Chapter Text
“You know, for someone who planned this whole thing, you sure are a mess,” Korra observed, not bothering to take her eyes off Asami as she drove. She’s hoping to get a response from the taller girl but her green eyes remain glued to the road in front of them.
Korra huffs a bit before reaching out and waving her hand in front of Asami’s face. “Dude, what the fuck, just calm down.”
“I am calm!” Asami snaps when Korra’s hand in front of her face breaks her out of her thoughts. She blinks a few times before huffing. “I’m literally so calm right now, what are you on about?”
Korra just raises an eyebrow, still watching Asami’s rigid form from the passenger seat. “You do realize that your knuckles are just white now, right? I mean you’re pale enough as it is, but that’s next level.” She gestures to Asami’s hands which have been gripping the hell out of the steering wheel ever since they got into the car earlier.
When Korra didn’t get a response again, she resorted to swatting at Asami’s hand. “Seriously, woman! You’re cutting off your blood circulation!” She chided before reaching over and practically prying one of Asami’s hands from the steering wheel. Korra shakes her head a bit, gently rubbing Asami’s knuckles to get her to relax.
“See? Tell me that that doesn’t feel better.” She says as she continues to rub small circles on the back of Asami’s hand, not showing her surprise when she feels the light calluses since she assumed Asami’s hands would be all soft and dainty. And they kind of are, but not in the way that she expected. It’s just clear that Asami uses her hands a lot for who knows what.
“We’ve been over the plan multiple times. We’ve got this, alright? It’s not like we’re telling your father that we’re engaged or eloping or that you’re pregnant. Part of him should be glad for that last point and the fact that I can never knock you up.” Korra immediately grinned when Asami broke her concentration on the road to shoot her a glare, clearly not amused. Korra counts it as a win.
They sit in silence for the next minute, Korra observing the hand she was holding. “You know, I didn’t expect your hands to be like this.” She says as she traces the lines over Asami’s palm. “And is this a burn scar?” Now that she has a closer look, she can see that there are actually a few of them. There’s even a spot that looked like pliers pinched the skin.
“Mhm. Let me guess. You expected them to look like they haven’t worked a day in my life.”
Korra just shrugs, not denying it. “Well, yeah. Kind of.” She mumbles, getting a bit lost with what she’s doing. She notices every faint scar, even the strange ones in Asami’s palm that vaguely look like crescent moons. And yet despite all that, Korra couldn’t help but think that Asami still had glorious hands. I mean seriously! Korra didn’t have a hand kink but she’d be willing to bet that the people who did would go nuts over Asami’s hands.
For a moment, all thoughts of the bet and deal they made just flickered away in Korra’s mind. Right then, she was just a girl holding another girl’s hand. A very pretty girl, at that. With magnificent hands. She was content to just hold it, study it, memorize it. After all, the hand is hers to hold now. But of course, Asami just had to go and ruin Korra’s little moment by clearing her throat.
“What are you doing?” Asami asks, and Korra looks over to meet the strange look and a raised eyebrow.
She immediately lets go, of course. She huffs and turns her head away, rolling her eyes and making sure that Asami doesn’t see her face since she can feel her cheeks start to burn. “I was trying to relax your hand, duh. What if you lose feeling in them and lose control of the car, hm? Sato or not, no one is immune to car crashes. And I’m too hot to get into one.” She says as she folds her arms over her chest, staring out the window instead.
Asami eyes her suspiciously, though she doesn’t think too much of it since she’s already got a lot on her mind right now. She makes a note to circle back at a later time just to tease Korra though. “Right. Just make sure to really sell it later, okay? And please know that whatever my dad says to you doesn’t mean anything.” She says, casting another glance at Korra. “He tends to say things that make you feel small. You know, insignificant. He finds that he’s able to influence people and the situation better that way.”
“Don’t worry about me, golden girl.” Korra waves her worry off. “I don’t have a single reason to please him. It’s not like you’re my actual girlfriend so I don’t have to think about actually getting his approval or something.” She shrugs, looking over at Asami again. If anything just to make sure that she wasn’t on the verge of ripping the steering wheel out as they drive up the Sato Estate. “The plan is to piss him off. That’s what we agreed to so that’s what I’ll do.”
