Work Text:
Asami is about halfway done with her work when Zhu Li peeks her head in through the curtain and clears her throat.
“Hey, sorry for interrupting, Korra’s here.”
Asami looks up and moves away from the client, uttering a quiet “a moment, please”, before she heads over to the curtain.
She’s a little flustered when she speaks, glancing over at the clock on the wall.
“Shit, this ran a little over. Can you ask her if she can wait a bit, maybe twenty minutes?”
Zhu Li gives her a long stare and rolls her eyes.
“I’m sure she’d be willing to wait all day to see you, Asami.”
There’s a particular teasing tone in her voice, one reserved only for Asami.
Asami sighs but there’s a small smile on her face when she speaks.
“I’m going to ignore that because you’re my best employee and people love your style.” Asami grumbles a little and turns to look at the clock again. “She’s here for a consult. Twenty minutes, can you check?”
Zhu Li rolls her eyes again but nods before disappearing behind the curtain.
“Sorry about that Lois.” Asami says as she moves back over and plops down in her chair. “Still okay? No pain?”
The woman sat in the chair in front of her gives her a small nod and a thumbs up, before going back to her newspaper.
Asami loves clients like that – experienced, quiet but reactive, no-nonsense with a high pain threshold and the ability to hold as still as humanly possible.
She reasons it’s exactly why she likes Korra so much too.
Somewhere in the back of her mind she knows it’s for a number of other reasons, but she chooses to ignore that part.
Zhu Li peeks her head back through the curtain a couple minutes later and Asami can feel her smirk before she even sees it.
“She says she’s got all day.” Zhu Li says, looking at Asami with a raised eyebrow.
“That’s good.” Asami gives her a look before setting her tools away. “I mean, we don’t need all day but-”
“Why don’t you just ask her out for drinks?” Zhu Li pushes her way inside then, crossing her arms as she holds Asami’s gaze. “She’s clearly got a thing for you, Asami.”
Asami throws a quick glance at Lois who seems as uninterested in their conversation as ever, making a mental note to give Lois a discount for having to sit through this.
“She’s a client.” Asami says, then quietly adds, “That’s... I couldn’t.”
Zhu Li tilts her head, the look in her eyes a strange mix that Asami can’t quite read.
“She’s gotten six tattoos in four months.” Zhu Li says, her gaze impenetrable as she holds Asami’s. “And that’s only because you wouldn’t let her get more without resting properly.” She adds, her gaze narrowing. “And she always wants you to do them.”
“That just means she likes my work.” Asami notes, but it sounds more like a plea than anything else. A plea for understanding, for agreement.
One Zhu Li is not exactly intent on granting.
“She brings you flowers and coffee.” Zhu Li states. “You text about non-work stuff.” She adds, raising her eyebrow. “I’ve heard her compliment you more than a couple of times.”
Asami groans and steps away from her spot, muttering another quiet “I’m so sorry Lois” before she pulls her gloves off and makes her way over to Zhu Li, brushing her hand through her hair. She lets out a quiet sigh and presses her fingers to her temple, trying to put Zhu Li’s words as far away from the forefront of her mind as she possibly can.
“That’s all... It doesn’t mean she likes me that way.” Asami says, despite every part of her brain screaming that that is exactly what it means because she’s not blind. She’s trying so hard not to let herself hope despite the words that are coming out of her mouth. “And she’s my client, for goodness sake, I can’t just ask her out.”
Zhu Li reaches over and sets a hand on Asami’s shoulder, gives it a small squeeze.
“Asami. I think you’ve learned to read people enough by now to know that that woman sitting outside in our lounge is here because she’s into two things – tattoos and you.” Zhu Li states, and it comes out in such a matter-of-fact way that Asami can’t even find it in herself to refute it. “I don’t know why she hasn’t made a move yet, but she hasn’t exactly been subtle and even you can’t deny that.”
Asami really dislikes the fact that Zhu Li is, as usual, right.
Korra has certainly been friendly from the moment she walked into her studio and sat down for her first consult, but the past couple of months there have been hints peppered into their conversations here and there. A flirty remark or two, a joke that can be taken either way, the flowers, the coffee...
