman.

“Again, I’m really, really sorry.”

Korra gave the woman a half-hearted thumb’s up. “It’s okay, I don’t think you broke it. I’m bleeding a lot, but that’ll clot up.”

Bryce frowned, and looked between them. “Wait, what happened?”

“She hit me in the face by accident,” Korra said, gesturing to the woman. 

Immediately after, almost as if on compulsion, the woman straightened up and stuck her hand out towards Bryce, saying, “Asami Sato.” She waited a moment, seemed to realize what she’d just done, then lost her rigid posture and retracted her hand nervously. “Sorry, I’m not sure why I’m introducing myself.”

Korra was the one who had a bloody nose, and she almost felt bad for this other woman. Asami looked sincerely uncomfortable. “You don’t need to keep apologizing, I’ll be alright.” Then, as a show of good faith, she added, “I’m Korra.”

“Korra. That’s a nice name.” Asami gestured behind herself. “I’m going to quit bothering you now.”

“Nice meeting you,” Korra said. “No hard feelings.”

A smile finally broke through Asami’s outward awkwardness, and she gave a brief chuckle. “Sure,” she said, before turning around and walking back towards the general exercise area.

Once the curious stranger was gone, Korra turned to Bryce and asked, “You have any Tylenol? It’s starting to hurt. Like, worse.”

Her co-worker shrugged. “I don’t have any on me, but I could go check with people.”

She waved him off. “No, it’s fine. It’s not that bad. Could you get somebody else to cover the lesson I was scheduled for at two, though, please?”

Bryce nodded and got up from his desk to go find somebody else. That ‘somebody else’ would probably wind up being Kuvira, but Korra knew Kuvira wouldn’t complain about it. If anything, next time they chatted, this could be a shared experience the both of them could laugh about together. Korra took the liberty to steal Bryce’s chair behind the front desk, and spent a few minutes sitting back and breathing steadily. Today was a weird day.

***

Asami Sato unloaded on a punching bag. It wasn’t the punching bag’s fault, but she sure was abusing it like it was. She’d only come to this gym out of desperation, because she’d been stewing in an unending sea of frustration and needed some way, any way, to expel it. This gym was the closest one to the office on Google Maps, and so she’d wound up here in the late morning. Asami was in Fairbanks as the representative of Future Industries, what was once one of the largest shipping conglomerates in the United States. In recent years, thanks to her father and his going to prison for racketeering, the company was teetering on the brink. She’d been thrust into the role of CEO by the board of directors mostly as a way to save face publicly, and ever since then she’d been running around from state to state, desperately trying to re-negotiate some of the company’s old shipping contracts. Considering all the harm her father had done, her road-tripping had brought little success. When she’d first come to Alaska, Asami had been hopeful that things here might be a little different.

Back in its heyday, Future Industries had been the leading shipper in all of Alaska, holding profitable arrangements with most of the oil companies in the state and moving more product there than every other local shipping company combined. Asami’s father had had a personal friendship with a number of the oil tycoons in the area, had been invited to dine with multiple Alaskan governors, and even had his name on several buildings throughout the state, thanks to some charitable donations. Needless to say, once it became public just how much he had been defrauding his customers, all that good will had evaporated overnight. And so Asami was left to try and stop the bleeding.

In a word, the meeting that morning had been disastrous. Asami was placed in a room filled with aging, stick-in-the-mud businessmen who hadn’t paid attention to her from the moment she walked in. When she’d finished her initial proposal, one of them had even chuckled at her. It was demeaning and counterproductive and insulting, and it had left Asami on the edge of blowing a fuse. To make matters worse, once she’d left the horrible meeting, her assistant had texted to let her know that there was a problem with her hotel reservation, and as of now she had nowhere to stay. It only heaped more shit onto an already shitty day, so Asami had done the only thing she could think of; she’d found the nearest punching bag to hit and she’d gone straight at it. By this point she’d skipped lunch, but she didn’t really care.

Her unfortunate accident with the woman walking behind her was the only thing that had really interrupted her all day, and it wasn’t long afterwards that she was right back at it, swinging her arms away and trying in vain to punch all her bottled-up emotions out. She wasn’t just mad at those callous businessmen from earlier, she was mad at just about everything. The hotel who had screwed her, the board of directors for forcing her to go on this fool’s errand of a trip, her father for ruining everything, herself for agreeing to take the CEO position, her mother for dying so long ago. Asami Sato was just mad, and so the punching bag took it. She had run almost entirely out of energy a while ago and was just flailing at it wildly by now, but stopping didn’t even cross her mind. This was the most focused she’d felt in a long while, she wasn’t about to cut that feeling off just because she was tired. As it turned out, she wouldn’t have to cut herself off at all.

Appearing in front of her punching bag (and keeping a safe distance away this time) was the same woman she’d accidentally clobbered earlier. Her nostrils were no longer plugged up and she had washed her face of any trace of blood, but her nose was now a dark shade of purple. Still, the woman had a smile on her face. Asami stopped her tirade against the punching bag and stood there panting. The woman held out a clean towel, and Asami accepted it with a nod.

“What was your name, again?” she asked as she wiped her brow clean.

“Korra,” the woman replied. With a smirk, she added, “You seemed pretty preoccupied, I don’t blame you for forgetting.”

Unlike before, when she’d been wracked with embarrassment and still coming down from the high of her own anger, now Asami had a chance to actually look at the woman before her. Korra was a bit shorter than her, but what she lacked in height she made up for in muscle mass. This girl was hench. She had short-cropped brown hair several shades darker than her light brown skin, and a set of piercing blue eyes. Despite the fresh shiner on the bridge of her nose, she looked rather easy-going. Asami tossed the towel over her shoulder and wiped her hands on her leggings, before offering one of them. “I won’t forget again. And sorry, again.”

Korra shrugged, and shook Asami’s hand. “It’s all good. We’re not too busy today so getting my remaining lessons covered wasn’t a big deal.” She gestured to the punching bag. “Punching bag owe you money or something?”

Biting her lip, Asami could now recognize how absurd she must have looked to someone who wasn’t sharing her negative headspace. And on top of that, now was when she was starting to feel just how much her knuckles hurt underneath their wraps. With a slight wince, she began to unravel them. “I had a bad morning. It’s been a bad week, really.” Asami fully unwound the wrap on her right hand, and flexed her tender fingers slowly. They shook lightly and she could only kind of feel them, but at least none of her knuckles had split open. It was better than nothing. To distract herself, she looked again at Korra and asked, “Why are you asking?”

Pulling out her phone to check the time, Korra said, “Well, seeing as it’s getting to be four now and my shift is up, and you were still over here punching away, I thought it might be a good idea if someone came and interrupted you. For a breather, at the very least.”

Four o’clock? That was news to Asami. She double-checked that on her smart watch and then suddenly felt all the more tired. She’d been wailing on this punching bag for the better part of five hours. Asami was by no means out of shape, but her exercises usually never lasted longer than an hour or two, tops. She’d been more pissed than she’d thought. “In that case, thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. Think you got it all out of your system?”

Honestly? If Korra hadn’t stopped her, Asami would have just kept going, until she was either kicked out of the gym or lost consciousness. Still, she did feel at least a smidgen less angry now. “Some,” she said. But then she remembered that she didn’t currently have a place to stay, and her frustration started boiling again. Where she’d go from the gym, she didn’t have a clue. Her luggage was all just sitting inside the rental car she’d gotten at the airport. Perhaps because it was nice to have someone else to complain to, perhaps more as a way of expelling lingering anger, she said as much to Korra. “I’m supposed to be in town for another day and I only learned this morning that my hotel reservation got messed up.”

As luck would have it, Asami had happened to elbow the one person in all of Alaska whose response to that information was: “I’ve got a pretty big house, you could stay in my guest room for the night.”

For a moment, Asami just stared at Korra blankly, then she arched an eyebrow. “Wait, seriously?”

“The punching bag?” Korra said, pointing at it. “Trust me, I’ve been there. If I can help alleviate some of whatever stress you’re under, I might as well offer it.”

“I injured your nose and know nothing about you, and now you’re offering me your guest room?” Under different circumstances, Asami might’ve assumed Korra was trying–and horrifically failing–to chat her up.

“I’m just realizing how that sounds now that I think about it,” Korra replied, scrunching up her nose. That made her wince and force her facial expression down. Still she added, “But the offer stands, if you want it. Pinkie-promise I’m not a murderer.”

Asami snickered. “That’s really nice of you,” she began, and was about to say “but I’ll be okay,” before she stopped herself and actually thought about her situation. Her initial reservation had been with the nicest place in Fairbanks (paid for by the company), but that very hotel had been hosting a convention of some kind this evening. It was unlikely to have another vacancy, and Asami wasn’t even sure she’d have the cash on hand to pay for one anyway. Usually when one pictured a CEO, they thought of somebody in expensive clothes who owned a mansion and drove a nice car. Asami Sato had pretty much none of that. Most of her father’s assets, the luxury she’d grown up in, had been seized by the government. Future Industries was on the threshold of bankruptcy, so her salary wasn’t anything all that flattering. To top it off, she certainly wasn’t all that liquid at the moment. Asami had enough cash on hand to go get herself a room in a motel somewhere, but if she was honest with herself she truly didn’t want to stoop to that level. Going to sleep on some ratty, unclean mattress after the day she’d had would only make her wake up tomorrow all the angrier. She stood there silently for a while as Korra watched her expectantly, until finally she took a deep breath and made up her mind. It was only one night. “Screw it. I’ll take you up on that.”

Korra looked surprised at first, but quickly recovered. “Oh, okay. Well… then I’m going to go change, but I’ll meet you at the front desk in a few?”

Nodding, Asami said, “Sure thing. And thanks, you’re saving me a massive headache.”

Without another word, Korra gave Asami a pair of finger-guns and a smile, then walked away. Asami watched her back, not sure how to feel. It was the first seemingly good thing which had happened to her in days. Perhaps it was an omen that her luck would soon turn for the better. God did she hope so. She finished unwrapping her left hand, then collected her water bottle and headed off towards the locker rooms.

***

Korra and Asami walked out to the parking lot together, and Asami split up from her to head for whatever car she’d arrived in. She pulled a fob out of her purse and pressed the remote unlock, which made the lights flash on a brand-new looking Prius nearby. “I’ll follow you, yeah?” Asami said.

The forecast had said there was a decent chance of rain overnight. The Prius might manage Korra’s back road in good conditions, but if that road got wet, it wouldn’t stand a chance. She cringed and called out, “I don’t think that’s gonna work.”

“What do you mean?”

She hadn’t actually told Asami where she lived, which in hindsight might’ve been pertinent. Regardless, she had to make up for that now. “My house is a bit out of the way, there’s a pretty long dirt road you have to take to get there. They’re saying it might rain overnight, too.” Korra gestured towards the far end of the lot, where she always parked. “I’ve got a Jeep though, I could get us both there plus whatever luggage you’ve got no problem.”

Asami looked reticent. “I’ve got a schedule tomorrow…”

“That’s not a big deal. What do you have planned?”

“There’s a meeting at seven AM, and then I need to be at the airport by ten. My flight’s at ten-forty.”

Korra would have to get up another hour earlier than she usually did and go through her morning routine early, which Naga likely wouldn’t appreciate very much, but it wouldn’t be too much of a hassle. She could get Asami back to the gym and reunite her with her rental car in plenty of time (presuming the weather cooperated; Raava could handle some mud, but it would still be a struggle if there was any sustained amount of rainfall). She shrugged and said, “I can get you back here in time, no problem.”

“You want me to leave my car here overnight?”

“It’s no biggie, trust me. I’ve worked here for almost four years now and in all that time I don’t remember hearing about a single robbery or carjacking in the immediate area.”

That didn’t seem to settle Asami’s nerves, but after a few moments of contemplation she made for her car and said, “I’ll get my suitcase and lock up. Can you point out your Jeep?”

Korra did just that, then headed off in that direction. She liked parking away from other people, it made getting in and out of the spaces easier (and if she was honest, she’d always been pretty crap at parking).