Asami hums. “You’re forgetting the other part of the plan. No falling in love while we piss him off.” She reminds, flashing Korra a small grin. “I hope you know that I plan on winning that bet.” She says casually, her demeanor lightening up the slightest bit. Korra starts to smile when she realizes that Asami is finally playing along.
“Ha! Don’t make me laugh, golden girl.” Korra scoffs before shaking her head. “I’ll have you know, no one can resist my charms.” She smirks, flexing her arm to show off to Asami. Not that it did much, though it did earn an eye roll.
“Mhm, sure. Let’s call that charm.” Asami mutters sarcastically before casting a bored glance at Korra. “It’s not a very challenging bet if we’re being honest. Anyone in the right mind could win. Easily.”
“Right mind meaning you?”
“Correct.”
Korra narrows her eyes. “Piss off, I’m totally winning this.” She says with a determined look on her face, grinning evilly after. The entertainment value is just too high. “After all, touch is a very powerful aphrodisiac.” She adds, her tone innocent before reaching over to rest her hand on Asami’s knee.
And wow, did Asami pick a very bad day to wear a skirt.
Korra barely held back her laugh when she heard Asami’s sharp intake of breath, stiffening up on contact. Her knuckles turned white again, gripping the steering wheel just as if not tighter than before. And this time, Korra just let it be. If she had to play a little dirty to get the upper hand, then so be it. Besides, there were no rules about touching.
“What’s the matter, baby? No witty remarks all of a sudden? Cat got your tongue?” Korra continues to tease, her hand slowly moving further up Asami’s leg before squeezing gently. “I’d bet you’d rather I get your tongue instead. You know, with my own.”
Asami just about slammed the brakes just as Korra said that. “We’re here.” She manages to choke out before hurriedly unbuckling her seatbelt, damn near ready to tear the door open if it meant getting out of the car faster. She mentally scolds herself for being so unprepared because of course Korra would play dirty. She had already told Asami that she’s a very touchy person, it should have been expected already. And how was she supposed to keep her thoughts straight if Korra continued to pull moves like that and she just acted like a flustered idiot?
Meanwhile, inside the car, Korra couldn’t help but stare at a very red-faced Asami before she burst out laughing, practically wheezing at how flustered the other girl looked. She struggles to free herself from the seatbelt as a result of all the laughing, and when she does manage to get free, she almost falls face-first onto the driveway. Her lungs started to burn in the best way as she desperately tried to breathe air into them, though with her laughter it was nearly an impossible task.
“Shut up!" Asami hissed, still not looking over at Korra since her face is still as red as her lipstick. “It’s not even funny! Or fair, for that matter. We didn’t agree to touching there!”
Korra was now clutching her stomach, not even making an effort to stop laughing since that was just too good. Now she definitely knew how to get the upper hand on Asami. She eventually managed to take a few deep breaths after a solid half minute, starting to calm down as she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “Man, that was amazing. You should’ve seen your face! Should see your face, actually. Quick question, are you in any way related to tomatoes?"
“Idiot.” Asami shoves Korra a bit before adjusting her bag. “Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, but that was just a fluke since I’m not used to people getting all touchy with me. Except for Bolin of course, he’s very big on hugging. But once I’m used to that, I’ll get my revenge.”
Korra gives her a cocky smirk, crossing her arms. “Sure you will, golden girl. I’d love to see you try.”
“And quit calling me golden girl!”
“Why, does it annoy you?”
“Yes.”
“Well then it’s your nickname forever now.”
Asami shoots her a glare. “You also annoy me.”
“Ah, unfortunately, I cannot promise myself to you forever. But you do have me for now, so you’re welcome.” Korra grins, wrapping an arm around Asami’s waist and pulling her close. “Now quit flirting with me and let’s get this show on the road.”
“Flirti—I wasn’t flirting!”
