Guilty Pleasure

Euphoria

"I uh…" She hoped her voice wasn't quivering, but she couldn't tell. "I'll be right back. I'll... Get the coach."

She tried calmly walking away, but admittedly she hurried outside. Well, it was more like she bolted outside, and since she wasn't very aware of her surroundings, she ended up almost running face first into- you guessed it- Korra. How can her day get any better?

The embarrassing thing was, that Korra managed to catch her before she tackled her. And she didn't even look mad, if Asami didn't know any better she'd think Korra was actually worried about her or something. 

"Sami? Are you okay?" She managed to hear Korra say, holding onto her shoulders. Her voice sounding vague like she was standing five feet apart from her rather than inches away. 

Even though Asami heard the words, she was too scared of herself reply. She knew for a fact that she wasn't in the best headspace right now. The last times she allowed herself to talk back to Korra in this state of mind... It did not end well. Inside, she pulled out one of the methods her therapist suggested. 

"Five things I can touch." She muttered, looking around somewhat frantically. 

Korra blinked, confused and still very much holding Asami by her shoulders. "What?" She asked. 

"Five things I can touch." Asami replied, as if it was supposed to explain it all. 

"Oh… cool." Korra said, letting go of Asami, eyeing her in complete confusion.. 

Asami stepped back, placing her hand gently on the wooden frame. "Door frame." She mumbled, sliding it over to the concrete next to it. "Wall." She said, turning back to Korra, hesitant. "Is counting both the door frame and the wall considered cheating?" She asked, mulling it over. 

"Oh, um…" Korra rubbed the back of her neck, obviously having no idea as to what's going on. "They're different materials, so it's legal in my book." She concluded, blinking as if she was asking whether or not her answer was correct.

"Makes sense." Asami nodded, crouching down. "Floor." She noted loudly to herself, trying to ignore her teammates eyes glued to her. "Hair." She said, bringing a hand to take a fist-full of her dark curls. "And…" 

She looked around, searching for the fifth and final thing to touch. As she rose up, she noticed Korra stepping closer bashfully, which caught her attention for a moment.

She cleared her throat, grabbing her shirt from its end and looking away. "Shirt?" She suggested in a monotone voice. 

Hesitantly, Asami took the hem of the shirt in her hand, feeling the jersy’s cloth. “Shirt.” She agreed, thankful that she was far too anxious to feel embarrassed.

After a couple of uncomfortable seconds, Asami let go of Korra’s shirt and cleared her throat. “Sorry you had to see that.” She looked away. Surprisingly, it really did help her to calm down. Whether it was because Asami liked completing tasks, listing things or just because it was a blissful distraction, it really helped her to manage her anxiety. Of course, it wasn’t a magic pill, she was still very much triggered, but it helped a bit which was better than nothing.

“See what? I don’t even know what I saw.” Was Korra’s confused reply.

“Doesn’t matter. Thanks for the help.” Asami changed the subject as soon as she could. “I uh… I need to go get coach Beifong, you should go in, just… brace yourself.” She suggested nervously.

She could see that Korra was still baffled, but she didn’t feel like elaborating. She just somewhat awkwardly patted Korra’s shoulder in encouragement and walked away to Lin Beifong’s office. Nervously, she knocked on the door, hoping that their coach was in a good mood today, as opposed to… every day.