The suitcase Asami was toting was of the big wheeled variety, a dark red hue. It looked pretty expensive. Without asking or being prompted to do so, Korra took it from her and hefted it one-handed into the backseat, a gesture which Asami seemed surprised by. “Thanks. You’re pretty strong.”

Flexing her arms for show, Korra said, “It’s all in the biceps.” Then she went around to the driver’s side and climbed into the Jeep. Asami followed her in.

Raava was pretty old, a mid-2000s model which had originally belonged to Korra’s dad. It served a practical purpose considering where Korra lived, but it also held quite a bit of sentimental value for her. So much so that she’d sunk thousands of dollars into the vehicle over the years for repair and maintenance costs. Raava had never been one-hundred percent reliable, and always seemed to find some other new issue to exhibit whenever Korra forked over the cash to fix the last one. Her dad had given her the Jeep more as a way of getting rid of it than as a gift, but Korra still loved that clunker to pieces. She turned the key in the ignition and listened to its normal sputtering start-up noise, then winked at Asami (who looked rather concerned over the sound Raava had just made).

“You should get the engine inspected,” Asami said. “It sounds like one of the cylinders isn’t firing properly.”

“How do you know that?”

“I’ve always been into mechanics. My father’s a big grease-monkey, he sort of passed that on to me I guess.”

Korra would not have guessed that this girl, of all people, would be a mechanic. From what little Korra had seen of her, Asami seemed to radiate a certain refinement. She just looked like a very formal sort of person. Asami had perfectly-kempt black hair that seemed to naturally curl ever-so-slightly, a somewhat angular chin, and green eyes which seemed to contrast perfectly with the red and black jacket she’d come out of the locker room wearing. She was a very attractive woman, Korra would freely admit. She just wasn’t the type Korra associated in her mind with manual labor.

“I’ll make sure to do that,” Korra told her finally. She buckled herself in and pulled out of the parking lot, and then from there the two of them were off. The trip home always took longer because she had to fight with downtown rush hour traffic, but Korra was so used to her routine by this point that its annoying presence didn’t even phase her in the slightest.

Her vehicle was old enough that it still had a working tape deck, and this morning Korra had been using it to listen to one of the many old country tapes she still owned. Like Raava, the cassettes had all once belonged to her father. Kenny Rogers rang out through the vehicle for a little bit, but Korra got acutely embarrassed of her music choice after a song or two and decided to eject the tape and cut it off. Her dad had listened to old country exclusively when Korra was growing up, and so she’d learned to appreciate it herself. Everyone else her age had always given her a bit of grief about that (Bolin especially).

Asami looked at her. “It wasn’t bothering me,” she said, almost apologetically.

“Sorry, just force of habit. My best friend always gives me crap about listening to such old music.”

To this, Asami smiled sheepishly. “If that’s old, then what I listen to is pretty much ancient.”

“How so?”

“Try the twenties.”

“What? What is there even to listen to from the twenties?”

“You know, big band orchestral jazz, that sort of thing. It was my mom’s favorite kind of music, she had a whole record collection.”

Korra nodded, then shrugged and pushed her Kenny Rogers tape back into the player. “Bolin, my friend, I’ve never understood why he dislikes my old country so much. It isn’t like he hates country as a genre, all he ever listens to is that twenty-tens bro-country crap. He and I road tripped all the way to Seattle for a Luke Bryan concert one time, I got him tickets for his birthday.”

“All the way from here?”

Korra nodded. “It took the better part of a week,” she elaborated. “I might not like that stuff but he seemed to enjoy it so…” She trailed off and finished with a shrug.

Then they were back to silence. Korra had always been a fairly talkative person and really hated extended silences, so she decided to try and keep up conversation. Besides, this woman would be spending the night at her house, they might as well get to know one another a little better. “So, you’re a mechanic?”

“Hmm?”

“As a job, you’re a mechanic?”

“Oh! No, no. That’s just a hobby.” Asami sighed. “Wish it wasn’t sometimes, though.”

“Problems at work?”

Much like before, Asami seemed to take a moment to consider whether or not to tell Korra about her personal problems any more. It took her a bit longer this time before she got into it, but once she started, she didn’t stop herself for much. Asami told Korra about her position as the CEO of Future Industries, and all of the problems that that title entailed. The company hadn’t been profitable for several years, they’d had to lay off more than seventy percent of their staff in that period, and Asami was being laughed out of meetings with potential (or worse, former) clients. Korra listened as her new acquaintance vented, playing the role of an open ear and keeping quiet. She had heard of Future Industries in passing; she could remember when their old CEO had been arrested and all of the hubbub in the news about it at the time, but she never paid it all that much attention. Korra wasn’t one to keep super up-to-date when it came to the news.

“I’ve been running around like a chicken with its head cut off. It feels like no matter what I do, it’s just getting worse. We’re hemorrhaging money. Even if the meeting this morning had gone swimmingly, I doubt it would be enough to keep us afloat.”

“Damn,” was about all Korra could say. She wasn’t a business owner, and she didn’t really know any of them anyway. She had no idea how to run a company. That said, she could empathize with Asami and her ongoing plight.

“The hotel thing was really just the cherry on top of my shit sundae.”

“Well hopefully I’ve helped reduce at least a little bit of your struggle.”

“You have. And I feel like I’ve said it a million times already, but thanks, really.” Asami nudged her arm playfully. “Are you always this nice to people that hit you in the face?”

“Just the pretty ones,” Korra joked. In actuality Korra could only remember one other instance in her life when she’d been hit in the face, outside of moments when she’d run into something accidentally. That instance had been the precursor to a pretty nasty fight at a swim meet back in high school, a fight which had gotten Korra suspended from competition for the duration of a semester (and grounded for a month, to boot). She’d always been a bit of a hot-head, but she was practiced in keeping her anger suppressed enough that it didn’t make her lash out. It was part of the reason she’d approached Asami a second time earlier; Korra could definitely relate to being so mad she needed some way to vent.

“Anyway,” Asami said, “How about you? I picked up that you work at that gym, but not much else.”

“Lived in Alaska all my life, but my family’s originally from northwestern Canada. I’ve got a whole bunch of relatives over there.” She wasn’t very punctual when it came to visiting her parents, and consequently Korra did not see her extended family very often, but on the rare occasions all of them were in the same place, there were far more people than Korra could ever keep track of.

“Do you have any siblings?”

Korra shook her head. “No, but I’ve got quite a few cousins. I’ve got this one pair of cousins on my dad’s side, identical twins. They always creep me out, they act so strangely. You?”

“Only child.” Asami’s face twisted up into a forlorn look. “I might’ve had siblings at some point, but my mom died when I was six.”

“I’m sorry,” Korra said. She could see the hurt on Asami’s face and had felt her acquaintance’s mood shift.

“It was a long time ago,” Asami dismissed, shrugging. “A mugging. The guy got sent to prison for it, and he’s still in there now. I don’t know how well my father ever got over it.”

There was an awkward pause in their conversation. “Well… outside of my family I don’t know how much there is to know about me. Been a gym instructor since college, pretty much.” She thought about what else she could say, then snapped when she remembered Naga. “Oh, I’ve got a dog. You’re not allergic to dogs, are you?”

Asami looked puzzled. “There are people who are allergic to dogs?”

“I’ve never met one before, but I’ve heard it's a thing. I don’t have guests over very often, so I thought I’d ask.”

“You’ve got nothing to worry about. I don’t have any allergies that I can think of.”

“Cool, good. It’d be a problem if you were, Naga’s a real lovey-dovey kind of dog. Hasn’t met a soul she won’t try and give a big kiss to when she first meets them. You have any pets?”

“Never had the time, not since I took over the company.”

“How about when you were a kid?”

“After mom died, my father was always really distracted or distant. Asking for a pet never seemed appropriate.” Asami seemed aware of how she’d once again brought the mood down, so this time she shifted out of it herself. “I always kind of wanted a cat, though. I like cats.”

“My friend Bolin has a ferret named Pabu, and you’d swear Pabu is his actual kid the way he talks about him sometimes. He spoils that ferret like you wouldn’t believe.”

“You’ve mentioned that guy a few times, Bolin.”

“Yeah. I’ve known him since grade school, he and his brother Mako. Bolin’s a welder, he works freelance. His brother’s in the FBI, works out of state.”

When she mentioned the last part, Asami got the strangest look on her face. It didn’t look like she was confused, it more looked like she’d just come to a very odd and unexpected realization. “Wait wait wait, what’s Mako look like?”

Korra frowned. “Uhm, well he’s taller than I am, he’s got sort of spiky black hair when it isn’t combed down, brown eyes. Why?”

“I think I might’ve dated that guy,” Asami said.

Korra looked at Asami incredulously. “You’re joking.”

Fumbling hastily with her phone, Asami pulled up her camera roll and scrolled through it quickly, searching for photographic evidence. She had to scroll quite a ways, but eventually she found what she’d been looking for. “Aha!” she exclaimed, and held out her phone for Korra to see. She took a quick peek at the screen, and lo and behold, there was Mako, standing in a picture right next to Asami.

“Oh my God, you’re not kidding.” Korra laughed. “You’ve actually dated somebody that I know, that’s the weirdest coincidence. Wait, so have you met Bolin?”

Asami shook her head. “I didn’t even know Mako had a brother. He never said anything about having siblings.”

Korra frowned, then shook it off. “That’s weird.” She paused for a moment, then said, “You know you’re actually not alone, I dated him in high school.”

“Really?”

“Briefly. It didn’t end that great.”

Asami put her phone away, then chuckled and shook her head. “That is so weird. I come all the way to Alaska, and somehow run into one of my ex’s exes. Small world.”

“Seems so,” Korra agreed. They were getting to the outskirts of town now, and the off-ramp she had to take which would eventually lead to her back road was drawing nearer. “So, when I said I lived “out of the way”, I was being a little vague. My house is like fifty minutes outside of town, depending on road conditions.”

“Do you live on a private ranch, or something?”

“Something like that. Getting you back here early tomorrow morning won’t be an issue, though, I promise. Unless the weather overnight is really bad, but even then I’ll figure something out. It’ll be fine.”

Asami nodded, albeit hesitantly. “Okay. I’m going to take you at your word.”

“My house is real cozy, it’ll all be worth it,” Korra reassured. She drove on for a little bit, and finally the exit ramp was in sight. After one more turn, Korra and her new guest were on their way home.

Chapter Text

Much like she had done before, Korra took Asami’s luggage out of the Jeep for her and brought it towards the house. Asami watched her go for a second and gazed up at the house, then took a look around at the surrounding area. Korra did in fact live “out of the way,” though Asami’s way of wording it would probably be something more akin to: “The middle of nowhere.” There was a forest off to the west, and that was about it. Nothing else but green fields in every other direction (plus a standard red barn out beyond the house). The road she was standing on, the one they’d driven on for what seemed like an hour to get here, was hardened dirt and lacked any type of paving whatsoever. Asami really liked cars, she enjoyed driving quite a lot, and this was assuredly one of the least developed roads she’d ever been on. It had a rugged quality to it, which enhanced the backwoods feel of this whole place. Asami was a city girl through and through. This was all very different for her.

Out in the field near the barn there were a pair of cows, and as Korra got closer to her house she waved bombastically at them both and shouted, “Hi girls!” One of them lazily looked over in her direction and then mooed. Asami grinned. Korra hadn’t mentioned anything about owning cattle, but somehow it wasn’t all that surprising. This momentary distraction was enough to keep her from noticing the dog that came bolting out of the house directly at her, and soon enough Asami was ambushed. The dog got up on its hind legs and immediately licked her face, just like Korra warned she would. In spite of how surprised she was, Asami couldn’t help but laugh.

“Naga! Naga, behave! Asami’s our guest, I didn’t tell you to maul her,” Korra said in an exasperated tone, briefly abandoning Asami’s luggage on the front porch so she could backtrack and get her pet under control.

Finally Naga quit it with the kisses and got down, but she was still clearly very excited. Her tail was wagging rapidly. Asami knelt down so she could pet Naga’s head. “Hi, I’m Asami. Your mom told me a lot about you.”

Korra knelt beside them and rubbed the back of her neck. “Sorry about that.”

