Chapter Text
Opal was right.
Whatever attraction she’d had prior to saying the big I Love You had gotten a million times more intense.
Korra wasn’t the clingy one anymore, Asami was.
And she had never been clingy.
Not to this extent, anyway. It was somewhat concerning. Asami wasn’t sure how to process this level of dependency. If she wasn’t thinking about Korra, she was thinking about the time they could be spending together. If they weren’t together, she was either texting or calling Korra in her free time. The time they did spend together they were attached at the hip. She couldn’t help it, she just wanted unrestricted access to her person.
It was actually sickening and she fucking loved it.
There wasn’t really a downside—even if what she was feeling was extreme—they still had lives outside of their relationship. Their routine hadn’t really changed, nor had the amount of time they spent together, it was just… more.
And yes, the sex was out of this world.
It wasn’t just an emotional connection; it was like a cosmic bond had formed around them. Each touch, each kiss, each whispered ‘I love you’ enlightened Asami’s soul and set her heart on fire. A tingly, fluffy, warm fire that reached inside of her chest and exploded into a million sparkling lights.
Everything was heightened. Everything. Even now, laying on Korra’s chest as they watched the last season of Kyoshi Warriors, she could physically feel Korra’s warmth leaking into her body. A week was plenty of time to get used to this level of intimacy but truthfully? Asami didn’t think she’d ever get used to this.
If this was how her dad felt with her mom, she understood his level of grief. She couldn’t imagine having this—what she had with Korra—being ripped away from her. Heck, she understood why he lived in his office. Why would you retire to a room that was once a safe haven when you could sleep at your desk? Why would you surround yourself with objects that reminded you of home when you could disconnect entirely so you didn’t feel heartbreak every time you pulled a shirt out of your dresser? Why in actuality would you want to continue living when the one good thing you had in life was gone?
Asami had never had this level of empathy before. It was like a whole new world had opened overnight. She simply understood all the stupid romance movies and all the idiotic love songs. She understood why love was such a big part of many people’s lives. She understood.
She could lose everything she owned overnight and would be perfectly content as long as she had Korra at her side. She didn’t need physical objects when her source of happiness was right beside her. Korra and Suki, Asami, she reminded herself. Speaking of Suki, she’d officially adopted Korra as her second mother. She preferred to sit with Korra on the couch and sleep on her side of the bed when she was allowed inside of the room. It made her so happy knowing Korra was accepted as one of Suki’s preferred humans. It was just another sign from the universe; Korra was here to stay.
“Oh, man, we’re almost at the big battle. Are you ready for this?”
Asami floated back into the present and hummed into Korra’s breast. “I still can’t believe Yun went mad,” She cuddled in closer and let out a soft sigh when Korra’s fingers started drawing patterns up and down her back. “Well, I can understand why he went mad, but the fact he’s alive? After battling a spirit and eating it?”
“I know. I remember that reveal when I was a kid. I was so shocked,” Korra replied, tangling her fingers into Asami’s hair. “Remember how we talked about lethal techniques?”
Asami lightly nodded her head, though it was more of a tilt than a proper nod. “Is Yun about to use one?”
“You’ll see.”
Asami started to absentmindedly stroke Korra’s arm as the big battle started flashing on the big screen. One minute they’re inside, the next Yun and Kyoshi are out in the training ground. It was rather alarming when Yun was able to bend earth into water. Asami was so taken that revelation that she perked up from her perch on Korra’s chest and gaped at the screen. “How did he do that?”
“He’s bending the particles in the earth into a liquid,” Korra explained, grinning at her. “Cool, right?”
Asami settled back down and let out an aspirated laugh. “It’s insane. How good of an earth bender do you have to be to do that?”
“You practically have to be a master, I don’t think any other character within the universe has done what he did,” Korra started playing with Asami’s hair again. “It gets crazier.”
It did. Asami almost sat up right when Kyoshi’s crew came out of nowhere and started aiding Kyoshi in the battle.
“The earth is my element,” Yun said, ignoring the giant plane of tiles twice his height that Wong was folding over him from behind. “I just let other people borrow it sometimes.”
Asami angled an elbow on one side of Korra’s body and pushed herself into a half-sitting position so she had an up-right view of the TV. Her eyebrows furrowed as the fight went on. She was rather surprised a kids show was able to get away with so much violence. She supposed censoring a lot of the gore played a big part but it was still very graphic.
Then Yun barrelled out from the ground and drove his hand into the small of Rangi’s back.
Asami blinked and chanced a glance at her girlfriend. “Excuse me?”
Korra nodded towards the TV and zipped her mouth shut.
Asami couldn’t even be mad. She looked back at the TV and moved to kneel between Korra’s legs so her neck wasn’t on an awkward angle.
“I’m sorry,” Kyoshi whispered softly under her breath. “I’m sorry I stole your Avatarhood.”
“Hmm?” Yun came nearer. “You’ll have to speak up.”
“It was yours, and I took it from you.” She didn’t raise her voice, kept it so he could barely hear her. “I’m sorry I robbed you of everything, Yun. I’m sorry I stole your future.”
Yun kneeled down beside Kyoshi, whom had Rangi cradled in her arms.
“Good. That’s good to hear. What else are you sorry for, Kyoshi? Maybe you should apologise for what you said to me earlier. Telling me I should just forget what happened. That was a terrible thing for you to say.”
“I’m sorry for saying you had to live with your pain,” Kyoshi put her palm to his chest in a gesture of comfort. “Because you won’t.”
Asami watched, wide eyed, as the life drained from Yun’s face and the moisture in the air behind him turned to frost. It formed a cone of crystal that disappeared almost immediately.
“Oh my gosh,” Asami whispered. “She just froze his internal organs. The lethal technique you brought up.”
Kyoshi used her Avatar state to bring water up beneath the earth and began to heal Rangi before the screen faded to black. Asami held her breath. Slowly, after many tense seconds, it faded back in with Rangi in a medical bed.
Asami let out a breath of pure relief and turned her attention back down at Korra, who looked very smug. “How the heck did they get away with literal murder on a kids show?”
“Well… they did this thing called pulling the last half of the season off air. They streamed it exclusively online instead. They did a whole episode after this with Kyoshi in the spirit world talking with Yangchen about what she had to do in order to stop Yun. It was a big conversation piece in children’s media. The network got a lot of slack but it was done really well, in my opinion. Sometimes you can’t save everyone and that’s simply how it is, you know? Some people are just bad and nothing you can do can change that. Justice is about more than just being conventionally good. Sometimes in order to serve justice you have to sacrifice a piece of yourself for the greater good. In Kyoshi’s case… well, she had to kill Yun. She had to kill a part of her past that she’ll never get back.”
Asami would never tire of Korra’s infinite wisdom. Her understanding of social constructs outdid Asami’s own understanding of basic literature. It was very attractive. Part of Asami’s subconscious wanted to print off a paper on thermodynamics just to hear Korra read it out to her.
Asami lowered herself back down after appropriately staring at Korra for a moment or so and pressed her face into Korra’s chest. “I can’t believe we finally finished it,” She mumbled into Korra’s shirt. “That was the craziest ending to a show I’ve seen in ages.”
Korra laughed her amusement and patted Asami on the shoulder. “I know. Took us all of 5 months to get through every season. You glad I got you into it?”
Asami tipped her head up and rested her chin on Korra’s sternum. “Honestly? It was really good. Colour me impressed. I can see why little you would have adored it,” She smiled, pushing forward to steal a kiss. “Any tokens of lore you have for me now that I know the timeline?”
Korra smiled against her lips. “Kyoshi lived for around 200 years. It’s believed that once she lost Rangi… she lost herself,” Korra’s head tipped back. “Our historical records point towards her actually living for 200 years, I’m not just saying that. They pulled a lot from our own mythology so most of what played out was based off of stuff we already knew. They just added the characterisations and plot,” After wrinkling up her nose, Korra grinned. “I think I’d lose my own humanity if I lost you. I can see why Kyoshi would have resorted to mindless violence. I, too, would have decided murder was a worthy pass time.”
“Look at you getting all soft on me,” Asami teased, tilting her head to press a kiss to Korra’s cheek, then jaw. “Is Rangi in the historical records?”