Korra just waves her off. “Yeah, yeah. You keep telling yourself that. Now are we gonna do this or what?” She raised an eyebrow before starting to look around. Between all the laughing and teasing and banter, she didn’t even notice the rest of the drive into the Sato Estate. Everything looked like it was made to impress, and honestly, it did. But Korra has never been one to be awed by all that. Asami takes a moment to compose herself before letting out a breath. “I can give you a tour later if you want. But we should probably go see Dad first.”
Asami leads Korra up to the front doors and motions for her to come inside, the foyer just as grand as the grounds. Korra looks around and takes in the various paintings and sculptures, the decor looking very expensive but feeling cold. Like it’s not an actual home. Asami noticed the look and sighed. “They’re mostly for show. For whenever there are parties or events being held here, even guests who come to stay over for business. Dad likes to impress them.”
“I can see that.” Korra nods as she continues to look around the massive place. It was a lot different than what she was used to growing up. The halls back home had various photos, mostly of her and her family, some with friends, even ancestors, and other important people in their lives. The amount of child drawings and baby photos her parents had up of her is frankly embarrassing. But looking around here, she can’t even spot one of Asami’s anywhere.
“Dad should be in his study. He just came back from a business trip and he usually works from here instead of the office for a few days. Come on.” Asami gestures for Korra to follow, leading her down the long hallways.
They passed what looked to be a living room and Korra can’t help but stop for a moment, finally seeing a younger Asami in all her adorable glory. Asami sensed that Korra stopped walking beside her and turned around to see what the hold-up is before seeing that Korra was looking at the giant portrait of Asami’s family right above the fireplace, her head tilted to the side slightly out of curiosity.
She walks back, looking at the portrait as well. “We used to have them done every year since I was born. I think it started around the time my parents got married and just turned into tradition when I came along.” Asami shrugs, not really minding Korra’s curiosity. She didn’t talk about her family life much but she supposes that Korra needed to know a few things just to be kept in the loop. “That’s the last one before Mom passed. Since then, it’s just been me and my dad. Although, there are some like these,”
Asami takes Korra’s hand and leads her further down the hall before opening a door and tugging her inside the room. Korra’s eyes widened a bit when she saw a few more portraits along the walls, but they were slightly off. They were still of the little family, but there was something about Asami’s father’s expression that unnerved her. Asami looked a bit older than the one in the living room, but if that was the last portrait before her mother passed, then why was she standing right behind Asami in this one?
Her confused expression must’ve been obvious to Asami because she sighs softly. “Yeah. Dad had her painted in for a few years after. It’s not the same though, is it? You see it too?” She asks softly, her eyes doing a sweep of the room she barely goes into.
“I’m not gonna lie, I feel like his eyes are following me,” Korra says as she looks at his expression, definitely not the same as the one she saw earlier. This Hiroshi looked devoid of life and warmth, his eyes empty despite having his adorable daughter beside him. She didn’t even realize that she was still holding Asami’s hand until she felt a gentle squeeze.
“To be fair, he was working himself ragged back then so the artist was probably just trying their best to make him look better,” Asami explains, shaking her head a bit. “I was seven and it had only been a few months after Mom died. After the funeral, Dad was barely home anymore. But he came home around that time just for the portrait. Said he didn’t want to break the tradition. I remember being so happy that he was there with me. Even if he did leave right after for an urgent business meeting.” She continues before smiling sadly. “I didn’t know any better back then.”
Korra just stares at Asami after she finished talking, unsure what to say. She didn’t even know why Asami had told her that story since it seemed very personal. “Asami, I—” She starts, not realizing that she actually used Asami’s name this time around instead of one of the nicknames she’s taken to calling Asami. But the taller girl just shakes her head, letting go of Korra’s hand. “No, it’s okay. You don’t have to say anything. I’m sorry, that must’ve been uncomfortable. I don’t know why I dumped all that on you.”