“No, it’s okay. It’s kind of nice to be greeted somewhere so happily, honestly. It’s been a minute.”

With a smirk, Korra scratched Naga behind the ear and said, “Alright then girl, you’re off the hook for now.” She gestured back towards the house and looked up at Asami. “I’ve got your luggage up there, I can take it to the guest room for you. And then I’ll uh, show you around?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Asami replied.

The house looked rather large due to its being out on its own, and it wasn’t small, but the geography of the area made for a bit of an optical illusion. It was two stories. There was a long porch which spanned the front face of the building, upon which there was both a rocking chair and also a suspended porch swing. Korra led Asami inside and swept a hand around in a grand motion, saying, “Welcome to my sliver of the world.”

The front door opened onto a large living area, which was adjacent to a kitchen and dining room. Korra took a right turn from the entryway and made for a hall. “There’s three bedrooms, two downstairs and one upstairs, but that one’s more of a converted attic space so it isn’t that big. You’ll be in here,” Korra explained as she entered a doorway to her left. Asami followed her inside and looked around. There was a queen bed along one wall, a chest of drawers along the other, and some boxes strewn about on the floor. “Sorry about the mess, I mostly use this room for extra storage.”

Asami gave a reassuring smile. “It should do fine,” she said. Naga cut in between them through the doorway and sat down in the middle of the floor, then looked up at Asami expectantly, who obediently reached down to pet her.

“I haven’t had visitors in a while, aside from Bolin. Naga must be happy to meet somebody new. When you get ready to go to bed later on I’ll make sure she doesn’t bother you too much.”

“I don’t mind,” Asami dismissed. “Your dog is very cute, Korra.”

Korra looked away, and for a second Asami could have sworn that she was blushing, but soon enough she was right back into host mode and cleared her throat. “I’ll show you the guest bathroom.”

At the end of the hall they’d come down was the master bedroom, which had its own connected bathroom. In between the two bedrooms was the guest bathroom, which wasn’t very big but had its own shower. For one night, it would more than suffice.

“I’ll apologize in advance, the guest bathroom’s where I bathe Naga, so it might have a bit of a smell,” Korra told her as the two of them made their way back to the living area.

“I doubt it will be a problem,” Asami dismissed again. She was the guest here and she didn’t want to act intrusive or out of turn. It was a gift she’d even been afforded a homely place to sleep tonight, and she wasn’t about to trample on that by acting entitled. Most of the hotels she stayed in for work didn’t allow pets, so it had been some time since she’d slept in a place where animals could be or had been, but that didn’t bother her. Naga seemed sweet enough, and it was pretty clear that Korra would do her best to ensure nothing went wrong between her dog and her temporary house guest.

“In case there’s a catastrophe in there and the toilet explodes or something, there’s another bathroom upstairs also,” Korra said. She leaned against the back of her couch and crossed her arms. “Aside from that, uhm… I don’t know how much else there is to say.”

“You have a nice house,” Asami complimented. Being in here and looking around, she could agree with Korra’s description of this place being “cozy.” The walls were all painted in shades of blues, and there were all sorts of decorations all over them. Pictures of Korra and other people Asami assumed were family members of hers, others of Naga, even some of the cows Asami had seen in the field outside. There were various dog toys strewn all over the place, a shelf in the dining room which was covered in trophies of some kind, and a brick fireplace right by the living room television, to top it all off. When Asami was young, her parents had owned a log cabin that her mother had designed and built herself out in Montana, and they’d take family trips there in the winters. After her mother’s death, her father had sold that place off, likely too grief-stricken to even be willing to look at it. Korra’s house vaguely reminded her of that old cabin, and those memories brought a joyful warmth to Asami’s heart.

Korra looked at her phone to check the time. “I’m gonna make dinner soon, you got any dietary things I should know about?”

“No,” Asami said. “When you’re constantly going to important business dinners, you learn to stop being picky.”

“Cool, in that case how’s chicken sound? Everybody likes chicken, right?”

“You’re the host,” Asami told her. Unless Korra just had the lowest standards on Earth, Asami figured that she must at least be a serviceable cook, living alone (and way too far out to constantly get delivery) like she did.

“Alright. Cool. I’ll get right to it. I’ll let you know when it’s ready. Or Naga will, she can always tell somehow and starts barking when I’m finished cooking.”

Asami gave a polite smile, then looked briefly at the couch. “Mind if I sit?”

“Please, make yourself comfortable. Mi casa, su casa, as they say.” Korra lingered where she was for another second, and then she made for the kitchen. She seemed a bit more awkward now that they were actually in her home, and Asami could tell that when Korra said she didn’t have guests often, she meant that she didn’t have guests hardly ever. It was another thing Asami could relate to, she was hardly used to playing host herself. She wasn’t actually at home in her San Diego apartment all that often these days, but it was even less often that anybody else was there. To keep from making her host any less comfortable, Asami would keep these observations to herself.

In the time it had taken to get here, she had received several emails, and when Asami sat down she began to work through them. The first was from her assistant, who was contacting her to let her know that her office had received yet another resignation letter today, this time from the Future Industries’ executive chief of operations. Upon reading this, Asami’s shoulders sagged greatly and she released a long, frustrated sigh. That was the second time this month the person in that role had resigned. It was getting to the point where she was running out of internal elevations she could make. There were only so many people to promote, and she’d already promoted about half of them thanks to either resignations or arrests. Her father hadn’t been the only one in the company complicit in the racketeering scheme, about a third of the board had been in on it with him. As such, before Asami had even taken the role of CEO, the company was down a significant chunk of its executive staff. Considering just how many people the government had nabbed in relation to that case, it was a minor miracle they hadn’t just gone the extra yard to seize the company entirely and shut it down by force. If things kept up the way they were, Future Industries would be a memory soon enough, anyway.

Perhaps that would be for the best. As it was now, Asami wasn’t sure there was anything she could do to redeem the company’s public image or repair its bottom line. Maybe a full reset would be the best thing for her. She could reorganize the whole corporation, rebuild it from the ground up. It had originally been created by her father as a machines manufacturer; he had been an inventor at heart. The company had only shifted focus later on in his career, when he’d realized just how lucrative shipping could be. Maybe if she could start at square one, Asami could bring her company back to its roots. She’d always taken after her father’s inventive side more than his businessman side anyway. Regardless, in the immediate present, she was still stuck firmly in the deep end.

Asami sent a quick message back to her assistant, thanking her for the notification. It wasn’t news she wanted to hear, but she needed to hear about it nonetheless. The rest of her emails were either unneeded garbage, or yet more reports on just how badly screwed her company currently was. It didn’t take all that long to get through them, but it completely drained her. She slumped back into the couch and turned her phone off. She needed something to distract her, so she looked around for Korra’s TV remote. Considering how accommodating her host had been thus far, Asami figured she wouldn’t have a problem with her using the TV.

It took a bit longer than expected to find the remote since it was stuck underneath the couch cushions, but once she had it Asami went about finding something to watch. For whatever reason Korra actually had satellite television (which confused Asami not just because of how old she presumed Korra to be, but also because of how isolated her house was), and so she found a cooking show on the Food Network and turned that on. It was inoffensive and she didn’t need her brain to watch it, exactly what she’d been seeking. The world was falling apart around her, but at least for now she could avoid thinking about it for a little while.

***

If Korra was honest with herself, she might have gone a little overboard with dinner. In an attempt to present herself as best she could, Korra made the most formal chicken dinner she’d probably ever created. Usually whenever she made chicken for herself, she just grilled it with little seasoning and ate some raw vegetables as a side. In a word, it was boring food. Eating that way was what helped her maintain such good shape, so she didn’t complain about it, but her home cooking usually wasn’t nearly as good as it wound up being that evening. She’d never grilled a juicier, more perfect chicken in her life. Because she was trying to be fancy she grilled some asparagus to go along with it, and even whipped up a butter sauce to put over that, as an extra garnish. It was a meal fit for a very nice restaurant, and Korra was fairly proud of herself when she presented it to Asami at the dining room table.

“Wow, this looks great!” Asami said, grinning. She didn’t look like she’d been expecting much when it came to dinner, and so she was genuinely surprised by how much effort Korra had sunk into their meal.

The compliment made Korra smile sheepishly and rub the back of her neck. She wasn’t really sure why such a simple comment was giving her the butterfly guts, but she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t very relieved that Asami appreciated the food. As she sat down on her side of the table, Naga came and sat right next to her chair, waiting for the scraps she knew Korra would inevitably give her from her plate. As much as Korra got on Bolin for spoiling Pabu, it was entirely hypocritical. She was just as bad with Naga.

“So… what’s next for you? Got any other destinations on your cross-country mission?” Korra asked. She had happened to notice Asami getting rather frustrated over something on her phone earlier, and was hoping some more casual conversation could improve her guest’s mood. They’d talked pleasantly in the car most of the way here, might as well try and continue that.

“I’m supposed to be in New York next week for a conference. Based on how the rest of this trip has gone, though, I’ve been considering just throwing in the towel and skipping it.”

Perhaps Korra had chosen the wrong topic to ease Asami’s conscience. She pivoted. “Suppose you did, hypothetically. Where would you go instead?”

“For what reason?”

“Any reason. Fun, relaxation, whatever.”

“Hmm…” Asami furrowed her brows and thought about it for a bit. “Japan. Both my parents had relatives there, and I always really liked going to visit them. It’s a very pretty country.”

“Wait, are you Japanese?”

“No, and my parents were both born in the States also, but some of my grandparents are. I don’t really have a claim on any sort of Japanese culture or anything, but it was always cool knowing I had family over there. And, again, I really liked visiting.” Asami’s eyes flicked over towards the living room, where Korra’s oldest family heirloom (a carving of a fisherman made from walrus ivory) hung on the wall above the TV. “You said your family is from Canada?”

“Pretty much. I’m Inuit, though I’ve never lived on tribal land or anything. I’ve got plenty of relatives that have, some that still do.”

“Interesting,” Asami said. She took a bite of her chicken and chewed on it, allowing herself a moment to think. Once she’d swallowed, she asked, “Where would you like to go?”

“Same parameters as my question from before?”

“Yep,”

Korra didn’t need to ponder that one at all. “Iceland.”

“Really?” Asami sounded surprised by that answer.

“Mm-hm,” Korra hummed, nodding. “I’ve heard they’ve got some of the most gorgeous places to go and swim.” She gestured generally behind herself, in the direction of her trophy shelf. “I’m sure you saw those?”

“I did.”

“Well, not to toot my own horn too much, but I was a damn good swimmer in school. I still am, I just don’t do it competitively anymore.”

That information Asami didn’t look nearly as surprised by. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but you’re very fit. I just figured it was because of your job,” she said. Her voice sounded vaguely flirtatious, but that might’ve just been Korra’s brain short-circuiting after yet another complement. She wasn’t really good with taking praise from other people, it made her feel very self-conscious.

“Thanks,” she replied. “You’re fit too,” she added, then cringed at herself.

To Korra’s eternal relief, Asami didn’t react weirdly to that comment. She just smiled and parroted Korra’s “thanks”.

They continued chatting about themselves, as easily as they had done on the drive over. Korra always considered herself an open book, and here was where she got to show it off. She didn’t have anything to hide from people, and in spite of her on-and-off anxiety she had no problem with talking about herself. She told Asami whatever she wanted to hear, all about her past in swimming and the competitions she’d won. She talked about her friendship with Bolin, and what Mako had been like as a kid, which seemed to amuse Asami greatly. Asami wasn’t nearly as sharing, it didn’t seem, but she offered up enough on herself to keep the conversation going. It seemed obvious that her most positive childhood memories had all come when her mother was alive, the way she talked about her mom was almost reverent. She discussed her hobbies, and went on a bit of a rambling spiel when talking about her car she had back home. It was a classic sixties Mustang convertible she’d restored herself, and she talked about it like people typically talk about their children. The way her face lit up as she spoke brought with it an infectious sense of joy, and Korra was smiling just listening to her.