“Not by name. There are a few tablets pointing towards Kyoshi having a second in command but it’s never stated specifically whether she had a lover. Because she lived for so long, so much stuff got lost in translation. We have more on Roku than we do Kyoshi, but, like, he was also the last known mythological figure before harmonic convergence so it makes sense, I guess?” Korra rolled her head back and hummed when Asami started kissing along her neck. “I, ah, think…” A low, long sigh came out of her nose. “I think, had I been in Kyoshi’s position, I would have scrubbed a lot of the artifacts and historical records stating I was bad at the whole, mm, Avatar thing.” A groan caught in her mouth when Asami started sucking on a patch of skin. “Aren’t you meant to be super close to your period? How are you not sick of me yet? You usually start your whole ‘ew’ phase right about now.”
Asami poked her head up once she was satisfied with her work and chuckled. “Yes. I’m another week out but—” She pecked Korra’s lips before she reached down to secure Korra’s legs around her hips. “—You didn’t tell me you loved me last month. I think that makes the difference, no?”
Korra’s eyebrows twitched thoughtfully as she draped her arms over Asami’s shoulders. “That’s all I had to do to bypass your ‘ew’ phase?” Her face scrunched up. “That’s kinda funny if you think about it. Your body is literally angry with you for not getting pregnant but because me, a woman, has decided to declare my love for you, somehow… mentally… you’re, what? Irrationally horny even though you shouldn’t be ovulating?”
Asami paused and looked at Korra seriously. “Huh,” She pursed her lips to the side. “When you put it like that, yeah. Give it a month and we’ll be back to irrationally angry,” She grinned and stole another kiss. “Am I not allowed to want to give you a celebratory orgasm for tolerating me guessing all the plot points really early on?”
Korra’s eyebrows shot up and a crooked grin covered her face. “You did guess a bunch of stuff. It was so hard keeping a straight face. How did you call the Rangi and Kyoshi stuff right at the beginning?”
“Intuition?” Asami offered, skirting a hand between their bodies. She worked it under the shirt Korra currently had on and narrowed her eyebrows in concentration. “You also kinda gave it away. Can’t say a character is bisexual and not assume her female friend is going to end up being a lover,” She covered one of Korra’s breasts and gave it soft squeeze. She got a sharp grunt as a reward. She ducked down for a soft kiss before she pulled back and asked, “You wanna order food?”
Korra’s face twisted up as she tried to arch her hips into Asami’s pelvis. “You’re asking me if I want food? Right now?”
Asami grinned, kissing the very corner of Korra’s mouth. “Isn’t that technically foreplay for you?”
A strained laugh came out of Korra’s throat. “Okay, fair. Um, can we talk about food after we’re finished here?”
Asami gave another experimental squeeze of Korra’s breast before she pulled back to urge her shirt up and over her head. Once out of the way, she went for Korra’s bra next. Just as she’d gotten the clasp free, Korra’s phone started going off. They both shared a look of annoyance before Korra reached behind her back to clasp her bra back in place.
She grabbed her phone, answered it, and put it on speaker with a cute frown. “What do you want?”
Bolin laughed into the speaker. “Hi, nice to hear from you too. Is Asami with you?”
Korra’s face immediately went red. “Yes, why?” Asami took that as an opening and started pressing little kisses over Korra’s shoulder and neck.
“Opal has been trying to call her. She told me to call you because you’d answer for me. Are you home for dinner?”
Korra threaded a hand into Asami’s hair and swallowed a sigh when Asami’s mouth worked down towards her chest. “Oh, uh, I’ll relay that information. I was staying at Asami’s tonight. I thought I left a note in the kitchen?”
“I haven’t been home. I was just double checking before I brought Narook’s back with me. I’ll see you tomorrow! Love you, bye!”
Korra chirped a ‘love you too, bye!’ Before she threw her phone back over on the table. “Did you put your phone on silent?”
Asami pulled her head back up and cupped Korra’s face in her hands. She pushed in for a hard kiss and lowered all her weight down so she could start a slow, gradual grind between Korra’s legs. She was rather annoyed when Korra urged her head back and held a finger over her lips to stop her for going back in. “Ugh, yes, I didn’t want anyone interrupting us time. I’m sure she’s only calling to—“ Realisation hit almost immediately. Shitshitshit, how did I forget Opal was coming over for baby photo night? She forced herself up right and glanced over the top of the couch towards the kitchen. “Oh no, I forgot she was meant to be coming over to go over baby photos with us. I forgot we were going to go over my baby photos,” She hurriedly scrambled for Korra’s shirt and pushed it into her hands. “She has a spare key. If she catches us like this—“
As if on cue, the door handle started clanking.
Korra laughed as she fumbled around to pull her shirt on. Asami only just managed to kneel between her legs when Opal physically opened the door and spoke up.
“Ugh, I tried to give you warning. If I walk in and you two are going at it—“
“We’re not!” Asami yelped, shoving Korra’s legs when she tried to wrap them around her waist to tug her back down. “Korra—“
Opal walked in just as Korra let go. Asami flung back against the other end of the couch and coughed with a glare. Korra was giggling like a little kid as she nudged Asami with her feet. Opal stood there and snorted. “Oh, you were so going at it,” She shook her head and dumped a bag down right on Korra’s stomach. “How did you two forget I was coming around?”
Asami wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and continued to glare at her girlfriend. “In my defence, I totally zoned out finishing off Kyoshi Warriors. Korra was meant to be on—“
“Hey! If you hadn’t put your phone on silent you would have gotten a physical reminder! Your first mistake was trusting me with—“
“How did you forget to be my physical reminder? Are you really that easy to distract?”
“Um, you mentioned food and sex—”
“Ah! Korra!”
“Okay!” Opal cut in, laughing. “You two are so bad. I brought the albums I have from high school with all of Asami’s embarrassing softball photos. Did you remember to get your baby photos out of storage at the very least?”
Asami pushed Korra’s feet off of the couch and got up. “Yes. Hold on,” She walked out of the living room and into her study. She’d already set them in a pile on her desk so she collected them and walked back in. Korra was sitting peering into the bag with an amused grin on her face as Opal busied herself in the kitchen. “You don’t get to open those until you’ve seen my pre-teens,” She set her albums on the coffee table and removed the bag out of Korra’s reach. “Which, by the way, you’re not allowed to say you’ve seen to anyone other than Opal. ”
Korra pouted as she stretched both arms above her head. “Fine. Can I show mom and dad a couple of your baby photos? Dad was talking about putting a couple of photos of us in my big adulthood album. Wouldn’t it be cool to have matching baby photos in there?”
Asami paused, mid step, and stared at her girlfriend. And this is why I am in love. It was the small, almost casual comments about their now intertwined life that got to her the most. “I… don’t have a problem with that,” She got out eventually. “I can scan the one’s you like the most and send them to him if you want?”
Korra’s whole face lit up. “That would be epic,” She tucked her legs up on the couch and patted the spot next to her. “Did you come on time or did you disregard authority too?”
Asami grabbed the album on top of the pile and plonked herself down. “I, too, disregarded authority. I came really early.” She played with the material covering the spine of the album as she waited for Opal. “I was so small. Dad was really shocked when I shot up in my teens. He was certain I was going to be tiny my whole life. Um, mom actually made me a baby book with all the specifics. Exact time I was delivered, photos of my first couple of days in hospital, a small section of the blanket I was wrapped up in when I was brought home, that sort of stuff. I just find it really hard to look at so it’s still in storage. I think she even has some of my hair from my first hair cut in there.”
Korra slid a hand over her thigh and stroked it with a reassuring smile. “That’s really sweet. Mom and dad have one that I’m not allowed to look at until I’m married. I don’t even know why they’re keeping it top secret. I’ve been trying to get them to just give it to me for years.”
Asami laughed, leaning over to press a loud kiss to Korra’s cheek. “Do you think we can rig the system? Surely if we just tell them we eloped they’d give it to you, right?”
Korra had the goofiest grin on her face as she squeezed Asami’s knee. “I don’t think they’d let me get away with secretly eloping. Mom would kill me if she wasn’t involved in some of the planning.” She straightened up when Opal came in with 3 glasses of wine. “You should have yelled out, I would have—“
“It’s fine, you two where having a moment,” Opal disregarded, taking a seat on the other side of Asami once the glasses had been given out. “Okay, so, the real reason I’m here is because Hiroshi actually gave me a bunch of backstories on some of these photos. Not the baby ones, but the teenage ones. During our first sleep over he whipped some of these out to embarrass Asami.”