“Hey,” Korra nudges her shoulder a bit, for once not saying anything to tease the other girl. “Don’t worry about it. Probably not healthy for you to keep all those feelings and emotions locked up anyway so if you want to trauma dump on me, feel free to do it anytime. I mean it. No judgment or teasing or anything.” She says as she does a little cross over her heart, making Asami smile softly. “Thanks. We should probably hold off on that though. There’s another reason why we’re here today.”
Asami gestured for Korra to follow again, closing the door once they were back out in the hallway, actually heading towards her father’s study now. She takes a few deep breaths, trying to run through possible points that will be brought up and her answers for them. She knows he won’t actually send her away or do anything drastic, so she wasn’t worried about that. And even though it’s her plan to annoy her father, it still makes her nervous. She loves him, she really does, and she wants nothing more than for him to accept her and her decisions but she already knows he won’t. So for now she’ll just settle for rebelling enough that he leaves her alone.
Korra walks closely to Asami, glancing at her now and then before blue eyes fall down to her hands, Asami’s nails digging deep into her palms. Whether it was conscious or not, Korra didn’t know. Her mind suddenly remembered the strange crescent-shaped marks from earlier in the car and now they made sense. How often did Asami do that?
Without even thinking about it, Korra reached for Asami’s hand again and urged her to unclench it so she could intertwine their fingers. Asami stiffened at the contact at first, not expecting it. But when she realized what Korra was trying to do, she forced herself to relax. “I don’t want to talk about it.” She says before Korra could open her mouth to say something. She gets a nod in understanding before Korra swings their hands back and forth between them. “It’s cool. Just figured it’s better to go in like this for the first introduction, y’know? But if it were really up to me, I’d make out with you in front of your dad just to add a little flair.”
Asami laughs gently, grateful that Korra is trying to lighten the mood. “He’s going to hate you so much.”
“That’s the plan, isn’t it?” Korra winks, looking all too ready to be an absolute menace to society. Or in this case, to Asami’s father. Asami eventually stops them in front of a large wooden door, taking a deep breath.
“You ready?”
“To unhinge your Dad? Fuck yeah, let’s go.” Korra grins, squeezing Asami’s hand in assurance. Asami shakes her head a bit, smiling back before knocking. “Dad? Can we come in? I want you to meet someone.” Asami calls from outside the door, listening as she hears the muffled rustling of papers before being told to come in.
She glances at Korra one more time before turning the handle and pushing the door open. “Asami? Sweetheart, I didn’t think you’d be home this early.” Hiroshi says before they can even step inside. He doesn’t even look up from the papers he’s reading, not until Asami clears her throat to get his attention.
He looks up at that, and if he was surprised to see Korra there, his expression didn’t show it. “Oh. You have a guest. Who is this?” He asks, his voice surprisingly calm. Too calm. Too restrained. Korra decided she didn’t like it. She mentally rolls her eyes, knowing full well that he knows who she is. She bites her tongue for now though.
“Dad, this is Korra. We’re going to be doing some studying in my room. I’ll tell the staff too, but she’ll be coming around more often. Just wanted you to meet her in case you run into her now and then.” Asami says before tugging Korra to stand right beside her, their hands still joined. They watch as Hiroshi’s eyes zero in on their hands, his expression still blank. “Korra and I are dating.”
Korra takes that as her cue to introduce herself. “Enchanté, future daddy in law.” She says with her signature shit-eating grin, using her free hand to do a finger gun at Hiroshi. He looked downright horrified after that.
There was a moment of silence in the room, the three of them leaving Korra’s words hanging in the air. And Asami is pretty sure her father had stopped breathing for a second. That or he was having an aneurysm, who knows? Asami turns to Korra, raising an eyebrow. “Do you actually speak French?” She asks, to which Korra shrugs. “I just thought it was a cute way to introduce myself as your girlfriend.”
“That’s enough!” Hiroshi suddenly commanded, setting down the paperwork he was holding with a smack. “Asami, what is this? I told you to do community service, not charity work!” He seethes, not even bothering to acknowledge Korra.