They probably would’ve gone on chatting about anything and everything that came to mind like that, had it not been for Korra’s phone, which buzzed with a new text on the table. She checked it with a frown. It was from Bolin, and read: “kuvira said you left the gym with somebody today???? gimme deets now.” Korra couldn’t help but snicker at this.

“What is it?” Asami asked.

“Oh, just my friend. Bolin recently started a relationship, and ever since then he’s been trying almost non-stop to hook me up with somebody. It seems my coworker told him that I left work with somebody today, and he’s freaking out about it.”

“You’re single?” Asami sounded genuinely confused.

“Yeah,” Korra replied, a bit timidly. “Don’t see anyone else around, do you?”

“No, but I just figured-” Asami paused, then actually thought about what she was saying, and shrugged. “I guess I just assumed otherwise.”

“Living the bachelorette life, that’s me. Not for Bolin’s lack of trying, though.”

“Is he annoying about it?”

Korra shook her head. As much as he could irritate her with his pestering about the newest eligible matches he’d just met for her, Bolin had never actually tried to force Korra into going out with anybody. The most recent date she’d gone on, more than a year ago now, was all of her own volition. It hadn’t been a good date, but it had been her bad date, not something she’d been pushed into.

Asami smirked, then looked down at Korra’s phone. “You should tell him you’re on a date. Ooh, even better, you should make it sound raunchy.”

Snickering, Korra arched an eyebrow and asked, “Why?”

“It’d be funny, wouldn’t it? If he’s anything like how I’m imagining him to be, based on how you’ve talked about him, he’ll completely lose his mind.”

She had to admit, that sounded like a great idea. “He’d like you,” she told Asami, then got right to messaging him back. She cooked up a suggestive message implying she might be getting some action soon, and then snickered some more as she sent it to him. To keep him from (inevitably) blowing up her phone, she put it on mute.

They’d finished eating by then, and Korra got up from her seat and went to take both of their plates to the sink. Asami stopped her and said “I’ve got it,” and instead took hers and Korra’s plates herself. Dutifully, she rinsed them all off, then looked around briefly before finding the dishwasher and placing all their used dishes inside it.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Korra said.

Asami shook her head when she finished up. “Consider it a small repayment for the room, and for dinner. Which was delicious, by the way.”

Korra could feel herself blushing now, which was sort of embarrassing, and that embarrassment only made it worse. To distract herself from it, she walked away to the front door, next to which she’d left her shoes. “I’m going to go tend the cows, then take Naga for a walk.” This was all part of the daily schedule as well, and Naga was already waiting by the door.

“Alright,” Asami said, heading back to the living room.

She hesitated for a moment before asking, but something made Korra at least give the offer. “Would you uhm, like to come with me?”

Her guest checked her smartwatch and shrugged. “I’ve got a little bit of work to do yet, but I can put it off. So, sure.”

“Oh, I don’t want to step on your toes or anything.”

“It’s fine, I just have to look over some documents before my meeting tomorrow. Nothing that’ll take very long.”

“Well, great! You get to meet the cows.”

“I’ll be delighted to.”

Gertrude and Mildred were the opposite of energetic. It wasn’t because they were old, they had just always been that way. They were the quintessential grazing cows. Lazy, slow, and generally unbothered by most things. As such, they had zero reaction to somebody new entering their field. At Korra’s prompting Asami gave each of them a pet on the head, which Korra knew they appreciated (even if they didn’t show it). In the evenings Korra would lead them both back to the barn and then lock them in for the night, which she did now. She had to avoid a cow patty near the barn’s front door, and unfortunately Asami was not nearly as alert. She stepped directly into it.

“Aw shit,” she muttered. Her sneakers didn’t look overly expensive, but they did look clean. They probably weren’t very old.

Korra couldn’t help herself from saying, “Literally,” which made Asami crack a smile.

“Is there a secret method for removing this stuff you know?”

“The barn walls are pretty rough, you should be able to rub it off on them well enough. And don’t worry about making the walls dirty, I can just wash them later.”

Asami went and did that, while Korra got the cows settled in for the night. When she came back outside, Asami was holding her shoe in her hand, standing one-legged and furiously scrubbing the soiled shoe’s sole on the wall. After checking it twice, Asami finally deemed her work acceptable and put it back on.

“I didn’t mean take your shoe off,” Korra told her.

“It worked, didn’t it?”

“I won’t argue with you there. Come on, we’ll walk around for a bit.” Naga was already running off ahead of them. Korra’s property wasn’t marked with a fence or anything else so definitive, but since there weren’t any other people anywhere nearby, that sort of segmenting wasn’t necessary. When taking Naga out on walks, Korra usually just made a wide circle around her house. Occasionally she’d go out to the woods off to the west, but there weren’t any clearly marked trails in there so any hiking she did had to be with a GPS. Naga was always the one who led, Korra just followed along. Her dog could be trusted plenty without a leash, and she seemed to have an innate sense of where she was and wasn’t allowed to go.

“How long out of the year is it all green like this?” Asami asked once they’d been walking for a little bit.

“Only a few months, usually. I always make sure to come out as often as I can to appreciate it, though. One thing there’s no reason to complain about, living out here, it’s all this,” Korra said, making a sweeping gesture to the land around them.

“It’s very scenic,” Asami agreed. Then she took a deep breath. “And the air is so fresh. The cities I spend most of my time in aren’t like that.”

The sky was clear at the moment, though there was a building accumulation of clouds far to the west. Korra hoped that it wouldn’t get any bigger, because she already knew it was headed this way. Whether or not she had problems with travel tomorrow was entirely dependent on the state of those clouds once they reached her home. However, for the moment, she chose to ignore them. It would be several more hours before they were close. “It’s not as bad of a state as some people say it is,” Korra said. “So long as you don’t mind the cold, and almost twenty-four hours of either daylight or nighttime, depending on the time of year.”

“Huh. I never even considered that. What’s that like?”

“Well, I would say it’s normal, but I’ve lived here my whole life. I don’t think my opinion is very unbiased. You get used to it though, and the nights in the winter are just gorgeous. Clearest night sky you’ll ever see.”

Asami smirked. “I’ll have to come back and see it someday,” she said.

“It’s worth the trip, trust me. I’ll even let you use my guest room again.”

Stopping where she was, Asami turned towards Korra and gave her a meaningful look. “You’re very kind, Korra,” she said, and sounded sincere.

“I try to be,” Korra replied, shrugging. “How else are you supposed to make new friends?”

“I’m glad to have met you. Even if it did start badly,” Asami said, cringing slightly and looking at Korra’s nose.

She couldn’t see it herself very well, but she was pretty sure it was getting a little better. It still kind of hurt when she touched it, but it had quit hurting to breathe a while ago. “All’s forgiven. It was partially my fault anyway, I should be more aware than that. And I’m glad I met you, too.”

Asami smiled, and then began walking again. They continued on, enjoying the evening and the quiet.

Chapter Text

The rain started around nine PM. At first a sprinkle, it quickly built into a steady shower. Asami watched it through a window from the couch, and couldn’t help but wonder how long it would last. She was here for the night regardless, so she was at the mercy of the weather. She only hoped it would be kind. As exasperated as she was with her whole business trip, missing meetings wasn’t something she could afford right now. She needed any and all opportunities to rebuild her company’s reputation. Much as it peeved her, getting laughed out of a meeting was better than never showing up for it at all.

Korra rounded the couch behind her, holding two mugs. She held one of them out to Asami and said, “I made some hot chocolate. I know it’s not cold outside but the rain made it feel appropriate.”

With an appreciative smile, Asami accepted the mug. It was blue and had little cartoon polar bears all over it. She looked into the liquid and saw that Korra had absolutely loaded it with mini marshmallows. After a sip, she nodded at Korra as a way of saying: “That’s good,” and then went back to looking out the window.

“I’ll go out and check tomorrow morning. Just have to hope it isn’t that bad.”

“It’ll be okay,” Asami said. She wasn’t sure who she was trying to reassure, or if she even believed it, but she felt obligated to say it. Then, politely, “I’ll figure something out.”

“I’ll get you to your meeting, Asami. And I’m not gonna let you miss your flight. I promise.”

She put a hand on Korra’s shoulder. “Korra, seriously, it’ll be okay. It isn’t your fault.”

“It kinda is, though. I’m the one who invited you out here. If you’d just gotten a different hotel room, you’d still be in town and it wouldn’t be a problem at all.” She looked genuinely upset at herself, which Asami didn’t think was fair. Korra had been a wonderful host, and Asami didn’t want her new friend to feel like she’d done anything wrong.

Fixing Korra with a meaningful look, the same sort of look she’d used before out on their walk, she told her, “You’ve been nothing but nice to me. I’m happy I came here, okay? It doesn’t matter what happens with the weather.” Her hand was still on Korra’s arm, and she gave it an affectionate squeeze. “Plus, your hot chocolate is really good.”

“The secret is to mix in some chocolate syrup,” Korra said, and once more she was smiling. Asami was beginning to like seeing that smile quite a lot. It was only after another few moments of silence that Asami noticed their closeness, and leaned back into the couch.

“I guess you’ve got some work to do?”

Asami did, she wouldn’t deny it, but she felt so comfortable right now, just relaxing here with Korra, that she waved a hand dismissively and said, “It can wait.”

“Wanna watch a movie?”

“Sure,” Asami agreed. Much like her taste in music, Asami’s movie taste had come straight from her mother. Her favorites had been gangster films, especially anything by Scorsese. Consequently, he was Asami’s favorite director. They weren’t all exactly the easiest movies to just turn on and watch casually though, so she would allow Korra to pick what they watched. Plus, this wasn’t her house. It wasn’t her place to choose.

It seemed Korra had the exact opposite idea. “What do you suggest?”

“I’m not picky. I’m the guest here, I’ll let you decide,” Asami replied, gently pressing away Korra’s offer.

Korra made an over-exaggerated expression and said, “Okay,” while throwing up her hands. “Really shackling me with all the responsibility here.”

“You seem pretty capable of handling the pressure to me,” Asami said playfully. “You were an athlete once, right?”

“Laying it on thick over there,” Korra joked as she pulled up Netflix. There was a solid bit of scrolling done without any sort of picking. Korra’s eyes flashed briefly to Asami, as if checking if she was being watched. Asami caught her gaze and gave a wry smile. “Shut up,” Korra muttered, sounding slightly embarrassed. Her scrolling only got quicker and even more indecisive.

“The tension’s building now, I’m on the edge of my seat,” Asami said, egging her on.

Korra started pouting, and by this point Asami wasn’t even sure if she was looking at the options she was scrolling through. “I hate picking stuff to watch, I’m always so bad at it,” she grumbled. There was another minute or so of mindless scrolling, and now Korra was actively sinking into the couch. She looked like she’d been deflated.

Beginning to actually feel bad for her, Asami pulled out her phone and brought up a digital coin to flip via Google. “Alright, since we’re not getting anywhere, how about this: I’ve got a coin. If it lands on heads, you go up one row on the page. Tails, you go down one. Once we’re there, I’ll flip again. Heads, you scroll across two spaces, tails you scroll across three. Hopefully fate can provide us with an answer.”

Looking like she was at her wit’s end, Korra straightened up and nodded emphatically. “Go for it.”

A heads first, up one. Asami flipped a second time and landed on heads again, which led them to the movie Black Hawk Down.

“Hmm…” Korra hummed, frowning. “Not feeling that one.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Asami agreed. They went through it again, and got tails and then heads. This time, they were offered up The Hangover.

“Ew, no,” Korra said, shaking her head immediately. “I hate that movie.”

“Well the third time’s the charm anyway, right?” Asami said, and they did it all again. Two tails this time, and that led them to Skyfall.

“How do you feel about some James Bond?” Asami asked her host.

“Indifferent, I guess.”

Scrunching up her nose, Asami went to flip the digital coin once more. “Alright, fourth time’s the charm, then.” Heads, then tails. Now it was A League of Their Own.

“Hey, I actually like this movie,” Korra said. “You?”

Asami bit her lower lip, then grinned cheekily. “Only if you’re okay with it.”

“Ugh, it was supposed to be the coin’s decision!”

“It was, I’m just leaving it up to you whether or not we refute that decision.”