Asami cringed at the memory. “I didn’t even do anything to warrant the embarrassing. I think he just wanted to be annoying because I finally made a friend.” She took a small sip from her wine glass before finally opening up the first page. It was titled ‘Asami Sato: Year 1’ with a bunch of little hearts. “Okay, so… I was really, really little. Dad told me he slept in the hospital chair next to mom the whole week they stayed there. As you’re about to see, he cried the first time he held me.” She carefully flicked the page over and sucked in a deep breath when the first two pages of images came into view.
“Oh my gosh,” Korra gushed. “No way! You came out with a full head of hair too!”
The first photo was one of a freshly reared baby Asami with purple skin and womb goop stuck to her body pressed against Yasuko’s chest. And yes, with a full head of hair. The next was a photo of Hiroshi cradling Asami in his arms with tears running down his cheeks. The next was a photo of Asami in her first official outfit inside of the hospital, the one after that was her in her crib at home for the first time.
“Mom wrote on the back of some of these,” Asami pulled out the first photo and flipped it over. She bit down on the inside of her cheek as she read the message over in her head. It was simple, really, it was, but it was so very touching.
‘My precious girl. Welcome to the world, Asami. Love, momma. Xxoo’
She ran the tip of her finger over the writing before she carefully tucked it back into its spot. “Dad wrote in all my teenage ones. He liked to quote me in real time. I will admit that some of the stuff I said was actually very enlightening for a 14-year-old.”
Opal huffed a laugh as she took a sip from her wine glass. “Half the shit you used to say at school made my head hurt. She’d verbally work out her physics equations and chemistry homework during lunch. I was just trying to eat and here Asami is talking about the theory of relativity mid-chew. Gosh, don’t even get me started on your whole quantum physics era. You went from quiet to ‘Opal, I need you to hear me out on this’ cue explaining how atoms work while I’m trying to do my make up.”
Asami blushed, hiding behind the rim of her glass. “I needed to do spaced repetition and talking about it helped me understand what I was learning,” She tried to defend. “I miss the simplicity of quantum physics.”
Korra snorted, pushing Asami’s shoulder. “’The simplicity of quantum physics’ is not a sentence that should exist.”
“I’m dead serious,” Asami tried to reason, laughing. “I love thermodynamics, don’t get me wrong, but it’s completely different to quantum physics—”
“Hold on,” Korra lifted up a finger and rose an eyebrow. “You’re… that kind of smart?”
“You haven’t figured it out?” Opal cut in. “Oh, Asami, babe—”
“Hey! It never came up!” Asami huffed. “I could probably explain Hess’ Law as foreplay. I don’t get to do any of the fun stuff that the other engineers do now that I’m in the office all day.”
Opal smirked and tilted her head in Asami’s direction, capturing Korra’s attention. “Hey, Asami? What are the 3 laws of thermodynamics?”
“Oh, easy. One: Energy cannot be created or destroyed. Two: For spontaneous process, the entropy of the universe increases. Three: A perfect crystal at zero Kelvin has zero entropy. The first law is all about energy being transferred between the system and surroundings through transfer of heat. If you get me a piece of paper I can write the equation down for you. Second can be broken into parts. There’s the system, what you’re investigating, and the surroundings, that relates to everything in the universe besides the system. So, with that in mind, for any spontaneous process the entropy, which is related to randomness or disorder, the universe increases. It’s really hard to explain without me going through the equations with you and talking about all the other aspects of thermodynamics. Like heat, work, entropy as a whole, calorimetry, equilibrium, that sort of thing. Anyway, third relates to—”
“Okay! Okay, I didn’t think you’d go that in depth.” Opal said with a laugh. “You’re giving me war flashbacks.”
“Holy fuck,” Korra exhaled. “I have no idea what you’re talking about right now but that was super hot. So, what, all this time you’ve been hiding how smart you are?”
“I never hid it. It just… never came up. Look, I work in business now, not engineering. I don’t have a whole heap of chances to bring mechanical smarts into conversation. It’s not like we talk about how energy is converted into heat to make machinery move, or how to use CAD software to design new internals for cars, or… I don’t know, how to implement structural simulations in the real world.” Asami wrinkled up her nose. “You should see me when we’re working out the formulas for new engines. Now that is fun.”
Korra blinked and took a slow sip from her wine glass. “All of that brain and you’d rather tell me about a new breed of cat you found on the internet?”
“Um, yes? Okay, look… Asami Sato is very smart, regular ol’ Asami would rather cry over click baited animal videos online because she doesn’t want to use all of that brain power for the greater good. Do you know how exhausting it is actually doing engine math?” She blew out a breath. “Also, um, I’ve never had a reason to use my smarts to impress you.”
“That was her flirting technique back in the day,” Opal added in before Korra could reply. “It was very confusing for the average person.”
“Wait, is that an insult?” Korra poked out her lower lip. “No need to use your smarts on me because I’m easily impressed?”
“I mean… yes? But, like, no?” Asami winced. “I feel like we meet in the middle. You’re social smart, I’m math smart. I didn’t need to bring thermodynamics into a conversation because you actually enjoy real world things outside of science. I’m constantly impressed by your knowledge of social constructs and evaluations of human motive. Would you rather we had a mutual love of animals or the mutual love of molecular physics?”
Korra’s mouth tugged into a half grimace. “Okay, I see your point.”
“You have, like, an entire lifetime to pick apart Asami’s brain. This is just the beginning. Wait until she whips out her thesis and makes you read it to her.” Opal said, grinning. “Now that I would love to be present for.”
Asami laughed, shaking her head. “My thesis is happily locked away with the rest of my engineering stuff.” She pointed down at the album in her lap. “Okay, back to the present. Or are you two bored?”
“No,” Korra replied, tucking herself into Asami’s shoulder. “I’ll be quiet.”
Opal had nothing to add and shrugged. With that in mind, Asami continued flicking through the pages.
Korra kept letting out small ‘aw’s and ‘oh’s whenever Asami turned to the next set of photos. Opal joined in when they landed on a set of pictures of Asami kitted out in baby overalls.
“Did your dad go out of his way to get you baby car tools and stuff?” Korra piped up as they got to another round of car-themed outfits.
“Yes, you’ll see a bunch of them when we get to the toddler photos. I had cars, train sets, towers, tools, I think I even had a car shaped bed at one stage? My nursery got redone around 4 times. Each new phase required a new theme. Dad said mom painted the walls herself. She was always more ‘creatively touched’ than he was, even though he literally birthed an entire generation of car designs,” Asami explained, still flipping through the pages.
Korra stopped on one particular photo of her, as an 8-month-old, in overalls with a toolbox under an arm. “This one. I want this one.”
Asami carefully wiggled the photo free and handed it over. “Go put it by my laptop. I’ll scan it when I’m in the office on Monday.”
Korra jumped to her feet and zoomed her way towards Asami’s study. She went to launch herself back on the couch but thought better of it when Asami held up her wine glass in warning. Instead, she crawled back into her spot and rested her head on Asami’s shoulder. “Can I admit that I’m geeking out over these? Like, you had the cutest neck rolls and clubby hands.”
Asami snorted, stopping to admire a photo of herself asleep on her mother’s chest. “I was swooning the entire time Tonraq was pointing out all your little milestones. You had wolf tails, Korra, and the tiniest little foot prints.”
“I go through phases with wolf tails. I had a 2-month period last year before I met you for the first time where I wore them and tied my hair back.”
Asami took a pause and frowned. “Why did you stop?”
“Sensory issues. I hated having anything touching my face,” Korra admitted sheepishly. “I grew my hair out, too. It got just below shoulder length before I chopped it. Wait— Did you ever have short hair?”
Opal decided to make her presence known once again. “Oh yeah, you’re in for it. This woman had this hot as fuck—“
“Ah!” Asami interjected, nudging Opal with her elbow. “Shh, no spoilers.”
Korra looked between them and pouted. “How short?”
