"Okay, so how many people are coming?"
"So we gathered a few people," Mako said in a serious sounding tone, "I'm bringing Wu, Bolin's bringing Opal and Kai, Kai's bringing his girlfriend Jinora. A couple of people from work are coming in as well– Iroh from design and Baatar from engineering. And of course, Korra and yourself."
"That's it?" Asami asked, nervously chewing on her bottom lip.
"Asami, love, you really don't have that many friends," Mako gently said, "yet we managed to get eight people to get here in less than a week. We did the best we could've."
"No, no, it's not enough... I'll look like an idiot..." she shook her head, "I should probably just cancel the whole thing, r-right?"
"Absolutely not, you cannot cancel on the day of the party," Mako argued, folding his arms, "we have to go through with that, it's too late to back away now."
"Wait! I'll call Elle," the idea suddenly popped into her head, and she couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it before, "she moved to Republic City a few years back, I completely forgot about it!"
"Elle? Your only friend from college?" Mako tilted his head, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "Is one person really gonna make much of a difference?"
Asami opened her phone, searching her contact name and clenching her eyebrows. "It's more complicated than that," she mumbled, "she wasn't exactly my only friend... she and her friend group sort of adopted me after– well, they just did. If anyone else from our gaang is in town she could invite them."
"Okay, that's a good idea," Mako nodded, "you should definitely call her then, I fucking love Elle."
"Yeah, I know," Asami smirked, dialing her number and walking over to the balcony.
After a few rings, Elle picked up the phone.
"Asami! What's up babe?" She answered cheerfully. "It's been a hot minute."
"Hey! I'm fine," Asami smiled immediately, she really did miss her friend, "how are you?"
"Same old, same old," Elle waved her off, "anything new with you?"
"Wow, yeah, so much," Asami chuckled, "are you in town? I'm throwing a bit of a small get together today, for my birthday."
"Oh!" Elle sounded surprised. "Congrats! What time is it?"
"Thanks," Asami sheepishly said, "it's around ten, does that work for you?"
"Sounds great, Ill be there. Just a quick question though; do you always have a birthday party and I was just never invited?" Elle laughed.
"No, no, I hate celebrating my birthday, this was all very last minute," Asami thought of how to explain the situation to her, "basically... this is just happening because... um, my... fiancée, is supposed to–"
A loud noise came from the other side of the line, cutting Asami off and leaving her slightly baffled. Than, there were another few noises, before her friend spoke again.
"Sorry! Sorry! I dropped my phone!" She exclaimed. "You're getting married?! I didn't even know you were seeing someone!"
"It's more complicated than that," Asami answered, taking in a deep breath, "it's more of an arranged marriage bit."
"Oh," Elle said, "old man finally got to you?"
"Yep," Asami affirmed, "but... she's fine, she's sweet."
"Is she just fine fine or is she fiiiiiine?" Elle asked in a teasing manner.
Asami rolled her eyes, cheeks flushing just a tiny bit. "...yes." She answered in a non-committal tone.
"Ha! Good one," Elle said, "well I'm dying to meet her then! Did you want me to invite our old friends?"
"Yes please," Asami said, grinning.
"Awesome, I'll see who's in town." Elle said. "I'm excited! See you later Sams!"
"Bye Elle, see ya," she said, hanging up, still with a huge smile on her face.
"College chick to the rescue?" Mako asked as she walked back into the apartment.
"College chick to the rescue." Asami affirmed.
Korra was pretty excited about her invitation to Asami's birthday party. In all honesty, she wasn't one to offer free massages, she just wanted to get Asami to like her better, and she was ecstatic when it worked. She made sure to clear her entire day so that she'll have time to prepare, she made sure that she has something nice to wear, she made sure to get there on time... basically, she made sure everything was perfect.
Also, Opal was coming too as Bolin's plus one, so she would at least know two people there. Still, she wanted to get to know Asami's friends better. Maybe even win them over, who knows? She was charming enough.
She even made sure to come exactly on time, just incase she and Asami got some alone time–
Bolin opened the door for her. "Korra! You're late!"
She blinked. "What? No way," she checked her clock, "it's ten thirty."
"Yeah, and it all started at ten," Bolin said, than realization seemed to dawn on him, "ohhhhh you know what, sometimes Asami invites people she wants to impress to later hours than everyoneelse... makes total sense."
That made a small smile appear on Korra's face. "Asami wants to impress me?" She asked, satasfied with herself.
"Duh!" Bolin laughed. "Come in! I'll go get her."
Korra entered the apartment, closing the door behind her. She could spot Mako and Opal with Mako's husband, and that's all the people she recognized currently. Other than that, she had a bunch of people she never saw.
Bolin was nowhere to be seen, but a moment later Asami came over. She was fucking dazzling, it melted Korra's brain every single time. She had to take a deep breath to calm her nerves, but it didn't help at all. The moment Asami tackled Korra into a hug, her last three braincells committed suicide.
"You made it!" She beamed. "Thanks for coming."
"Thanks for inviting me," Korra answered, smiling back, "sorry I'm late." She said, raising an eyebrow, testing Asami.