Pouting once more, Korra said, “You’re being mean,” and then took a long, sullen sip from her mug. “We’re watching this movie,” she declared once she was finished.

“Fine by me,” Asami told her, and attempted to hide her smile behind her mug.

Their decision finally made, Korra got up from the couch and went around turning off all the lights. Much like she’d spoken about before, in spite of the time it was still a bit light outside. It wasn’t bright like the proper daytime, but the sun had not disappeared completely, so Korra pulled the blinds shut on all the nearby windows. Once she was finished, she stopped behind the couch and asked, “You want some popcorn?”

“I’ll eat some if you make some,” Asami replied.

Korra nodded and made her way to the kitchen. While she was gone, Naga came into the living room and laid down on the carpet right in front of the couch. Soon enough, there was a sustained chorus of popping coming from the kitchen, and then shortly after Korra returned with a large metal bowl full of fresh popcorn.

“No bowl for me?” Asami asked, though she was mostly joking.

Her host didn’t seem to take it that way, and hesitated before saying, “I can go get one for you.”

“I’m kidding, it’s fine. Don’t worry, I can share when I have to.”

With a nod, Korra sat down next to her and started the movie.

***

Korra didn’t know what was wrong with herself. She had been speaking casually with Asami all evening, they had a good rapport. But as soon as the lights were down, and they were both quietly sitting next to each other and watching the movie, her brain started racing at a mile a minute. She kept replaying all the time they’d spent together on repeat, suddenly looking at it through a new lens, one which had come from nowhere and yet pervaded her entire being.

Was Asami flirting with her?

The evening had seemed innocent enough for its entire duration, but now Korra was suddenly looking at it all very differently. Every stolen glance, every small, private smile. Asami liked her in a friendly way, that much was obvious, but did it go further than that? Did Korra want it to? She barely knew this girl, at least not very thoroughly. So why then was her heart going haywire? She’d had crushes in the past, but she couldn’t ever remember one developing this quickly. Was that even what this was?

Korra shoveled some popcorn into her mouth in a vain attempt to muffle her thoughts. On the screen, Tom Hanks was yelling at his newly-formed all-girls baseball team, but Korra could scarcely tell what he was saying. The popcorn was not helping. She snuck a peek at Asami out of the corner of her eye, and thankfully Asami wasn’t looking back at her, but now Korra was gazing at Asami’s profile and noticing her features even more than she had before. She had marvelous cheekbones, and she had a cute little round nose. Her raven hair almost shone from the reflection of the TV screen, and it flowed so effortlessly down past her shoulders. In the low light, the green of her eyes was somehow all the more vibrant. Korra could feel her cheeks heating up, and quickly looked away.

Where did this all come from? What was she, some lovesick child? Frankly, it was a little embarrassing, even if it was all just private thoughts in her head. Her phone, sitting face up beside her, lit up with a new notification. Korra hastily flipped it over and ignored it. She hadn’t looked at any of Bolin’s replies since dinner, but what had once seemed like a harmless and funny gag was now actively intimidating her. The questions Bolin was likely asking would be demanding more information about whatever it was Asami and Korra were doing together, and reading those questions would just get Korra’s mind to churning, imagining all the things they could be doing together (not all of them family friendly). Just imagining what those questions could be about made her start envisioning things, and she felt her face heat up even worse. Why was she so suddenly wrapped up in all this emotion? Korra wasn’t one to repress feelings but she’d never been overly-emotional, she usually had a good handle on herself. What the hell was going on?

She reached for more popcorn, hoping that stuffing her face with yet more food could distract her, but this time her hand was accidentally met in the bowl by another, as Asami had been reaching in simultaneously. Korra flinched back and said, “Sorry,” to which she received no response. Her chest was pounding. Her whole head was hot at this point and she felt like she was giving herself a fever. Beside her, Asami continued chewing her popcorn nonchalantly, none-the-wiser to how much Korra was unraveling at the moment. She was the calm, Korra was the tempest.

On the carpet in front of them, Naga looked up at her, as if she could tell Korra wasn’t feeling right. Much like the night before after she’d watched that Hallmark movie, Naga looking right at her like that didn’t help in the slightest. As ridiculous as it was, she felt judged, or at the very least called-out. Only tonight it was so much worse. Here she was losing her cool, and Naga was looking right through her, seeing it all. With a now slightly shaky hand, she sipped slowly from her mug, but it soon quit giving up any more liquid. Korra frowned and looked into the mug, which was now pitifully empty. Dammit, one less thing to distract herself with.

She forced herself to take a deep breath, then let it go steadily. She was a fully-grown adult woman. She was better than this. Asami was just her very pleasant house guest, and nothing more. There was nothing to get so worked up over, nothing at all. This was just two people making friends and hanging out with each other. Korra loved people, she was a genuine people-person, and she knew how to behave around them. Wild, unrestrained imaginings of some alternate bizarro world were unbecoming. She took several more deep breaths to calm herself. Just watch the movie. A whole scene passed by and Korra was actually able to pay attention to it for once, and finally her panic began to subside.

But then she went to grab more popcorn, and her hand brushed up against Asami’s once again. This time when she quickly retracted her hand, she let out a small gasp, and her whole body was right back to exploding. Korra peeked over at her guest once more, but this time she wasn’t just afforded an innocent glance. Asami was looking right back at her. Her expression, and whatever thoughts it hid behind it, was unreadable. A few seconds passed wherein they stared at one another, and then Asami smirked and gave Korra a wink before turning her attention back to the movie.

God help her, Korra was melting. This was how it all ended, seeping down into a puddle of embarrassment right there on the couch. She couldn’t ever remember a time in her life when she’d felt like this. What was wrong with her? Half an hour ago, they’d been talking as casually as can be, like a pair of life-long friends. Now, Korra was like a fuse progressively burning its way towards a massive detonation. Her face was uncomfortably hot. She had to get out of there, at least for a little bit.

Standing up with whatever power over her own will she still retained, Korra announced, “I need to pee,” then she essentially sprinted out of the room. Whether Asami watched her go and was confused by her abrupt departure, it didn’t really matter. Korra needed to be alone so she could calm down.

It wasn’t the closest bathroom, but it was the most private, so she dashed all the way to the master bath and then locked herself inside. Maybe a bit dramatic, but these were dire times. She’d had the foresight to grab her phone before running off, and once she was safely closed inside Korra immediately turned it on and called Bolin. She intentionally ignored the twelve (twelve???) texts he’d sent her since dinner and hoped he would pick up. Thankfully, her ever-attentive friend did so almost immediately.

“Bolin, I need to talk to you right now,” Korra told him, speaking rapidly.

“Finally! I’ve been trying to get through for hours, but you just went radio silent! What the hell is happening, you’re on a date? I thought you said you didn’t want to date anybody, what changed? Who is she? Why was that message you sent so suggestive?”

“Look, okay, I was just fucking with you, I’m not on a date.”

“Then what’s so urgent?”

Korra began pacing. “Well, so, I met this girl Asami at work today and she’s this business woman in town for a few days who was having some problems with work and then she said her hotel reservation got messed up and without really thinking I offered for her to stay in my guest room for the night and now she’s here and we were having a great evening and she’s really nice and now I’m freaking out in the bathroom because I think I might actually like her.” She was lying a little bit, she didn’t think she liked Asami.

Her nervous rambling gave way to an uncomfortable silence, one which was interrupted when Bolin began laughing on the other end of the phone line.

“Bolin, it’s not funny! I’m losing it over here, I need help. You’re the one in the relationship, tell me what I should do,” Korra pleaded. She heard genuine desperation in her voice, and that made her feel a little bit pathetic, but she couldn’t really help it.

“Wait, what do you want me to say?”

“I don’t know, what am I supposed to do? You’re the one who’s always trying to hook me up with people.”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t ever really being serious about it, now you want actual advice?”

“Something!”

Bolin went quiet for a bit, then said, “Okay, how about this: Why don’t you tell me what you’re feeling?”

Korra had to think about it to find the words. “Uhm… it’s like I’ve got a crush, but it’s really aggressive.”

“And when did that start?”

“When we started watching a movie together. Everything was normal and then suddenly I’m just sitting there thinking about what it’d be like to hold her hand or to kiss her, and I don’t have any idea where that came from.” Hearing herself say all this out loud only made Korra feel that much more embarrassed. She put her face in her free hand. “God, this is so pathetic.”

“Hey, developing feelings for somebody is not pathetic, it’s perfectly normal,” Bolin said sternly, as if admonishing her for her self-defeatism.

“Yeah, but this fast?” Korra replied. She stopped pacing to look at herself in the mirror, and the woman who was looking back at her was a sweaty, anxious mess.

“The heart wants what the heart wants, Korra.”

“That sounds so cliché,” Korra grumbled.

“Take it up with the heart police. Do you want some advice or not?”

In spite of her turbulent mood, Bolin’s corniness helped alleviate the embarrassment she was feeling slightly. “Yeah,” she said.

“Alright, I’ll tell you about how I first got together with Opal. So, we met on her campus because I was there for work, and we happened to run into one another in a coffee shop. While we were both waiting in line, we got to talking and sort of hit it off, you know how it goes. But anyway, I was feeling like I might have a shot with her, so I waited until we’d both gotten our drinks and then I forced myself to man up and ask her out.”

Korra stared at her phone incredulously. “How is that advice?”

“I’m saying that all you’ve gotta do is ask her out! You only meet somebody for the first time once, you can’t let that opportunity slip.”

“That’s terrible advice! I didn’t just meet her, we’ve spent the whole afternoon and night together.”

“Have you asked her out?”

“Well, no, but she’s my house guest, that’d be weird. And I don’t know how she’d react anyway. I don’t think she’s feeling like I am, but I keep getting these flirty vibes from her and I have no idea how to interpret them.”

Bolin gave a “mmm” that sounded like he had just made a realization. “So that’s what this is about.”

“What?”

“You’re not freaked out about how you feel, you’re freaked out about how she feels.”

“Don’t patronize me.”

“I’m not patronizing you, I’m just making an observation. Clearly, what’s got you so messed up is not your own feelings.”

She wanted to refute what he was saying, but she knew he was right. Korra might be surprised and a bit embarrassed by her own emotions at the moment, but that wasn’t the crux of her problem. The crux of her problem was Asami Sato, and Korra’s inability to read what she was thinking. Had she been flirting with her? Or was Korra just reading way too far into things? “Then what am I supposed to do? How can I possibly know what she’s thinking?” Her voice had lost its desperation, as now she just felt defeated.

“You just talk to her. You be honest about yourself, and find out how she feels by the way she responds.”

Korra groaned and went back to pacing. “It’s not that easy.”

“Why isn’t it?”

“I can’t just talk to her like that, I’ll totally freak her out! She’ll want to leave, it’ll ruin everything.”

“How do you know that?”

It was frustrating how much sense Bolin was making. Korra was beginning to realize that she didn’t fully want advice, she’d just wanted someone to listen to her while she had a meltdown. “I can’t just talk to her like that, Bolin. I’ve only known her for like half a day.”

“So? People go on dates with each other without ever having met before.”

“But… I just… I don’t know, I just can’t.”

“Korra,” Bolin began, sounding completely serious. “It’s okay to be scared, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I’m not exactly Mr. Confidence myself, I might’ve left out the part of my story where I drank my whole coffee and sweated out whether I should even approach Opal again. I only did because we happened to get up to leave around the same moment, and were walking out pretty much simultaneously.” He took a deep breath. “But I know for a fact I would’ve regretted it for the rest of my life if I hadn’t had the guts to just talk to her again.”

“I feel so stupid,” Korra muttered.

“Don’t beat yourself up, Korra, you haven’t messed anything up.” Bolin’s tone was already empathetic, but somehow his next question seemed all the more genuine. “Do you like her?”

Korra rubbed the back of her neck and began to give a wishy-washy half-answer. “I don’t know, I mean maybe I-”

“Do you like her?” Bolin repeated, emphasizing his words.

She had to steady her breathing before she replied. “Yeah.”

“Then tell her. Trust me, you’ll hate yourself if you never say anything.”