Opal went to make an indication with her hand but Asami swatted her arm before she could raise it high enough. “No.”
“Was it during softball?” Korra tried to poke further.
“Uh, nearing the end, yes.” Opal held her hands up in mock surrender when Asami went to swat her again. “Okay! I get it!”
Asami glared for good measure before continuing their little venture down her first year of life. They moved on to her toddler years next. Asami had to pause several times to really take in the pictures of her mom. Her smile, the obvious love she held in her eyes, heck, even the way she held herself in these photos showed just how much she loved being a mother. Then there was her dad. He looked so proud and so very in love.
“Aw! You had a tracksuit!” Korra cooed, singling out the photo. “I want that one too. That matches the photo I have of me in my first swim suit.”
Asami wiggled that one free and handed it over with a soft smile. Korra took it and rushed off to put it with the other one.
Opal moved to rest her head on Asami’s shoulder and smiled fondly. “How are you feeling? Do you need a hug?”
“I’m okay,” Asami admitted honestly. “I’m getting that ache whenever I see photos of mom but it’s manageable. I think having the both of you here helps with the hurt. Plus, you know, Korra’s excitement is also infectious.”
Opal gave her arm a soft squeeze. “If you need a break, just tell us and we can do shots or something.”
Asami smiled, finishing off the rest of her glass. She leaned forward to put it on the coffee table and leaned back against the couch as she let her eyes linger on a particular photo of her and her dad. It was one of the first inside of his workshop. She was asleep in a portable crib beside his workbench whilst he was sat down scribbling away on a piece of paper.
She’d done well thus far, and she congratulated herself on not crying, but seeing something so… gosh, simple? It made her eyes sting. She was able to stop them from manifesting beyond little prickles in the corners of her eyes, thankfully, but the damage was done.
Korra came in just after she wiped the corner of her eye. “Before we continue, you want me to order food?”
“Yes!” Opal replied before Asami could get a word in. “Actually, I’ll order. Bolin took me to a new sushi place and I need you two to experience it in full.” She pulled out her phone and set her wine glass down to use both hands.
Korra beamed, sitting herself back down. “Is this the new place that opened?”
“Yeah!” Opal handed the phone over to Asami first. “Here, take your pick. My treat.”
Asami gracefully started scrolling through the options. Once she’d decided on something, she handed the phone over to Korra.
***
Korra was absolutely oozing giddy energy. It was hard to keep still when Asami was showing her pieces of her childhood. Not only was Asami the cutest kid, seeing these photos showed just how loved she was from both parents. In saying that, it was also sad. Korra could see why Asami isolated herself once her dad passed.
“Oh, here,” Asami pointed to a photo of her in a weird looking go-cart. “Dad made me two of these. I become a bit of a speed nut because of them. I’d zoom up and down the big drive. I was probably… hm, 5 here? He made me bigger ones as I grew older until I was large enough to fit inside a proper go-cart. We’d spend afternoons racing each other on the family race track at home.”
Korra found herself pouting. “That’s so sweet. When did you learn how to properly drive a car?”
“I learnt how to properly drive when my legs could reach the pedals… so… 12? I think? He had a really old rig that had a horrendous gear box that he made me drive around the race track. It wasn’t a whole lot different from steering a go-cart so I just had to focus gear shifts. Hold on,” She passed the album over to Opal and started shifting the albums aside until she found the one she was looking for. “I have a photo of me driving that thing,” She started flicking through the pages until she found the one she was looking for. “I was really grumpy because I’d just spent 2 hours stalling the car.”
Pre-teen Asami was a sight to behold. Not a whole lot had changed in the looks department but she was so full of youth and innocence. In this particular photo, she had her hair braided and was wearing a set of workshop overalls that were obviously much too big for her frame. She was very much an angry looking teenager sitting in the driver’s seat of the car with crossed arms and a glare. The caption beside it said ‘Someone is a bit cranky because she couldn’t get to 2rd gear without stalling.’
“How long did it take for you to get good at driving?” Korra asked.
“A couple months. We’d take that thing out every afternoon for an hour until I was confident with the clutch. Then he made me do hill starts until I could do them in my sleep. We didn’t have a whole heap of fun with driving until I had my actual license. He took me out on the company race track and taught me how to burn rubber with the new models. It became our thing. I’d get a chance to destroy these prototypes with him in the passenger seat fearing for his life. It was payback for getting snarky with me when I was learning.” Asami explained with a fond grin. “Now I make Opal fear for her life when I’m done doing up my project cars.”
“Speaking of project cars, how is your current one coming along?” Opal piped up, refilling her wine glass.
“I haven’t spent as much time in the workshop so I still have to strip a bunch of parts and order new ones in,” Asami shut the album and pulled the baby one back into her lap.
Korra rested her head back on Asami’s shoulder and smiled to herself as Asami continued going through her early childhood.
Some photos had captions from Asami’s mother, others from her dad. Just when Korra thought she’d seen it all, another photo would depict a new facial expression or personality trait that translated into adult Asami’s vocabulary. The grins, the shy smiles, the awkward posing. Each year a new mannerism would appear— each milestone a different facial animation would age.
“There’s a lot missing from this point onwards,” Asami said as she pulled another album into her lap. “When mom died, dad stopped taking photos. There’s a couple of me holding awards I got at school but other than that? It skips forward until I hit my pre-teens. If I remember correctly…” She skimmed through several pages until she found the one she was looking for. “I was 8 pre-puberty here with a flat chest and big eyebrows,” She pointed with a laugh and flipped to the end of the album. “And I’m 17 here after filling out and learning how to do a full face of makeup. You’re not missing a whole heap. I’d prefer it if we don’t touch the pictures of me after mom passed. They’re a bit… touchy.”
Korra slid a hand behind Asami’s shoulder and gave it a reassuring rub. “I think I’m ready to see these pre-teen photos I’m supposedly not meant to tell anyone I’ve seen,” She opted to use a lighter tone. “How early are we going?”
“I could probably show you the ones of me when I was 12 and go from there. This album was filled with off cuts from the big teenage album dad gifted to me when I turned 21. It has all the highlights from each year,” She closed the current album and leaned forward to fetch the right one. “You’ve got to promise not to laugh at me because I went through many different phases. Yours are all consistent. I had a tom-boy phase, a girly-girl phase, a goth phase, and a sexuality crisis stage when I cut my hair off before university. All of these phases are defined by eras as my dad liked to put it. First era is ‘golden girl Asami’ era. It was when I tried to act more like my dad than I did myself. It started at 11 and ended at 13.” She opened up the album and relaxed back against the couch. “So… I’m in a lot of boy’s clothes and I’m always covered in dirt. If I wasn’t under a car with dad, I was outside in the gardens.”
Korra was awe-struck. This ‘era’ as Asami liked to put it was a sight to behold. The Asami she was familiar with was comfortable with femininity and masculinity, this version of Asami was very obviously trying to fit into a particular stereotype that, surprisingly, worked. The backwards caps, the oversized t-shirts, even the exclusively tied back hair. Several photos were of Asami exclusively rolling around in a mud puddle outside in the backyard. I don’t even think I looked that good covered in mud, she mused, grinning to herself.
“Ha! I had that same hat!” Opal pointed out, tapping a photo of Asami sitting in a go-cart with a brown cowboy hat on her head. “I stole mine off of my brothers, though.”
“I actually stole that one off of dad. I still have it in storage somewhere,” Asami replied with a laugh. “Okay, this era was pretty tame. We’re about to go into my ‘Pink and Powerful’ era aka my first year of high school. This was, unfortunately, when Opal and I met. I had no idea what I was doing but I tried my hardest,” She opened up a page that literally said ‘Pink and Powerful’ before the first row of photos came into view.
Korra brought a hand up to her mouth and barely contained a snort. Asami was wearing very loud bright pink eyeshadow and deep purple lipstick that did not match her complexion. The best part was the eyebrows. They were super angular and filled in with the wrong shade of black.
“Look,” Asami started, nudging Korra’s shoulder with her own. “I tried, okay? Bright colours where in at the time. Several other kids in my year had the same outrageous eyeshadow and highlighter. It does get better. I actually learnt how to do my makeup a couple months later after watching a bunch of tutorials.”