Asami blinks a few times, a bit taken back since she didn’t think her Dad would be straight-up rude to a guest. “Dad—” She starts, though she just gets cut off by his hand. “No. I am not going to let my daughter date another girl! And especially not that girl!” He points to Korra, though she only raises an eyebrow.
She drops Asami’s hand so she can raise her hands in mock defense. “Hey don’t take it out on me, pops.” She says with another grin that only served to infuriate Hiroshi even more. Asami couldn’t help but bite the inside of her cheek to keep herself from smiling. She definitely picked the right fake girlfriend for the job. “Asami is a big girl. She can date whoever she wants to date.”
“Yes, she can date any boy from a prominent family! One I approve of! Not some girl from school with the mannerisms of a werewolf.” Hiroshi immediately dismisses Korra before looking at his daughter. “Asami, it’s not like our social circle is lacking in prospects. What would they think? Our friends, colleagues, the public? You’re carrying the Sato name, do not tarnish it by dating some—some punk! You know how I feel about her! I explicitly warned you not to be associated with her but did you listen? No. She’s probably just using you as a getaway driver or someone to bail her out of an arrest. I will not have you be linked to the likes of her.”
It’s not the first time that Korra has been called a punk. Honestly, she’s heard herself be called worse. And yeah, she’s had a few run-ins with the law but nothing too serious. Tenzin would never let her hear that end of it. Asami didn’t seem to like her father’s words though, meeting his glare head-on. “You can’t just decide what I can and can’t do, Dad. And you certainly can’t talk to Korra or judge her that way.”
“I very well can if she’s parading around with my daughter! What were you thinking, Asami? It’s bad enough that I have to deal with your phase of liking the same gender, but a delinquent of all people? I’d rather you have stayed with that poor orphan boy than be with scum like her!” He pushes his chair back as he stands, hands on his desk as he tries to intimidate both girls into backing down from the argument. But that only made Asami angrier.
Korra takes the opportunity to grab Asami’s hand again, trying to silently tell her to calm down since things are heating up a bit too quickly than any of them anticipated. But when that didn’t work, she resorted to whispering. “‘Sams, it’s okay. It’s cool, don’t let him get to you. I don’t mind what he’s saying.”
“No! It’s not okay!” Asami responds, not bothering to lower her voice. “I mind! I’m tired of him dictating my life and telling me who I should be friends with and who I should avoid. And I’m not letting him tell me who I can and can’t date and I’m especially not letting him talk about you like that!”
“Do not use that tone with me, young lady.” He warns, his expression hardening.
“Or what?” Asami challenges, continuing to hold his gaze. “Tell me, Dad. What are you going to do? Tell the public that you kicked your only child out because she’s dating another girl? Lock me in here and homeschool me? Ship me off to boarding school? You and I both know I can easily find my way back.”
At this point, there wasn’t much that Korra could do to calm Asami down. So she just lifts her other hand up, holding onto Asami’s forearm to at least keep her from lunging at her father. She’s pretty sure this isn’t how the plan was supposed to go so the least she could do right now is keep Asami in place while she waits for her Dad to respond.
But after receiving nothing but silence, Asami took it as a chance to continue. “Well? Are you going to disown me from this family now? Because news flash, we aren’t much of a family anymore. Not since Mom died. You made sure our family died along with her.”
With that, Asami removed her hand from Korra’s before turning around and headed right out the door. Korra was left standing there, coughing a bit awkwardly now that it was just her and Hiroshi in the room. She knows she needs to be annoying him, but after Asami blowing up at him like that, she figured it was best not to add to it right now.
“Right, so…” Korra trails off, smiling a bit crookedly as she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet for a moment. “I guess it’s too early for me to call you Dad, huh?” She let out a small, nervous laugh before clearing her throat again and looking away as Hiroshi set his eyes on her, his own twitching a little.
“Sorry, I’m just gonna…go. Check on Asami and all that. Make sure she’s okay. So, yeah.” She rubs the back of her neck. “It was good to—uhm. It was a pleasure to—hm. It was nice to—?” She struggles to find the right words to describe this first meeting since it’s not exactly a joy to meet him. “You know what? I’m just gonna stop talking now. See you around here or on campus or wherever. Bye!”