"No, no... my friends just... like to come early," Asami lied, badly.
"Sure they do," Korra sarcastically said.
If Asami caught the sarcastic note to her tone, she didn't show it. She ignored Korra's remark completely and placed a hand on her shoulder. "C'mon, I'll introduce you to everyone."
She then led them to where a bunch of people gathered, including the few people she already knew and a few she had never seen. She was a little nervous, but Asami seemed to br pretty chill about everything, which was a rare occurrence. Asami started the introductions a moment after saying hi to everyone, and Korra smiled throug her anxiousness.
"You know Mako and Bolin," Asami said, "and this is Elle and Ki, my friends from college. Guys, this is my fiancée Korra."
Woah. Big introduction there. Korra didn't remeber if Asami had ever formaly introduced her as her 'fiancée'. Of course, she was Asami's fiancée, but Asami acknolowging it felt... nice.
"Friends from college huh?" Korra chuckled. "Friends with a twelve year old?"
"Fifteen. Don't make this creepy," Ki chuckled.
"Okay," Asami didn't seem to be to be listening, "you want anything to drink?"
"Wine would be great," Korra smiled her way, "thanks."
"You're welcome!" Asami beamed, going on her way.
"So, any embarrassing stories about Asami from college?" Korra immediately asked when Asami left. "For the wedding?"
"A few, but you absolutely can never mention those to Asami," Elle chuckled, taking a sip from her beer.
"Why not?" Asked Korra, confused.
"Oh, we don't about college," Mako shook his head.
"She never lets us," Bolin explained.
"Why?" Korra was still confused, even after their explanations. "I assumed she had it pretty easy in college."
Elle snorted. "Who the hell has it easy in college?"
"Wasn't she like... a prodigy child?" Korra asked. "If she was smart enough to be in college at that age..."
"Oh, she was smart enough to attend college when she was wayyyy younger," Bolin laughed, "she just didn't want to."
"Wait, she didn't want to?" Korra asked, baffled. "Like, even before she had a rough time in college, she didn't even want to attend?"
"She didn't say that," Bolin shrugged, "but it was pretty obvious."
"How so?" Korra asked.
"Good question!" Mako called out with a fake smile. "How about I visualize it for you?"
"Oh no. What have you done?" Bolin groaned.
"What did I do?" Korra asked, genuinely confused.
"He is deeply traumatized by this whole thing." Bolin answered, sighing.
"It was my birthday!" Mako exclaimed. "Don't invalidate my feelings!"
"Sorry," Bolin threw his hands up in surrender, "go ahead."
"It was my birthday," Mako repeated, speaking in an overly dramatic tone, "we were celebrating and we were having the time of our lives."
"We were having the time of our lives," Bolin agreed, affirming his statement.
"But, then Hiroshi walked in, with a huge ass grin..." Mako said seriously.
Seeing the confused look on Korra's face, Bolin clarified. "We were celebrating at his mansion," he told her, "they have a pool and our living situation at the time was... complicated."
"Bolin, are you telling this story or am I?" Mako snapped at him, annoyance written all over his face.
"I'm sorry bro, go on." Bolin said with an apologetic smile.
"Hiroshi told her she got accepted into college," Mako continued, as if he was never intrupted, "and you could literally the color of Asami's face drains."
"She was pretty upset by it," Bolin whispered.
"And we spent the rest of the day just... crying." Mako said, his lips pressed together, "she didn't want to go, and we didn't want her to leave. It was all Hiroshi."
"Somehow I didn't take Hiroshi to be that guy." Korra said, eyebrows furrowed together.
"Hiroshi is a good guy, and a good father. He's just not a perfect one," Bolin said, "I don't think he even knows that she didn't want to go to college, I guess he didn't want to see it."
"What kind of fifteen year old would want to go to college?" Ki mused.
"Um," Korra tried to think back to when she was fifteen, but it was a hard comparison to make. At the time, all she cared about was becoming a soldier and make her family proud. She definitely didn't think she'd go to college, and if she did it wouldn't be for physical therapy...
But then it hit her. When she was fifteen all she wanted to do was become a soldier to make her family proud.
"Did she even want to be a mechnical engineer?" Korra then asked, after having imagined herselfin the situation.
"Who knows?" Mako shrugged. "She was always so driven and she was under immense pressure from her dad, I don't think she ever considered other options." He said, a little sadly.
"Yeah, I know what that's like..." Korra mumbled.
The conversation had been intrupted when Asami has then returned, no wine, just a confused look on her face as she approached the gaang.
"Korra, was I supposed to get you anything?" Asami asked, half whispering and scratching her head.
"Uh, wine?" Korra answered, feeling just as baffled as Asami looked. "Are you okay?"
"Ohhh that's right!" Asami seemed to have finally remembered remembered. "I'm fineeeee just got a little side tracked." She excused, and once again, it was very unbelievable.
Korra squinted her eyes in suspicion, examining her carefully. Asami's cheeks were flushed, and for a moment Korra thought that it was a symptom of embarrassment Asami, but then it clicked.
"Just how drunk are you?" Korra asked in amusement.