Korra held up a hand in mock surrender as she laughed. “Hey, I’m not judging.” She did snort when Asami flicked the page over and a series of very colourful photos came into view. One was of Asami wearing a pink dress with pink shoes and another was of Asami in a purple turtle neck with glittery pink eyeshadow and obnoxiously reflective highlighter. Each photo progressively got better; there was even one of Asami with her signature red lipstick and tame purple eyeshadow. “I’m seeing several of you in a school uniform. Did you not get a uniform violation for wearing makeup?”
“Oh,” Asami snickered, sending Opal a beaming grin. “I talked my way out of several uniform violations. I was quiet, don’t get me wrong, I really didn’t know how to socialise, but you throw me in a room with the principle that’s grilling my ass because I’m wearing a bright shade of pink eyeshadow? Oof, I became a completely different person.” She lifted a shoulder up to her ear. “I was pretty calm the first couple times. Then I got sick of being singled out so I told him I’d get my dad to speak with the school board and remove him from his position. My dad was friends with some of the people on the school board so it wasn’t an empty threat. He stopped bugging me after that.”
Opal threw her head back and laughed. “That man feared you more than he did death. He always gave you a wide birth at school gatherings.”
“He was an ass. He literally picked on me for no reason,” Asami rolled her eyes. “I mean, honestly, he could have singled out other girls with actual uniform violations but he decided to pick a fight with me because I was the quietest.”
“To be fair, you did deserve those violations you got when you went through that goth phase. You literally painted black paint on your eyelids and lips.” Opal said once she’d stopped laughing.
“I did not. It was just really dark eyeshadow and black lip stain—”
“Lip stain?” Korra interjected with a gasp. “Oh my gosh, you and Mako would have been perfect for each other. He had a tube of that stuff that he used so he couldn’t just ‘wipe it off’ when teachers called him out during lunch break.”
“HA! That’s exactly why I used it!” Asami giggled. “It was my ‘rebellious’ era as you’re about to see,” She opened up the next era of photos and cringed when Opal started giggling beside her. “I wasn’t conventionally rebellious, Korra. I promise. I never went through what you went through, but I did start swearing and wearing black as a small ‘fuck you’ to the people that teased me for being ‘good’ all the time. I was tired of being called the golden child; you know? So… desperate times called for desperate measures. Thankfully this only lasted, what, 8 months? So, there’s only a small section dedicated to this era of ridiculousness.”
To be entirely fair, Asami looked fantastic in black makeup and the dark leggings, flannel skirts, and band t-shirts. Her phase wasn’t nearly as intense as Mako’s but it was still very jarring seeing Asami with straightened hair and acne under the layers of foundation. There was one particular photo of Asami in a red/black flannel skirt and thigh high boots sticking out from under a car in her dad’s workshop.
“How old are you here?” She stopped Asami from moving on to the next page and tapped on a photo of Asami
“17… I think.”
“And how tall where you exactly?”
“Huh, probably close to 6 foot, why?”
Korra paused and chuckled. “I totally would have been into you. You’re basically the female version of Mako at this point in time.”
“I’ll be real with you,” Opal spoke before Asami could. “She was a real asshole. I’m so thankful you outgrew all that attitude because it was so tiring. She’d scoff at me, Korra. For no good reason. It was like talking to a brick wall.”
“Hey! You always made fun of me! I had reason to scoff at you!”
“No I didn’t! I only teased you occasionally! I helped you straighten your hair and—”
“Oh, stop it. You only helped once. You’d—”
“That’s factually incorrect—”
“Hey!” Korra clapped her hands to get their attention as she laughed. “Can we call a truce so I can see the short hair you’ve been teasing for 2 hours?”
Asami glared at Opal and huffed before she turned her attention back to the album. “There’s a reason there isn’t any softball photos spread throughout the album. Dad made a whole section dedicated to it. You’ll see little ol’ me evolve into someone that resembles current me.” She slowly turned to the next section of photos simply titled ‘Softball’.
Korra held it together initially, she did, then she let out a gasp when her eyes landed on a picture of Asami—with very short hair—punching a softball mitt in her team’s softball uniform. It was similar length to her own hair only it was super curly. You could practically see each individual curl reflecting in the sun. The real kicker, in Korra’s opinion, was the fact Asami had her hair braided on one side of her head. Not just any braid, skin tight braids.
“No way,” Korra whispered, grabbing Asami’s arm. “No way!” She repeated, louder. “I— I just— You! Ah—” She covered her face with her hands and snickered. “That should not look as good as it does.”
“Right?!” Opal enthused. “Gosh, it was wild, Korra. She came to school after break looking like that. I should have known then that she was going to end up being queer. It took her an entire year after this to come out.”
“In my defence, I was questioning things. I was just… I don’t know, focused on getting into university and couldn’t focus on potentially liking girls. Once I was accepted I went nuts. I had that whole kissing the girl as a distraction thing on the opposing softball team just before I started university which actually sparked my sexuality crisis. After that it was about experimenting until I was comfortable with coming out as bisexual and then Opal was like ‘we need to get you on dating apps’ and I was like ‘no Opal I don’t know how to talk to boys or girls unless I’m drunk’ and she was like—” Asami stopped herself when Opal started giggling beside her and let out a strained laugh of her own. “What?! Why is that so funny?!”
“Because you where so stupid back then,” Opal heaved, shaking her head. “You looked exactly like that,” She tapped the photo and snorted. “And you kept panicking thinking girls wouldn’t like you.”
“It was new! I was nervous, is that a crime?!” Asami tried to argue, whining.
“Don’t even get me started on the boys you cried over,” Opal dramatically shuddered. “Ugh, first year uni was wild for you. You had that whole situationship with that one girl that was straight but only gay for you and then that semi-relationship you had with that biology guy that I never liked,” She cringed and rapidly shook her head. “It was messy and I fucking loved it.”
Korra gaped with the biggest grin on her face. “You had the ‘I’m straight but gay for you’ experience too?!”
“Yes. I got it done and over with really early on. She was a nightmare,” Asami shook her head and chuckled. “I calmed down during my second year. I only had the occasional fling.” She worked her lower lip between her teeth. “I wasn’t used to all the freedom, you know? It was like a drug.”
Korra knew that one all too well. Freedom had been her gradual undoing. Going from a strict bedtime to being able to stay up all night without consequence had done wonders for the complex she’d had at the time.
“I was the same with freedom. I get it,” Korra replied, eagerly leaning forward as Asami flipped the page. More softball photos came into view, all with the same hairstyle and general vibe. It was only a short section; the next page was titled ‘Welcome to Adulthood’.
And wow.
It was filled with photos taken at university, small snippets from Asami’s childhood home when she visited, and many of her in Future Industries as a novice engineer in training. Some had come from Opal apparently; Hiroshi had reached out when making this album. They stopped just before Asami turned 21, obviously, but it showed just how different Asami used to hold herself.
Young and carefree was one way of putting it. Sometimes that smile of hers never quite fully reached her eyes. Korra recognised it as growing pains; each year you outgrew a version of yourself and a new one slowly began to blossom. Before that version could blossom, you had to leave certain people behind, certain memories, certain places—objects. Korra had lived it firsthand. Part of her wondered if this Asami—the one at the end of the album—struggled knowing that with each year, each milestone, it would never be seen by her mother. That the version she was then was one her mother would never know.
She stopped herself from going down that rabbit hole knowing that was not a train of thought appropriate for the tone they’d set thus far. This was meant to be joyous, not depressing. You don’t need to analyse your girlfriends’ inner workings through old pictures of her youth, Korra. You’re good but you’re not that good.
“Ready to move on to all the dumbass photos of Asami playing softball?” Opal asked, promptly pulling Korra from her thoughts. “She pulled the goofiest faces when she was in the zone right before a pitch.”
“Uh, yeah. I want more of that haircut, too.” She chimed in with a laugh. “I’ll admit, I’m rather impressed. I thought I went through a bunch of phases.”
“You went through a bunch of emotional phases; I went through a bunch of physical phases. I will forever be grateful for the photos of you during that era with the undercut. Now that, that was fantastic.”
Korra groaned. “Don’t remind me—“
“You had an undercut?!” Opal slapped Asami’s knee, to which Asami hissed. “Really?!”