Korra sat down on the toilet and heaved a sigh. Then she chuckled. “How did it happen so fast? I wasn’t even thinking about any of this stuff an hour ago.”

“I can’t answer that one for you,” Bolin told her. He sounded like he was smiling. “But I can tell you’re being serious, so all I can do is encourage you to pursue it.”

“Thanks, Bolin,” Korra said. She stood back up and went to the mirror, inspecting her reflection once again. Wetting her fingers with the sink, Korra combed them through her hair to straighten it out. She looked at her nose, which was just as purple as it’d been before, but wasn’t swollen anymore. In spite of how much it had hurt, she smiled at the memory associated with it. For all his talk of meet-cutes, Korra was sure an accidental injury wasn’t what Bolin had had in mind. Still, she was very happy that it had happened.

“No problem. I’ll leave you be for now,” Bolin replied. “Good luck,” he added, and then hung up.

Korra gripped the edges of the countertop and breathed deeply until she felt completely calm once more, which took a minute. She could do this, right? Maybe not right this second, but soon enough, she could look Asami in the face and tell her how she felt. And Korra was mature, she could handle rejection. If Asami didn’t reciprocate her feelings, then Korra could live with that. It was better to ask and be turned down than to hold onto her feelings forever and always have that question of what could have been in the back of her mind. She gathered some water in her hands and then splashed it on her face, before drying herself with a hand towel and finally leaving the bathroom.

Asami was still sitting on the couch watching the movie, though she turned around to look when Korra approached from behind.

“You okay?” Asami asked.

“Hmm?”

“Are you feeling okay? You were gone for a little while.”

Korra retook her place on the couch, and nodded. “I’m fine.”

“Alright,” Asami said, and turned her eyes back to the screen. Everything was right back to how it had been before, but now the whole atmosphere of the room felt changed. Korra relaxed into her seat and watched the movie, but her attention stayed peripheral. She wouldn’t do it now, but she told herself she would do it soon.

Chapter Text

It was still raining outside by the time their movie was over, and showed no signs of letting up. Asami stood on the front porch underneath the roof with Korra, watching the steady downpour continue on and on. The sun was finally gone, so the night properly felt like night, and it took with it any heat still lingering in the air. Asami shivered, and tried to ignore her chattering teeth.

“You said your meeting’s at seven, right?” Korra asked. “We’ll have to get up pretty early.”

“What’s the point?” Asami mumbled, trailing her eyes over to Korra’s Jeep. From where she was standing, she could see that its tires had sunk into the mud a little bit. “Just look,” she added.

By now, Korra seemed to have surpassed any illusions of the weather magically getting better. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“It’s okay,” Asami said with a small shrug. “It probably wouldn’t’ve amounted to anything anyway. It’s not like I have anyone’s respect.”

“You have mine,” Korra said, sounding earnest.

Asami felt herself get misty-eyed, and she looked at her new friend with a genuine smile. “Thanks, Korra,” she said. “I really appreciate that.”

For a long moment, they looked at one another. It seemed like Korra had something more she wanted–no, needed–to say, but her mouth stayed shut and she eventually looked away. Asami allowed herself to admire Korra for another few seconds longer. Her blue eyes reflected what little moonlight seeped in through the clouds. Where Asami’s arms were peppered with goosebumps, Korra seemed entirely unaffected by the chill in the air. She belonged in this place, and that made Asami all the more grateful she’d been afforded the chance to share it with her.

“I’m going to go take a shower. See you in the morning?” Asami said.

Korra still had that vague look of longing about her, but whatever was nagging at her she decided to continue keeping to herself. “Sure,” she replied. “Goodnight, Asami.”

“Goodnight.” And Asami went back inside.

She’d spent the whole evening with Korra and never even bothered to unpack her suitcase, it was still sitting on the bed in the guest room unopened. What was also sitting in the room was Naga, who’d apparently moved while they were outside. She softly padded up to Asami and leaned against her leg. Asami knelt down to pet Naga’s head.

“Is my mood that easy to pick up on?” she asked rhetorically. Korra’s dog couldn’t talk, obviously, but Asami liked to believe that she could understand her anyway. “Thanks, girl,” she said eventually, and stood back up, then began to prepare for her shower.

Korra’s guest bathroom got excellent water pressure, and that made Asami’s shower a perfect way to clear her head. Any tension still left in her arms and shoulders from her angry “workout” earlier in the day steadily released, relaxing her even further. Life had not been kind to Asami of late, but the shower allowed her to forget about that for a little while and ease herself. Future Industries certainly wouldn’t reflect it, but this trip had not been a complete waste. If she hadn’t ever come here, she would never have met such a lovely person like Korra, and a new friend was worth the same as a thousand successful business deals. She used the shower until the water ran cold, then took the liberty to borrow one of Korra’s towels and wrapped herself up in it. Asami went through the rest of the motions of her nightly routine. She hadn’t noticed before, partly because Korra was helping keep her energy up, but she was very tired. The day had been long.

She bumped into Korra on her way back to the guest bedroom, and noticed her host had changed into her pajamas, which consisted of a plain white tank top and some drawstring shorts that had polar bears on them. Korra must really like polar bears.

“Sorry,” Asami apologized. “I really have a bad tendency not to pay attention to my surroundings, evidently.”

“It’s okay,” Korra said, and looked down at her feet.

Once more Asami got the sense that Korra was keeping something from her, but she couldn’t parse what that might be. This time she decided to ask about it. “Korra, is there something you want to tell me?”

This comment made Korra look straight up panicked, and she began sputtering. “Uh, nuh-no. Well, I mean, yes, but I just… I don’t-”

“Did I do something?”

“No! No, no no no no, you didn’t do anything. I just…” Korra trailed off again, and then gritted her teeth in frustration. “I just wanted… dammit!” She balled up a fist and hit herself in the thigh.

“What’s wrong?” Asami asked, trying to keep her voice soft. Whatever was frustrating Korra so much, Asami didn’t want to add to it by prodding her too hard.

Shaking her head continuously, Korra said, “I’m sorry, I just can’t…” But something tripped her up again and she turned on her heel and marched to her bedroom. Naga followed at her heels, and once the dog was in the room also, Korra shut the door.

Left alone again, Asami wondered at what had so drastically changed in her new friend. Had she inadvertently said something wrong? Maybe Korra was still beating herself up over Asami’s misfortunes, in spite of her attempted reassurances. The very idea of that tied Asami’s stomach up in knots. She hastily put her stuff back into her suitcase, then went to Korra’s closed door and knocked on it lightly. “Korra?”

She heard a sniffle, then a weak “Please go away.”

“Korra, what’s wrong? If it’s anything I did, I’m really sorry.” She waited a moment, then added, “If you’re still upset about the weather, I promise I’ll be okay. It’s not your fault.”

Asami listened as Korra blew her nose (which made her go “Ow” quietly a few times), then eventually the bedroom door came creaking open slowly. Hesitantly, Asami entered.

Korra’s bedroom was like a mini version of the whole house; a repository of comfort cast in blues and browns. Pictures littered the room, cataloging all sorts of times in Korra’s life. An image of a young Korra in a swimsuit standing next to a man who was likely her father, beaming as she showed off a shiny medal she’d just won. Another of a teenage Korra sandwiched between two black-haired boys, one of whom looked like a younger version of Mako, as Asami remembered him. The biggest of them, a landscape photo blown-up and hung above the bed, depicted a valley from up on a mountain, in front of which stood Korra as she looked in the modern day, alongside a different woman with black hair and a beauty mark just under her right eye. That woman looked vaguely familiar to Asami, who wondered if she’d seen her somewhere in the gym earlier today.

But none of that was important right now. Asami turned her attention to Korra, who was sitting on the end of the bed, looking especially downcast. Asami approached her, and then sat down beside her when Korra didn’t try to move away.

“If there’s anything I can do for you Korra, please, just say so.”

Another sniffle, which made Korra wince. She turned slightly, but didn’t meet Asami’s eyes. “It’s not your fault.” She frowned at herself. “I just can’t…”

“Can’t what?”

“Ugh, goddamn Bolin made it seem like it’d be so easy,” Korra muttered. She took a deep breath, seemingly attempting to calm herself, then finally lifted her head. Her eyes were wet with fresh tears, which she blinked at before bringing up a hand to wipe them away. There was a depth of feeling within her gaze which made Asami’s breath hitch. It spoke to a hidden, roiling emotion within Korra just burning to be let loose, but unable to guide its way past her uncooperative lips.

Asami desperately wished to know what it was that was troubling Korra so much, but she dared not speak. This was not something that could be drawn forth if she forced it out, Korra would have to speak for herself.

“Asami,” Korra finally began, “I… I’m really glad I met you. And I’m glad you agreed to come here tonight, I’ve really loved getting to know you.” She looked like she was having to strain just to get the words out, so Asami nodded to try and encourage her forward. “You’re a really amazing person, and you deserve to hear that. I know things haven’t gone well for you recently, but you just seem like you have so much willpower and determination, and I know that whatever you’re facing, you can best it. I just…” She choked up and stopped, then took another deep breath. This one was shaky. Korra teared up again, and this time she just let the tears flow out. “I… like you, Asami. I really like you.”

She had to admit, that wasn’t what she’d expected to hear. Asami hadn’t done anything wrong, far from it. Korra had clammed up so much because she was trying to express her feelings. Asami leaned back ever-so-slightly, taken aback by the confession. She searched for the words to say, but found none. Korra liked her, but how did Asami feel? She could easily admit to the development of a fast friendship with this girl, but could it ever go beyond that? At the moment, Asami didn’t know, and she sat silently.

Unfortunately, this seemed to be the entirely wrong moment for indecision. Korra, likely already teetering on the edge, cracked at Asami’s silence and began to cry. She put her face in her hands. “I knew this was a bad idea,” she mumbled into her palms.

Asami was frozen. What could she do? Should she try and comfort Korra? Would that even be helpful? In a way, she was the problem, so any consolation she tried to offer might be entirely counterproductive. Should she reciprocate? Asami liked Korra, sure, but as a friend. That was all this was, wasn’t it? She had to admit that she felt as though she’d grown very close with this woman in a very short amount of time, but could her feelings ever be romantic? She sat there and didn’t move and watched Korra cry, feeling horrible but not knowing any way to help. Eventually, the air in the room grew too thick and Asami had to get out of there. She stood and quickly walked out of the room, and as she did it she heard Korra’s cries grow even heavier. The sound very nearly made Asami stop in her tracks, but doing that wouldn’t be fair to Korra, because if she stopped, she still wouldn’t know what to say. To give her host a little privacy, Asami shut the door behind herself.

Her stomach felt like it’d been run through a blender. The second she was out of the room she felt horrible about it and wanted to go right back in, but Asami forced herself to keep walking, down the hall and into her own room for the night. She had to give Korra some space, and she had to think over her own feelings to boot. What Korra had said to her was still echoing in her mind, and she still hadn’t even fully processed it. Korra liked her, liked her in that way. It made Asami short of breath and quick of heartbeat.

It had been a very, very long time since anyone had spoken to her like that. She’d dated a few people in her life, but she’d been single for quite some time. For several years she’d been so wrapped up with trying to clean up her father’s messes that any sort of personal relationships had been an afterthought. She couldn’t give them the time they needed, so she cut them out entirely. It made for a more focused lifestyle, but was she happy with it? She hadn’t given the matter much thought.

Asami realized she was still wrapped up in a towel and felt her cheeks grow hot knowing Korra had seen her partially undressed like this. As she changed into her pajamas, that embarrassment nagged at her. Not because it persisted, but she couldn’t help but wonder at its purpose. Why would she be embarrassed at getting seen by Korra in that way? Asami wasn’t the type to go out and flaunt her body everywhere but she wasn’t particularly modest. So why? She got into the bed, and stuffed that thought up with everything else she still needed to hash out.

Asami laid down on her back and stared up at the ceiling, knowing for certain that she had no hope of sleeping any time soon. This turmoil in her mind couldn’t be ignored and dealt with tomorrow, it had the utmost urgency. And not only because of her own feelings, she needed to go back to Korra and talk things out sooner or later. Leaving for now was only a temporary measure, they would have to have a conversation eventually. She checked the time on her phone–just past midnight–and then got to thinking.