And it’s not like Asami has actually been... Unresponsive to it all. In fact, she may have encouraged a remark or two, maybe even threw in a vaguely flirtatious joke of her own as well, even if she did feel like she’d crossed a line each time it happened.
If the word “client” didn’t come right after the name Korra, Asami would have allowed the feelings she keeps trying to suppress to grow instead. She would have solidified things already, would have taken initiative and blurred the lines until there were none left.
“She’s a-” Asami starts but Zhu Li cuts her off with another squeeze to her shoulder.
“A client, yeah. I know. But you’re her tattoo artist, Asami, not her doctor. You’re allowed to find a client attractive, and you’re certainly allowed to act on it when said client is clearly into you as well.”
Asami groans and brings both her hands to her head, completely forgetting about the woman still sat in the chair behind her, until she hears the sound of a newspaper page turning. She squeezes her eyes tight until all she sees behind her eyelids is speckles of white and Zhu Li’s removes her hand.
“I have to finish this.” Asami says and moves back to her work, grabbing a new pair of gloves and plopping down on her stool. “We’ll talk later.”
Zhu Li waves her off and disappears behind the curtain.
“I’m so sorry Lois.” Asami mumbles, feeling heat spread through her cheeks. “That was totally inappropriate, I’ll make sure to take the price down for your trouble.”
The woman looks away from her newspaper and meets Asami’s eyes, eyebrow raised and what can only be described as a devilish grin on her face.
“Just make sure you ask this Korra out and I’ll consider it no trouble at all.”
Asami feels the tips of her ears heat up just as Lois’ laughter fills them.
If Asami rolls up the sleeves of her button-up before she goes out to meet Korra it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Korra has complimented her arm tattoos several times already and all to do with how hot it seems to be in the studio.
That may or may not also have something to do with Korra being there but Asami would never admit to it.
She gives herself a few minutes after she finishes up with Lois, after she’s apologized to the woman a couple of times and given her a hefty discount for her trouble, and with a quick trip to the bathroom to freshen up Asami finally makes her way to the lounge.
Korra is easy to spot, sat in one of the large, comfortable chairs, thumbing through a magazine with vague interest, a small pout on her lips and her hair a little all over the place today.
Asami finds it all a little too endearing and decides to shove those feelings away for now.
But not for too long, because Korra seems to sense her presence and she looks up, bright blue eyes shining as she meets Asami’s gaze and immediately grins.
“Hey, Asami.” Korra immediately sets the magazine down and pushes herself up to stand, shoving a hand inside her jean pocket. “Busy today?”
“A little more than usual, but nothing too bad.” Asami says and can’t help but smile right back at her. “Sorry I kept you waiting.”
“No trouble at all.” Korra says and reaches for her phone left on the coffee table, but she quickly turns back towards Asami with a frown. “Have you- Do you wanna take a break?”
“A break?” Asami mumbles, a little confused by Korra’s question.
“Yeah, like lunch or whatever you do for breaks. Since it was a busy day?” Korra continues, grabbing her phone and shoving it in her back pocket. “We can talk about the design later? I can come by again. If you wanna just rest a bit.”
There’s clearly hesitation in Korra’s words, and she’s rubbing the back of her head with one hand, the other awkwardly drumming against her thigh as she holds Asami’s gaze.
The way she says it, the thought she puts behind the words – something about it settles within Asami and the overwhelming force of it begins to spread through her whole being. Like a globule of warmth that is suddenly growing larger with every passing second as she stares at Korra from across the room.
All she wants is the warmth to remain, to grow further.
It feels wonderful.
Zhu Li’s always right anyway.
“Sure, yeah. Lunch sounds good.” Asami says, grabbing her jacket from a nearby hanger. “Come on, I know a great place nearby.”
“What?” Korra stands there, frozen with the most adorable expression Asami’s ever seen on her face.
Asami smiles and gives her a small shrug.
“You, me,” She smirks, “Lunch, now?”
She can almost see the cogs turning behind Korra’s eyes before Korra gives her the biggest grin and grabs her own jacket, rushing for the door with hurried steps.
Asami heads out after her, heart all but hammering in her chest.