“Ugh, it was part of the ‘figuring myself out’ period I went through when I dropped study,” Korra scrunched up her face. “It was easier to maintain. I saved a bunch of money on shampoo and conditioner. I think I only ever brought two bottles during the year I had it.”
Opal whistled as she got up to fetch her bag with the albums in it. “Do you think Bolin has photos of it?”
“Probably. He’s my unofficial photographer. A load of the photos I have in my adult album are all taken by him,” She tucked her legs up under her as she readjusted herself on the couch. “If you hound him I’m sure he’d be able to skim through the archive he has on his phone.”
“Fuck yeah,” Opal bounced back over with the first album and grinned from ear to ear. “Okay, some of these date back to our first year of high school. You ready?”
“I was born ready,” Korra teased, playfully cracking her knuckles. “Lemme at ‘em.”
Asami groaned as Opal handed over the album. “I hate you. I hope you know that.”
Opal smirked as Asami opened up the album. “You love this, don’t lie.”
It was absolute chaos from there onwards. Opal remembered things in vivid detail. Apparently Asami had quite the competitive side once provoked. Each photo that Asami was in was very much captured during the heat of the moment. Some of the glares rivalled Mako’s right before she pitched a ball. The photos of Asami standing with a bat over her shoulder were Korra’s favourite. Little Asami held herself with a kind of determination only a 15-year-old could pull off.
“Ah! Here! This was just after a big softball tournament! Asami’s team came second. We snuck out and went to an after party with a bunch of other girls from other schools. I think that was the first time I ever got you drunk, right?”
Asami’s face twisted up uncomfortably. “Yeah. I was vomiting all night. I still can’t touch raspberry flavoured spirits.”
“I can’t touch passion fruit vodka or white rum,” Opal said before she pulled out another album. “I have photos of Asami playing social softball in this one with a couple first year university snippets that Asami hates that I have evidence of.”
“Because you try to blackmail me with them when you want something,” Asami grumbled.
Korra’s face was starting to hurt from how much she’d been laughing and grinning. Opal decided to give Asami some slack and held off on most of the humiliating details right up until they got to a photo of Asami standing next to a very attractive young man with an arm slung around her shoulders. He had brown hair, blue eyes, and a super thick beard.
Asami and Opal shared a singular look before Opal started snickering. “I can’t believe you dated him,” She brought a hand up to her mouth and coughed a couple of times. “This was Asami’s Prince Charming. Total heartthrob, knew exactly what to say, understood all of Asami’s little quirks, heck— He encouraged bad behaviour. I want to say he was a boy version of you, Korra.”
Asami starting cringing heavily. “You’re giving him waaaay too much credit. He wasn’t Korra’s level of good. He was just… ideal? Safe? Dare I say easy?”
“Easy my ass. He cheated on her. He had the balls to block her on everything and left a me a note to give to her because he didn’t want to face her. It was unhinged.” Opal made a gagging gesture and huffed. “It lasted 6 months. 6 months, Korra. 6 months of listening about how mind-numbingly boring he was in bed—“
“Opal—“
“What?! He was boring. You got excited when he lasted longer than 5 minutes—“
“I thought that was something to be excited about,” Asami ran her fingers through her hair and laughed. “Look, he was nice, minus the whole cheating thing. I was comfortable. It was that one girl afterwards that ruined me for months. I can’t even remember her name. She was the short one with the blonde hair? She wore glasses, right?”
“Oof,” Opal exhaled with a grimace. “Yeah, she was bad. She had you wrapped around her finger. She got jealous because she thought we, us, had something going on.”
“I mean… we did have that whole dating rumour spread around our friend group at the time because we’d always sneak off together when we got bored at gatherings. I’m pretty sure that guy you started dating hated me because of said rumour,” Asami chimed in, snickering. “Ah, it was wild. University was an experience. I don’t know how we both made it out alive.”
Korra was happy to sink into the background and listen as they bickered back and forth. She’d always known Opal was a big part of Asami’s life, and she was probably the one person Asami valued above Suki, but it was different hearing them both reminisce and bask in the post-boisterous nature of their youth.
It was also hard to get a word in and react to one story when another popped up before Korra could properly digest the first piece of information.
Just as Asami was explaining why she looked like death in one particular photo during finals, Opal’s phone went off. She excused herself politely and gathered their discarded takeout containers from earlier in the evening.
Asami sunk back against the sofa and sent Korra a dopey smile. “You enjoying yourself?”
“Yes. I honestly didn’t expect you to be so… normal?” Korra replied and sheepishly shrugged her shoulders. “You meant it when you said you where a serial romancer.”
Asami wrinkled up her nose. “I told you I was a completely different person. Doesn’t make you uncomfortable, right?”
“No,” Korra admitted honestly. “I can see why you wanted that red flag list really early on. You really lived through it all, huh?”
“Mm, I suppose. It was fun. Dad ruined the high I had going on. I mean, honestly? Telling me he had cancer just when I was really starting to live it up? What an asshole,” Asami’s lips twitched and a playful sparkle caught in her eye. “I wish he was here. Minus the whole admitting to being a bit reckless in the dating department. He could have given you so many stories about what I was like growing up.”
Korra softened and sunk back beside her girlfriend. “You’ve painted a pretty picture,” She moved to press her face into the hard point of Asami’s shoulder. “Shy, socially awkward, traumatised. Those are the main three points, no?”
Asami let out a huff of a laugh and rolled her eyes. “I was also very smart and got put in advanced classes for everything because I excelled in academics,” She brought her hand over to Korra’s knee and started stroking it. “Cars, dirt, books, then trauma. That sums it up.”
Korra smiled into Asami’s shoulder and closed her eyes. “Thank you for giving me such a broad timeline. I think it made up for the lack of stories,” She left a kiss where her mouth was resting and tilted her head to rest her cheek against Asami’s shoulder. “You feeling okay?”
“I think so,” Asami breathed, dragging her nails in small zig-zags over Korra’s thigh. “We’ll find out tomorrow when I start regretting telling you about all the dumb stuff I did,” She moved to rest her head against the top of Korra’s. “You owe me a bunch of embarrassing memories to level out the playing field.”
Korra exhaled a laugh and covered Asami’s hand with her own, bringing it up to her lips so she could kiss her middle knuckle. “I think I can do that. My dating history isn’t nearly as dramatic. Most of the dumb things I did involved Mako and Bolin. They’re always reminding me of that one time I passed out on someone’s lawn without a shirt on because I started stripping at a party,” She started playing with Asami’s fingers. “I love knowing you also did socially unacceptable things in the name of fun.”
Asami quietly hummed. “I wasn’t always a grandma. Circumstances changed and I had to grow up before I was ready. I don’t miss the heart ache or the hangovers, that’s for sure. Part of me misses being… I don’t know, carefree? I wish I could wake up and not have to worry about what I looked like going into work. I feel like I have to maintain some formality, you know? Only time I ever really get to let my guard down is when I’m with you or Opal.”
That’s exactly how I feel, there’s only 3 people I can truly unmask around. Mako, Bolin, and you, Korra thought, intertwining their fingers together. It was about balance in the end. Korra could only partially understand Asami’s lifestyle through the eyes of someone that didn’t have to put on a façade every single day. While yes, she had a mask of her own that she put on, she didn’t need to uphold a standard of professionalism on the daily.
“Okay, I gotta head off,” Opal announced before Korra could properly respond. “That was Bolin. He’s having a crisis over one of his assignments and wants me to head over. Can I leave the albums with you and I’ll grab them next week?”
Asami gave Korra’s hand a soft squeeze before she got to her feet. “I can put them in my car on Wednesday and I can pass them over when I drop you off after movie night,” She held open her arms and embraced Opal firmly. “Thank you for coming around, even if I forgot. It means a lot.”
Opal hummed and gave Asami’s back a soft pat. “I’d never turn down an opportunity to humiliate you in front of your girlfriend,” She withdrew and came over behind the couch. “I have many more stories to share,” She leaned over and wrapped her arms around Korra’s head in an affectionate head-lock from behind. “I’ll see you for movie night. I’ll let you resume whatever it was you two started when I walked in.”