She replayed the day in her head, from the moment she’d accidentally hit Korra in the face to this moment right here, and she assessed how it all made her feel. Never before in her life had Asami made a friend like Korra, nor had she ever made friends with someone in the way she’d made friends with Korra. This was all a very unique experience, and she cherished it all deeply. Korra just seemed like the exact sort of person Asami had needed to meet; a caring, compassionate, understanding woman who would listen to her troubles and soothe her with reassurances and simple acts of kindness. She was the right kind of person to patch up all the holes Asami had been littered with, filling them with laughter and smiles and warmth. This kind of friendship had been what she desperately needed and never realized she was lacking.

But Korra’s side of it had developed differently, quicker and more assertive. Could Asami return that feeling? Did she even feel it herself? She didn’t know, genuinely. It wasn’t anything physical, Asami was comfortable in her bisexuality and could certainly acknowledge Korra’s attractiveness, nor did anything about Korra’s personality put her off. She just couldn’t yet bring herself to envision it. The thought of something more between them hadn’t even crossed her mind until Korra put it there. Would it be worse to try and force herself to look at Korra differently, just to appease her? Asami sighed heavily. The thought of causing someone as sweet as Korra such grief was agonizing, but surely it wouldn’t be fair to force something just to make Korra happy.

The rain outside still fell, though not as hard as before, and pattered lightly against the roof. She drank in the natural white noise it created and closed her eyes, attempting to give in to the exhaustion she’d felt earlier after her shower. She could not go to sleep, there was no chance of that happening, but perhaps if she fell into her tired self a bit more, it might act in a meditative way and help her better to think. Asami breathed steadily, willing herself towards relaxation. A calm body meant a calm mind.

She had to do something. On her own like this, she wasn’t anywhere near finding answers. The way she felt about Korra, she couldn’t properly see it in any other form. But did that mean it was, and would strictly remain, platonic? She could not say, not for sure. And when she did get around to speaking with Korra (likely in the morning), she wanted to be sure. Asami looked at the time once more, then slowly sat up and got off the bed. An idea, the beginning of one, anyway, was forming. She didn’t know if it would work, or what it would even have to accomplish to be considered ‘working’, but it was something.

Slowly, she left her room and approached the master bedroom again. The door was closed, just as she’d left it, but light still glowed from underneath it, meaning Korra at least still had a lamp on in there, and was likely still awake. Asami took a deep breath. She wasn’t really sure what she was doing, but she didn’t have time to think about it before she reached forward and knocked.

***

I’m such an idiot, was the mantra that had been running non-stop through Korra’s head for the past however long it had been. It was a simple message, and easily repeatable. She could just put it on loop and chastise herself very effectively.

She was lying on her bed cuddled up next to Naga, who had hopped up there not long after Asami had left. Sometimes Korra was convinced her dog was an empath, and right now she was incredibly thankful for it. With Naga here Korra was free to get her crying out and then calm down, and that’s exactly what she’d done. She was back to balancing on a knife’s edge, but she was no longer in active free-fall.

Korra had dealt with rejection before. Mako had dumped her a lifetime ago, and there’d been a few other guys and gals interspersed since who all hadn’t worked out either. That said, somehow this time Korra really felt it like a stake through her heart. All over someone she’d only known for about half a day. She couldn’t explain it, and at this point she didn’t care to. The emotions she was feeling were real, no matter how one questioned them. And so this breakdown was completely real right along with them. It was all Korra could do not to bury herself in as many blankets and pillows as she could possibly find to try and be forgotten.

The knock was what stopped her from seriously considering it. She sat up and looked at her door like it was some alien entity. It didn’t offer any more knocking, but after a few seconds it did offer a soft “Korra?”

And there her heart went, right back to beating out of rhythm. All it took was just hearing Asami say her name. Nevertheless, Korra hesitated. She had no illusions about what had happened earlier, Asami had heard her confession and then walked out. It had all happened exactly as she had feared it would. She’d taken her shot, and she’d flat out missed. So what could Asami want now? Perhaps a more formal rejection? Korra wasn’t sure how much she wanted to hear that, but she knew that she probably ought to. Shut Asami out now and she might run the risk of losing her friendship too, and that would most certainly be far too much to bear. She gave Naga a kiss on the head and then got out of bed, and walked to the door.

Asami was in pajamas now, thankfully, though that was only a minor release on the storm in Korra’s soul. She looked strangely calm. “Korra,” she repeated, “I’m sorry I left like I did before.”

Here it comes, Korra thought, bracing herself for the inevitable words of rejection to follow-

“But you gave me a lot of things to think about, and I wasn’t ready to think about them, and so I’m sorry if I made you feel worse.”

-which didn’t come. Wait, a lot of things to think about? What did that mean?

“I admit I wasn’t thinking about you in that way, not before, but I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since. You’re the best person I’ve met in a long time, Korra, and maybe…” She trailed off, much like Korra herself had been doing earlier. “Maybe it doesn’t have to stop here, but I just don’t know.”

Korra didn’t know whether she should say something or not. What exactly was Asami trying to say?

“I’m stalling, I’m sorry,” Asami said, admonishing herself. She met Korra’s eyes and said with renewed vigor, “I want to try something. Just to see. I don’t know if it’ll help, it might be silly, but it’s the only thing I can think to do.” She took a tiny step forward. “Korra, I want to… can I kiss you?”

Standing still and dumbfounded, Korra could practically feel her brain leaking out of her ears. Kiss? Me? The words came to her like a complex language introduced to a caveman. She’d lost her voice, her ability to move her limbs, all capacity for rationalization, everything. Korra was stuck in this moment with nothing to rely on but her core motor reflexes. And those reflexes were what made her nod her head.

What followed was the most confusing moment of Korra’s entire life. Asami saw her nod and then hesitantly stepped even closer, closing the small gap between them. She was taller than Korra so she had to slightly bend down, but once she did there was no more buffer room to fall back on. Their lips met. It was the most fleeting of touches at first, but then Asami leaned into it and they were kissing in earnest. Korra’s brain completely exploded on her and she was left stranded in the moment, feeling every single emotion a person can feel all at once. Her stomach was squelching and uncomfortable and it made her feel like she was going to throw up. Her skin felt hot and the air felt too warm and she could’ve sworn that suddenly she was sweating, but none of the sensations elsewhere on or in her body were anything compared to the feeling of actually kissing Asami Sato. Asami’s lips were smooth, not rough and partly dried out like her own. Her breath tasted like mint toothpaste and mouthwash. Korra absorbed it all hungrily, abruptly wishing to take from this moment all she possibly could so that she would remember it vividly in the future. For good or ill, Korra would ensure that this chapter in her life was a permanent fixture of her memory.

***

Asami had never thought of herself as a very good kisser. She never knew what to do with her tongue, she had problems with accidentally getting her teeth in the way, and she personally really hated the taste of other people’s lip balm, it was such an awkward, second-hand sensation.

But this, right now? This felt right. It was the answer, immediate and pronounced. Now that she was actually doing it, and clarity was upon her, Asami realized that she’d only come to Korra with this half-assed idea out of pity, because she couldn’t turn Korra down without at least entertaining the idea of seeing her in that way. But the second their lips met, Asami felt an immediate magnetic attraction to the other woman forming within her and she pressed into the kiss even harder. The feeling swelled up from deep in her gut, and it overtook her entire body instantaneously. She slightly tilted her head so she could deepen the kiss even further, then reached up to put a hand on Korra’s chin. Korra reacted by wrapping an arm around her waist. Any and all doubt or dismissal left Asami completely. She did like Korra. She liked Korra a whole damn lot.

Asami didn’t know which one of them pulled away first, but eventually their kiss ended. The close proximity of their bodies did not depart with it, and Asami met Korra’s eyes. The shorter woman was looking at her like she was the sun.

“I like you too,” she said, and it was true. She had never said anything with as much confidence in her life.

Now wrapped in each other’s arms, when Korra shuddered, Asami shuddered right along with her. “Asami… I…”

It didn’t matter what was said, Korra could’ve started reciting Shakespeare at her for all she cared. Asami pulled Korra closer and she hugged her tightly and hoped that was enough to express all the emotions which were rocketing through her at the moment.

A friend wasn’t all she had been missing, Asami realized. In her hectic, busybody life, she’d never been settled in one spot for long enough to feel just how lonely she truly was. It was like a dark, empty chasm opening beneath her feet, and its sheer magnitude was terrifying. But Asami did not plunge into its eternal depths, because Korra was holding her, and they floated above it together harmlessly. The side of herself she had been neglecting for so long, the Asami which usually stayed locked away in a private space for no one to see, was finally fulfilled. Asami breathed out a sigh of pure elation.

The two of them remained that way for longer than either of them could know, and neither one of them cared.

***

Sunlight through the blinds awoke her, though she felt so relaxed that Asami remained in the guest bed for at least another half hour before she actually got up. She didn’t know what time it was, but it didn’t particularly matter to her. The stress of yesterday had been left right there, and after she and Korra had finally separated and gone to sleep in their respective rooms, Asami had fallen into a deep slumber almost immediately. Korra’s guest bed could’ve been a granite slab and it still would’ve been the most comfortable bed Asami had ever slept on. She felt better than she had in weeks.

As if reflecting her sunny disposition, Korra’s house drank in the sunlight from every window and glowed pleasantly in the early morning. Asami wandered out to the living room, hair a mess, still half-asleep, and she felt at home. It was almost alarming how quickly it had all come together for her like this, but she could not deny her own feelings. This place was inviting in a way that few others ever had been, it was as if she belonged here. The distinct aromas of breakfast wafted in from the kitchen, and Asami turned to see Korra, merrily humming along to something playing in her earbuds as she prepared some food. Much like how Asami felt, Korra looked looser, freer. She was really getting into whatever song she was listening to, and started doing the most awkward, uncoordinated little dance Asami had ever seen. Every part of her was moving this way and that, like she was made of air. Asami couldn’t help herself, and laughed at the display. Korra’s music must not have been all that loud in her earbuds, since she immediately spun on her heel and stopped moving entirely, her face beet red. She gave a nervous, breathy chuckle upon sight of Asami and said, “Hi.”

“Hey,” Asami replied. Suddenly she needed to close the gap between them, and so she walked right up to Korra and stopped mere inches away. Slowly, she reached up and then took out one of Korra’s earbuds, before placing it in her own ear. The song Korra had found so danceable was an upbeat tune Asami didn’t know, but she could recognize the singer’s voice.

“You’re over here shaking your booty to Dolly Parton?” she asked, slightly amused.

Korra’s cheeks only flamed up even more. She was holding a spatula, and her hands clenched around it tightly. “No,” she lied.

Smiling, Asami listened to the song for another few seconds and then started bobbing her head with the beat, before leaning back and mimicking Korra’s avant-garde dancing as best she could. Finally Korra stopped looking so embarrassed with herself, and she turned back around to refocus on what she was cooking. “I hope you like pancakes,” she said.

“Who doesn’t?”

“My dad, actually. He’s always been strictly on the waffles train. But he doesn’t live here anymore, so now this is a pancake house.”

She sounded so easy-going. The nervous wreck she’d been just last night may as well have been a different person. Asami took out her earbud and reached over to place it back in Korra’s vacant ear where it belonged. Even such a simple touch as this made Korra shiver, and feeling Korra shiver made Asami want to shiver, too. She didn’t know how she hadn’t seen it sooner, just how deeply she felt for this woman. It wasn’t just a simple attraction, Asami felt drawn to Korra like a ship to a lighthouse beacon. How someone she had only just met could so quickly become this important to her Asami didn’t understand, but she didn’t really have any reason to try. She knew what she was feeling.

Korra’s pancakes, much like the chicken she’d cooked the night before, were incredible. When Asami asked her how she’d made them, Korra just shrugged and said “It’s a simple recipe,” which was so undescriptive it somehow made the food all the more charming. Because she “had a little bit of extra time,” Korra had also cooked some bacon (an entire strip of which was reserved for Naga, who seemed to appreciate it very much), brewed an entire pot of coffee, and even freshly squeezed some orange juice. Where or even how Korra had done that Asami had no idea, but it sure did taste good.