She gives him a little wave before literally running out of the study, hoping that she’d be able to catch up to Asami somewhere up ahead and not get lost in unfamiliar territory. She tried going back the way they came from, but she must have taken a wrong turn somewhere since the halls didn’t look right anymore.
“Great. Now I’ll never get out of here and with my luck there’ll probably be robot dogs with laser eyes roaming around just waiting to blast me into oblivion.” Korra mutters to herself as she tries to find her way back towards the front doors. Thankfully, it only took her a few minutes before she managed to make it back to the foyer and saw Asami sitting at the bottom of the staircase.
“Dude! You just left me to fend for myself! Your Dad could have eaten me!” Korra exclaims as she approaches the taller girl. “And what was that? You just threw out the plan and went off on him! I could’ve handled it. What’s the point of having all my Korra-ness if you didn’t plan on using it?”
Korra didn’t know what type of response she was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t Asami sighing and looking sad. “I’m sorry, you’re right. We should’ve stuck to our script. But I just couldn’t let him talk like that anymore, especially not to your face. I’m sorry he said those things about you.”
In an instant, Korra softened. Yes, Asami isn’t really her friend and she definitely isn’t her real girlfriend but she was going to forget about that for now because this was not the Asami she knew. It wasn’t right, seeing the girl this sad. And all because of her father of all people.
So Korra decides to take a seat beside Asami, taking her hand again and having her unclench her fists. “Hey, look at me for a sec.” She says softly, urging Asami to look up from her lap. “Don’t apologize for your father’s actions. He’s a grown ass man, his behavior is not your responsibility. If he wants to be a crybaby because his daughter isn’t conforming to his bullshit beliefs then fuck him.”
Asami raises an eyebrow at Korra’s words, unable to stop herself from smiling a little. So Korra continues, confident that she’s saying the right things based on Asami’s reaction. “Besides, I already told you that I don’t care about his opinion. I wasn’t kidding when I said I only cared about yours.” She says with a small smile, gently bumping her shoulder against Asami’s. “And for what it’s worth, you looked really hot going off like that.”
That time, Asami actually laughs before shaking her head. “You’re something else.”
“You’re into it,” Korra smirks before leaning closer and kissing Asami’s cheek. “For practice.” She whispers when she sees Asami’s reaction, knowing she was about to ask why she did that when no one was around to see it.
“Now come on, turn that frown upside down! You got what you wanted anyway, pissed off your Dad. I honestly thought he was going to pop a blood vessel and just pass out, he was so mad.” Korra laughs, remembering how red-faced Hiroshi got.
Asami chuckles, shaking her head. “I have to admit, it felt really good. You know, speaking to him like that and letting him know that I’m not going to be his perfect little heiress anymore. I’m sorry I didn’t let you have your moment though, I know you wanted to see how far you could push him.”
Korra waves her apology off. “I’m sure there will be other opportunities in the near future. I think it’ll be more fun in public anyway. Who knows, maybe you’ll finally agree to make out with me in front of him.” She says with a grin, to which Asami rolled her eyes.
“Never gonna happen, but keep dreaming.”
“Okay but what if I write ‘Asami’s Property’ over my chest and do my thing of taking my jersey off after a game so people can see? We’d no doubt win, so you can run down to the field and give me a big ‘ol congratulatory kiss. That would surely make news.”
“Is that a fantasy of yours?” Asami asks, amused. “Cause I’m not really surprised. You cocky ones are all the same.”
“I prefer the term confident, thank you very much.” Korra sticks her tongue out at Asami. “Just make sure to keep it in your pants, no matter how attractive I am. I mean I know I’m irresistible, but you can’t lose so early into our little game.” She smirks as she wiggles her eyebrows. “Most of the fun is in the effort.”
Asami scoffs, shoving Korra away slightly. “You wish.” Asami rolled her eyes, knowing she’d be able to focus on their bet now that the whole introduction with her Dad was out of the way.
“Game on, Korra.”