Korra bit back a laugh and patted Opal’s arms before she withdrew to gather her things. “Let Bolin know I’ll make him comfort food tomorrow when I get home. If he’s really down and overwhelmed there’s something that I usually say to pull him out of his own head. Go, ‘If this were a plot in a movie, what would I want the main character to do?’. Helps put things into perspective. He’s good at overanalysing and concentrating all of his frustration internally.”
Opal paused as she pulled her purse out of the bag with the albums. She turned to look at Korra fully and then glanced over in Asami’s direction. “Huh,” She rose an eyebrow. “That’s… really helpful. You really are good at the whole wisdom thing.”
“I’m just repeating what Tenzin has thrown at me over the years,” Korra shrugged and stretched her arms above her head. “I’ve also been Bolin’s unofficial therapist for years. If he’s really upset there’s an emergency stash of gummy worms hidden inside of my cereal box. Sugar and a hug usually gets him through the worst of it.”
Opal continued to stare for several seconds. “You know what? Now I’m jealous you’re not single. What the heck, Asami? You get this level of emotional intelligence daily?”
Asami laughed, coming to place both her hands on Korra’s shoulders from behind the couch. “Weekly is more accurate. What does Bolin say? Let it marinate?”
“Pft,” Korra scrunched up her whole face. “It’s bi-weekly. I have to sprinkle in immaturity so I’m not boring.”
Opal shook her head as she tapped away on her phone. “Alright, I’m going to love and leave you both. Uber is 5 minutes away.” She lifted her hand and waved as she made her way towards the door. Just as she was about to close the door behind her, she yelled out a very obnoxious, “Use protection!”
Korra heaved a laugh and fully stretched out her legs, making sure she spread all her toes out after being curled up for the past 2 hours. “You got any snacks hidden away for me?”
Asami moved around to the coffee table to gather up the albums. “I stocked up your stash in the pantry. I’m going to put these back in my study and go through my phone. I’ll be 20 minutes tops. Can you check on Suki in my bedroom? She’s be awfully quiet. It’s mildly suspicious.”
A big, dopey grin covered Korra’s face. “Hey?”
Asami stopped her commute and lifted both eyebrows in question. “Mm?”
Korra’s heart did a little happy cartwheel in her chest as the words flowed out of her mouth. “I love you,” Her grin softened into a heartfelt smile. She was almost hesitant when she breathed out a quiet, “Every version of you. Especially the goth version you.”
Asami’s face morphed into pure adoration as she pouted out her lower lip. “Yeah?”
Korra nodded, pushing herself up to her feet. “Mhm. And…” She paused, letting out a long exhale. “…I’ll love every new version of you too.”
Asami stared at her for a long time. Eventually, she blinked out of her daze and glanced down at the albums in her arms. “You have impeccable timing,” She looked back up and bit down on her lower lip. “Every time I think I can’t fall any harder you go and say stuff like that,” She frowned and slowly shook her head. “Ugh, Korra,” She made a gesture towards her study. “I’m going to put these away. When I get back that shirt better be on the floor.”
Korra’s eyebrows shot up and that goofy grin came back in full force. “Oh?”
“You can’t say things like that and not expect me to be irrationally horny,” A playful grin tugged at Asami’s lips. She pointed at Korra and then wiggled it down at the ground. “20 seconds. Shirt. Floor.”
Korra watched as Asami walked off and let out a happy little sigh. Sometimes her mouth made magical things happen. Not a lot, but sometimes. She reached down to grip the hem of her shirt and tugged it off of her frame in one singular movement. She was in the middle of working the tie on her sweatpants loose when Asami tipped her chin up with her index finger and left a surprisingly sweet kiss to her lips. Her eyes fluttered shut on instinct.
“I love you too,” Asami whispered against her mouth, sliding her hand down to cup the underside of Korra’s jaw. “This version and all the one’s that came before it,” Her other hand circled Korra’s waist, urging her in close. When she whispered her next words, she nudged Korra’s nose lightly with her own. “I’m excited for future me to meet future you. If she keeps sweet talking me out of nowhere, I think we’ll get along just fine.”
The smile that broke across Korra’s face made her cheeks hurt. “I mean… if sweet talking gets this kind of reaction… I don’t have a problem continuing the theme.” She wrapped both her arms around Asami’s neck and pressed in for another kiss. “I’ll take notes now so future me knows what gets you going.”
Asami breathed a small laugh against Korra’s lips. “Yeah? Besides sweet talk, what gets me going?”
Korra pressed their foreheads together as she withdrew an arm. “Bad pick-up-lines and really risky sex for starters,” She curled her fingers under the hem of Asami’s shirt and traced the pads of her fingertips up along the soft plane of her stomach. “Co-parenting is a major turn on, apparently. You secretly love being the little spoon because it means I get to draw those little patterns over your stomach to wake you up,” She tilted her head slightly and pressed a kiss to Asami’s cheek. “You really like it when I trace little infinity symbols along the base of your spine when you’re laying on top of me, like this—“ She skirted her hand around Asami’s ribcage and started drawing those very infinity symbols over the curve of her lower back. “You like it even more when I lean up on my tippy toes to kiss your forehead when we’re standing in the kitchen making breakfast together,” She ran the tip of her nose down Asami’s jaw and kissed the spot just below her ear. “Somehow watching my hands on a controller also gets you worked up. Need I mention heartfelt messages on your coffee cups?”
Asami tipped her head back and blew out a long sigh. It was more defeated than it was annoyance, Korra noted as she started trailing little kisses down the length of Asami’s neck. “Those are pretty good observations,” Asami murmured, drawing Korra’s face back up for a soft, long kiss. When she parted an inch, she got out a quiet, “Want to know what gets me going the most?”
“Are you going to say car sex? You’re going to say car sex, aren’t you?”
Asami laughed and stole another kiss, deepening it for just a moment before she pulled back. “The way your whole face lights up when you see me,” She rested their foreheads back together. “And the way you whisper my name when you’re asleep,” She dropped her hand down and brushed the back of her knuckles over Korra’s collarbone. “When you breathe me in when you hug me,” She trailed her index finger over Korra’s sternum. “Knowing I’m the person you think about when you’re bored and want attention— Knowing I’m the person you turn too for attention,” She went in for another kiss and hummed into it. “The one thing that really gets me going, though? Watching you glow when I imply there is going to be a future with the both of us in it.”
Korra’s chest rose and fell with each intake of air. Each word fuelled the heat already whirling around in her stomach, turning it into a blazing wildfire. This wasn’t like the foreplay she’d grown accustomed too when they’d first started sleeping with each other. It’d grown considerably more emotionally charged ever since the big declaration. This, though, this was a form of poetic justice. All the ways you could say I love you without saying the big word.
She’s swallowed hard and curled a hand around the back of Asami’s neck, dragging her in for a heavier, heated kiss that Asami eagerly melted into. She moaned when Asami’s tongue ran over her lower lip and opened without further instruction. It was desperate—No, passionate. It caused a different kind of arousal, the deep, achy kind that made her body tremble without her permission. Asami caught on almost immediately and dropped both of her hands down to Korra’s hips, carefully twisting them both around until she could lower herself down on the couch and pull Korra into her lap.
Korra came willingly, straddling Asami’s thighs as she worked Asami’s shirt up and over her head. Asami was quick to pull her back in for another kiss once she could use her arms again. It was just as passionate, if not boarding desperate. It was the kind of kiss that spoke what couldn’t be uttered. ‘I need to feel you’ the hot push of Asami’s tongue said, ‘I need to kiss you until I don’t know where one of us starts and the other ends’ the clash of Korra’s own tongue responded.
It didn’t occur to Korra that she could use the other parts of her body until Asami’s hands cupped her behind and tried to get her hips to move. She started off slow, barely rocking her hips, then increased to a deeper, needier grind when her mound rubbed up against Asami’s lower abdomen and that soft throbbing in her core turned into a sharp pulse.
Asami broke the kiss first, panting. Wordlessly, she fumbled around until the clasp of Korra’s bra came free. Korra put enough space between them to fling it off to the side and let out a deep moan when Asami’s mouth covered one of her nipples. Her hands returned back to Korra’s ass and squeezed in encouragement. Not that Korra needed any, she started rolling her hips down and tangled her fingers into Asami’s hair as her eyes rolled into the back of her head.