After they were finished eating, they found themselves back out on the front porch, gazing at the mud slick Korra’s road had been reduced to by the night’s weather. Though it meant Asami’s meeting was entirely forfeit and she’d likely miss her flight as well, she wasn’t stressed at all.

“Sorry about your-” Korra began, but Asami cut her off by giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“Don’t even think about it. I’m happy, Korra. You gave that to me.”

Korra smiled widely, then pulled Asami into a hug. “I’m so glad you hit me in the face yesterday.”

“Best mistake I ever made,” Asami agreed. “How is your nose, by the way? It still looks pretty purple.”

Korra scrunched her nose up for a few seconds, then shrugged. “Still hurts, a little bit anyway, but only if I move it.”

As a way of apologizing, Asami leaned down and lightly kissed the tip of Korra’s nose. “How about now?”

She giggled. “I can’t believe this is actually happening. Literally two days ago I was drinking with Bolin and telling him some bullshit about how I was too busy for this sort of thing in my life.”

“Literally two days ago I was sitting alone in an airport getting ready to come here, probably looking like my whole world was ending.” In a miraculously short amount of time, Asami felt as though her entire life had been flipped on its head. The miserable CEO who’d come to Alaska at her wit’s end and been laughed out of that meeting yesterday morning was somebody she didn’t even recognize. And it was all thanks to Korra, who’d just fallen into her life and seamlessly become the piece that was always missing.

All that remained to be pondered and discussed was where things went from here. Asami would have to leave sooner or later, much as she didn’t want to. The New York conference was going to be much larger than either of the two meetings which she had been scheduled for in Fairbanks. It wasn’t really a good look to skip any of them, but the New York one was especially important. There were to be a lot of investors there, many of whom had once held an interest in Future Industries. If she was to revive the company, she needed to get those people back on side. In the end, it was all a search for more money. They were operating on a deficit at the moment, one that only grew by the day, and Asami’s job was to fix it. No, not just her job, it was her responsibility.

Korra leaned her head on Asami’s shoulder, and spoke as though she could hear Asami’s thoughts. “If the sun stays out and continues to heat up like it is, the road should be back in manageable condition soon enough. You might not miss your flight.” She didn’t sound sad while saying it, just resigned.

It wounded her just hearing that intonation. How could she possibly rush off now, after this beautiful thing they’d found just blossomed? It wasn’t fair to Korra. Asami couldn’t just leave for God knows how long and expect Korra to just sit here and wait for her to come back, whenever that wound up being. That's how you ruin a relationship before it even starts.

But what choice did she have? She couldn’t just up and abandon her company, it would surely go under for good if she gave up on it. She pulled out her phone to check the time, but got to looking at her lock screen and stopped to stare at it until the screen switched back off automatically. It was one of Asami’s favorite photos; her mother, sitting in the parlor at her desk, hunched over some paperwork with her back to the camera. Asami had taken it herself with a cheap disposable camera all those years ago, and made sure to keep it ever since. Her mom just looked so relaxed, while also holding an air of determination and importance. Asami had modeled herself off her mother as best she could, all her life. Her style, her mannerisms, her work ethic. She admired her mother like no one else, and always would. Perhaps what had made Asami look up to her mom more than anything was her spirit. She never let anything get in her way, she was always thinking of new methods to improve herself or the world around her, she was strong of mind and body and boundlessly courageous. Asami looked at Korra, then turned her eyes out to the muddy road and felt that same spirited courage swell within herself. She’d found something here, something new and lovely and exciting, something she wanted to explore to its fullest. Before yesterday she’d been depressed, serving a job she had never wanted to clean up a mess she didn’t make. In the present, she had been handed a golden opportunity freely.

Impulsively, turning and looking at Korra and speaking before she could think of a reason not to, Asami said, “What if I missed that flight?”

“Well, I’m sure you could reschedule-”

“What if I missed every flight?”

Korra frowned. “What are you saying?”

What was she saying? Was she really going to turn her back on everything she’d devoted her whole life to fixing? She took a deep breath. If she did this, there wasn’t any undoing it. But just looking into Korra’s eyes, it felt like what she needed to do. She’d been wasting so much of her energy fixing someone else’s mistakes, it was time she did something for herself. “I don’t want to mess this up, Korra.”

Searching her face almost desperately, Korra said, “But, wait, Asami I can’t just get in the way of your whole life.”

“How much have I even been living?”

“It’s your livelihood, your company. You wanna leave all that? Just for me?” Korra didn’t sound like she was trying to talk Asami out of it, she sounded scared of what could happen if she didn’t. “You seemed so determined to fix it all before, I don’t want to keep you from doing that.”

But the more she heard Korra’s rebuttals, the more Asami felt that she needed to do this. She had to give this new thing a chance. “I’ve been so wrapped up in working that I’ve neglected myself. Please, Korra, let me do this. I can figure the details out. I can sell my shares in the company and step down from my position. I can find a place to stay somewhere nearby, and a job if need be.” She took Korra’s hand and held it tight. “You’re the best thing I’ve found in so long. I want to find out where this can go with you.”

Korra had teared up as she was speaking, and when she responded she let those tears flow freely. “You’d do all of that for me?”

“I want to try.”

And those were all the words that needed to be said. Korra pulled Asami back into an almost crushing embrace, and cried into her shoulder. Asami felt herself getting choked up, and she made no attempts to stop herself from crying as well. She felt so full inside, full of happiness, of life. She had no clue what was to come in the future, but she did know that she would be there for it with Korra at her side.

Asami wanted nothing less.

Chapter Text

Later

Goofily sticking her tongue out of the side of her mouth, Asami lined up her shot, then struck the cue ball hard and sent it right for her target. The ball she’d been aiming for took a perfect ricochet off the side of the pool table and went right into the middle pocket. Asami fist pumped, then waltzed back to their table and picked up her beer. “Ha,” she said to Korra, showboating. Asami was unnaturally good at pool, something Korra had quickly learned in their time together. Thus far every time they’d ever played, Korra had lost. Tonight Korra was actually holding her own for once, but every successful pocket she’d had was immediately responded to by Asami in kind.

Asami took a sip of her drink, then placed it back on the table and returned to the game. She resumed her silly tongue-out focused expression, and took aim once more. She was playing stripes, and had just one ball left to pocket before she could shoot for the eight ball. Squinting to ensure her shot was lined up properly, Asami let loose. Her targeted ball was struck true but her aim was just barely off, and it deflected off the corner and bounced harmlessly away from the far pocket. Grimacing, Asami said, “Shit,” under her breath.

“Nice shot,” Korra chirped, which earned her a nasty stink-eye. She got up from her stool and approached the pool table, assessing the position of all the balls before she considered her shot. She also only had one ball left to pocket before the eight, but it wasn’t exactly sitting in an ideal spot for her at the moment. The only way she could effectively get the cue ball to it would be to intentionally ricochet it twice, a move Korra wasn’t sure she would be able to pull off. She wasn’t bad at pool herself, but she was far from a pro. Still, this was the closest she’d ever been to actually beating Asami. This opportunity was far too good to let slip. With a deep breath, Korra lined up her hail mary shot and then took it, rushing herself a bit to try and negate any nerves getting in the way. The cue ball struck the side wall just where she’d wanted it to and took a good cut towards the adjacent corner, where it deflected again and changed course straight for her remaining target ball. The cue ball had lost most of its momentum when it reached the target, but it knocked into it all the same, and slowly but surely that ball rolled its way into the middle pocket. 

“Ha ha!” Korra exclaimed triumphantly, and looked over at Asami. Though she was wearing her face of strict competition at the moment, Korra caught a half-second of prideful elation passing over her before she resumed her frowning.

“What’d I miss?” asked Bolin, who was finally returning from the bathroom. He looked at the pool table and then raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Wait, you’re still winning?”

“You just missed the most clutch shot in pool history, Bo,” Korra said, already rounding the table so she could line up her shot for the eight ball and the win.

“It was decent,” Asami said, raising her chin haughtily.

Bolin grinned, and sat down on his vacant stool. “Damn Korra, you’ve even managed to peeve Asami.”

Korra stared down the shaft of her pool cue, trying to mentally calculate every possible variable in how this shot might go. She was so close this time, this had to be the one. She drew back, then made her shot. The eight ball was struck right on the money and streaked towards the corner pocket, but she’d hit it a smidgen too hard. It deflected off the very corner of the pocket and spun away.

“God dammit!” Korra said, stomping her foot in frustration. She sullenly walked back to her seat, and took a peek at Asami as she did so. Her girlfriend’s expression was completely neutral.

“Man, I thought you had that one,” Bolin told her.

Korra took a long pull from her beer and said nothing. Asami got up, and as she walked past Korra towards the pool table, she winked.

Asami proceeded to pocket her next two shots, and won the match.

Sulking, Korra said to her, “Come on, ‘Sams, you should’ve let me win.”

“Where’s the spirit of competition in that?” was her reply, and she offered Korra her hand for a shake. “You’ll get me one of these days.”

Korra groaned, and then took Asami’s hand. Instead of shaking it, though, she pulled Asami close and into a firm kiss. She made sure to put as much into that kiss as she could, and then leaned back and smiled. Her girlfriend was looking back at her with wide eyes, her face flushed. Deciding to make it worse, Korra whispered, “I might not be able to beat you at pool, but I still own you, Sato.” She let go of Asami’s hand, and triumphantly took another sip of her drink.

“Get a room,” Bolin told them, and Korra lightly punched him in the arm.

Asami checked her watch and frowned at the time it showed. “I should probably get going soon,” she said. She had been working nights at an auto shop for several weeks now, thus far the steadiest position she’d been able to find ever since her momentous decision to move. A stock sell-off and an auction of most of her possessions in her San Diego apartment had given Asami more than enough of a cushion to find a decent place in Fairbanks, but she still needed some amount of income if she was to keep it.

Korra got up from her seat and put down her drink, saying, “I’ll walk you out.”

The odd hours Asami was working had made spending time together consistently a bit more challenging of late, but they had both brainstormed together to ensure that they found as many opportunities as they could.

The couple exited the building and made their way to Asami’s car, her custom-made black and red Mustang convertible. It was one of the few things from her previous home she had been entirely unwilling to part with, and she’d paid a pretty penny to have it shipped to Alaska. Korra was of the opinion that it was entirely impractical considering the geography and climate of the state they lived in, but it made Asami incredibly happy, so she kept that opinion to herself.

Asami got into the driver’s seat and then leaned out over the door so she could give Korra a quick kiss. “See you… Friday?” she asked, running over her coming schedule in her head.

“Yeah,” Korra affirmed. She reached into her back pocket as she said it, and pulled out a single silver key on its own metal loop. “I was actually thinking that you could stay over for the weekend? And when you got there, you could let yourself in.” She held the key out, and Asami took it from her tenderly.

“You’re giving me your spare key?”

“I want you to feel at home in my house, Asami,” she said, and gave her girlfriend a meaningful look.

Asami smiled wide and her face brightened. “Thank you.” She went to put the key in her pocket, but then she hesitated, a thought seemingly having occurred to her.

“‘Sams?” Korra asked.

Her girlfriend reopened her car door and stepped out, standing face-to-face with Korra. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“What would you say if I asked to move in with you?”

Korra’s breath caught in her throat. She’d thought about it, of course she had, but it hadn’t been that long since they’d begun dating, and neither of them wanted to rush anything. Still, the notion quickened Korra’s heart. No longer having to steal moments like this, being with one another more often than they weren’t, it had an irresistible allure. “I’d say that I like the way you think.”

Asami’s smile got even wider and brighter than before. “Yes?”

“Yes,” Korra agreed, and kissed her. These were some of the moments Korra loved the most about her relationship; the moments of nervous hopefulness, when they both took that next step forward. She loved the whole process of dating, the meticulous planning in order to spend time together, the stolen kisses whenever they had to part, the laughs and the happiness, even the minor arguments and disagreements. She loved all of it, but more than anything she loved falling in love. There was no better thing.