The gentle swipes of Asami’s tongue only made her clit pulse harder against the strained fabric of her underwear. “Want you,” She panted, choking on a sharp whine when Asami’s teeth grazed over her hard peak. “Want you so bad,” Her hips stuttered when Asami applied more pressure with her teeth and a throaty whimper came out without her permission. “Asami, plea—“ She was silenced by a hard, sudden kiss as Asami worked a hand down the front of her sweatpants and into her underwear.
They both released a joint moan into the kiss when Asami’s fingers slid through her slick, slippery folds. “I love it when you’re this wet,” Asami mumbled, teasing the stiff point of Korra’s clit with the tips of her fingers. “All I have to do is this…” She slid her hand in further and dipped two fingers over Korra’s entrance. “And this…” She didn’t even need to push forward; she slipped both fingers inside of Korra’s sex with no resistance until she was completely bottomed out. Again, they both released a joint moan against each others mouth.
Korra cradled Asami’s face desperately in her hands and pitched her eyebrows together in deep concentration as she purposely clenched around Asami’s fingers. It did little to sooth the ache but it did make Asami release a sweet, sweet groan. “I’m really sensitive,” She husked, giving an experimental roll of her hips. “Really sensitive,” She captured Asami’s lips in a delicate kiss. When she was able to speak again, it was a shaky whisper, “You’ll have to go slow.”
“I’ve got you. You set the pace.” Asami whispered back, leaving one last reassuring kiss to Korra’s mouth before she started trailing little kisses down Korra’s chin, then throat, then chest, until she could wrap her lips around Korra’s other neglected nipple.
Korra was beyond trying to stifle the noises tickling the back of her throat. She started rocking into Asami’s hand, making sure her clit rubbed against the hard point of Asami’s palm on each pass. It became a little more frantic when Asami curled her fingers and angled them so Korra could grind them into the spongy, swollen part of her front inner wall. She found a rhythm; gentle circular motions made her thighs quiver. Asami grew her insistent with her mouth the more desperate Korra became.
Then, with a slick, wet pop, Asami surged back in for a kiss so intense Korra’s head spun. “I love you,” Asami uttered, forcing and keeping their foreheads together. “I love you, Korra.”
Korra whimpered, digging her fingernails into Asami’s shoulders. “I— I—“ She tried and failed to get the words out. “Asami—“ She practically whined, jerking her hips out of rhythm. “I’m— I—“ Her chest heaved as she pressed all her weight forward. Then, just as Asami started to wiggle her fingers in time with her desperate rocking motions, she tensed up and muttered a stuttered, “IloveyouIloveyouIlov—“ as she came. It was so consuming—and so sudden—that she dragged her blunt nails down the back of Asami’s shoulders and crashed their mouths together in an attempt to gain some sense of self back.
Somehow, she became aware of their current situation after an undisclosed amount of time had passed, happily tucked into the crook of Asami’s neck. Speaking of Asami, she was drawing the gentlest of patterns over her lower back. It was grounding. “I don’t know how you manage to top every single orgasm,” She mumbled against Asami’s skin. “You keep that up and future me is going to be a very happy house wife.”
“Happy wife, happy life. Isn’t that the saying?” Asami hummed playfully, pressing a kiss to Korra’s temple. “It has gotten more intense, right? It’s not just me?”
Korra lightly shook her head, though it was more of a singular tipping motion. “Mm. It was intense before but it’s just… ‘phew!’ now.” She flopped one of her hands in an attempt to make an explosion gesture. “I feel it in my bones. Every time. It’s like you’ve swallowed me whole.”
Asami soothed a hand up Korra’s back until she could play with the baby hairs on her nape. “It’s not just sex, it’s also the touching,” She ghosted her fingertips in light outwards motions around the curve of Korra’s neck. “I feel all of you,” She tipped her head back and captured Korra’s lips in a gentle kiss. “Is this normal?”
Korra sighed into the kiss and shut her eyes. “I don’t know,” She whispered, letting her own fingertips drag along the front of Asami’s neck. “It’s great though, right? It’s like eating pizza for the first time. But, like, every time.” She pulled her head back and opened her eyes with a dopey smile. “Speaking of food, I am starved. Let me refuel and I’ll do you?”
Asami laughed, stealing one last kiss. “You’re a bottomless pit,” She slowly removed her hand from inside Korra’s sweatpants and wiped her fingers on the material covering Korra’s thigh. “I was serious about Suki. I need to check on her before we get carried away. She decided to tear apart a pair of socks last night. If she’s been hiding away all afternoon chances are she’s shredded something in my room,” She patted Korra’s thighs. “You’re not going to put your shirt back on, right?”
Korra slowly dismounted and held her hands out as she steadied herself on her feet. “Shirt can stay off as long as yours stays off,” She helped Asami up and held her close. “I’ll go and check before I get a snack so you can go through your phone,” She pecked Asami’s lips before she moved out of her space, stretching her arms above her head as she did so. “Want me to get you anything?”
“I’m good!” Asami called out as she walked into her study.
Korra opened the pantry and rustled around until she found a container of seaweed cookies. As she munched on one, she poked her head into Asami’s room.
She stopped and gaped as she took in the absolute mess Suki had made of one of Asami’s pillows. Suki was happily curled into a ball in the middle of the pile of feathers.
“Hey, Asami?” She called out.
“Yeah?”
“You might want to come see this!”
Asami appeared a couple moments later and groaned at the sight. “Suki, baby, why are you like this? You have a cat tree and toys you can rip apart,” She sighed, rubbing her neck. “I’ll clean it up—“
“I’ll do it,” Korra cut in, leaning over on her tippy toes to kiss Asami’s cheek. “You go and do work stuff. I’ll make sure it’s dealt with.”
Asami sighed again, louder. “Not the point,” She pouted. “I’ll help once I’m done. We’ll have to go pillow shopping. This is a sign. Maybe duvet shopping too. You can help me pick out new sheets.”
Korra slowly started smirking. “Oh? Want to pick out new curtains while we’re at it?”
“Mm, might as well get new plates and mugs if we’re picking out curtains,” Asami grinned, lifting a hand to brush Korra’s hair back. “I’ll be back,” She pressed in for a quick kiss. “Want to have your special underwear ready to go when we’re done tending to the monster?”
Korra perked up. “Yes,” She shoved the rest of her cookie into her mouth and rushed into the room to start damage control. “Alright, little Suki, I’m going to have to move you,” She used a knee to propel herself into Suki’s little nest and carefully picked her up. She only looked mildly annoyed as Korra carried her into the living room to place her on the very top of her cat tree. “Here,” She found the jar of treats and set a small pile in front of her. “Don’t tell your mother.” She gave Suki’s head a generous scratch before she returned to the bedroom and started piling all the loose feathers into one big heap near the door.
Just as she was about to finish—the bed was almost entirely cleared off—Suki decided to run into the pile of feathers at full speed and make an even bigger mess.
Korra actually couldn’t fault Suki. She, too, wouldn’t have been able to pass up on a big pile of feathers.
Asami appeared in the doorway and laughed. “Do you think she’s angry at me?”
Korra gathered the last of the feathers from the mattress and sprinkled them above Suki’s head. “This is payback for kicking her out of the room so much,” She stepped back when Suki launched herself from one end of the room to the other. “I think this is a sign. Either she needs a sibling or she needs more outdoor time to let off steam.”
“Don’t tempt me,” Asami leaned against the doorframe and watched in amusement. “You want to tire her out for 20 minutes so she doesn’t claw at the door?”
Korra set her hands on her hips and laughed when Suki jumped from the bed back down to the ground to fling a bunch of feathers into the air. “I don’t think I have a choice in the matter.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “I’ll distract her if you want to try and clean this up again?”
Suki zoomed past Asami’s legs and into the apartment at the speed of lightning. Asami followed Suki’s movements and heaved a laugh. “Yeah, can do. Want to bring me a rubbish bag before you two go nuts?”
Korra grabbed two handfuls of feathers and bit back a grin when Asami started eyeing her. “I can, yes. I’ll, um, clean up once we’re done?”
Asami rolled her eyes, stepping to the side to let Korra past. “Try and contain it, yes?”
“Yes ma’am,” Korra sent a beaming grin before she darted off.