"Me? Drunk? Pffftttt..." Asami tried to deny it, but after seeing that Korra wasn't buying it, she broke her act. "That obvious?"
"So obvious." Korra laughed, "it's okay, I'll get my own wine, no worries."
"Noooo! I'll get it for you, I'm the hostess." Asami said as if she was stating a fact. "I can do this!"
"You sure it's a good idea?" Korra asked, folding her arms.
"I'll look out for her," Mako volunteered, "c'mon babes, let's go."
"I don't need a babysitter." Asami complained.
"I'm not a babysitter, I just wanted to hang out with you." Mako excused. "You coming or what?"
"Oh," Asami blinked, "Okay then."
Korra couldn't help but chuckle as the two walked away. She couldn't believe she didn't notice how drunk Asami was immediately. Her walking was more crooked then her sexual orientation.
"Has Her alcohol endurance always been crap?" She jokingly asked Elle.
Elle shrugged, grinning. "Most of my endurance has developed in college, and she didn't exactly have a crazy college experience like we did." She replied.
More like you did. Korra thought to herself, but she didn't say it out loud. "What a nerd," Korra chuckled, "when I was sixteen I drunk more then I do nowadays."
"Oh dude, she was such a nerd!" Elle laughed. "She used to pull all nighters day after day even though she was done with every task she got. She was two years ahead of class when junior year was over!"
"I'm not even surprised," Korra shook her head, "must've been a nightmare being her roommate."
"Trust me, it was," Elle smirked, taking a sip out of her drink. "I truly despised her at first."
"Oh, you were her roommate?" Korra asked, eyebrows raised.
"I was," Elle affirmed, "I wasn't the best roommate to he honest, I don't think I realized how rough I was on her until we became friends."
"How did you two become friends then?" Korra questioned.
"It's a long story, and it's really not my place to tell it honestly," Elle shook her head, "let's just say that I thought everything came easy to her, until my eyes opened and I saw how people really treated her."
"If students treated her so badly, why didn't she tell anyone?" Korra furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Her professors, or the dean or something?"
"Because they hated her too," Elle answered with a sad smile, "Asami was... well, she's a fucking genius, and she definitely didn't need professors to get her degree, she could've done it all on her own." Elle explained. "I remeber how they used to direct some of the toughest questions in existense at her, only for her to easily answer it with concepts that they couldn't even understand. Long story short, they were threatened by the poor girl."
"That sounds..." Korra searched for the right words. "...lonely."
"She was," Elle confirmed, "her intelligence may be a gift, but at least back then it was such a burden..."
Before Korra could reply, Mako and Asami came into Korra's sight. Except, they weren't approaching them. Instead, Mako was leading Asami to her room, and Asami seemed to be pretty dizzy.
"Oh boy," Korra mumbled, "I should probably go help."
"I'll come with you," Elle nodded, chugging the rest of her drink.
"Nah, I got this, no worries." Korra brushed her off. "You enjoy the party, okay? I'll call for you if I need any help."
"Oh, okay sure," Elle answered, "I guess I should go refill this then," she laughed, gesturing towards her now empty glass and walking away.
Korra pursed her lips together, worried. She made her way towards the door to Asami's bedroom, knocking gently on the half opened door, opening it slowly and walking inside.
"Oh, great, Korra's here!" Mako told Asami, smiling. "I'll go get you some water, kay babe? Korra will keep you company."
Asami nodded, her gaze dropping to the ground as soon as Mako left, almost like she was averting Korra's eyes.
"I really am fine," Asami said after a few moments of silence, "I just got dizzy. Sorry you have to see me like this."
"Hey, if we're gonna get married one day I should be able to handle seeing you in any condition," Korra joked.
She expected Asami to be annoyed with her, but Asami surprised her with a genuine giggle. It made Korra feel pretty good about herself, and Asami looked really pretty like this. Though, Asami always looked pretty, so it wasn't a big deal.
She was lying, it was a big deal.
"Wanna sit with me?" Asami asked sheepishly, tapping the empty space on the bed besides her. "I'm not ready to go back just yet."
Korra took that offer without hesitation, sitting down next to Asami. As soon as she did, Mako had returned with the water. Seeing the two of them together had gotten him a little flustered, and he basically just handed Asami the water and excused himself away. It made Asami giggle and almost spill her water, that if Korra didn't grab the glass and stabilize it.
"C'mon, drink up," Korra laughed, raising Asami's glass towards her lips, "I'm gonna need you to drink the whole thing."
"Noo! I'm gonna be sick!" Asami resisted, still full on giggling.
"Take in small sips then, so that you wouldn't puke," Korra ordered, once again bringing it closer to Asami.
This time, Asami actually took the glass. With an eyeroll of course, but all Korra cared about was that she took it and drunk from it. Everything else was a minor inconvenience.
"Better?" Korra smiled softly at her.
Asami nodded. "A little," she answered, returning a small smile to Korra, "why do I get the feeling you took care of a lot of drunk people in your life?"
Korra laughed. "You're not wrong. I was always the coherent responsible friend in college." She informed Asami, making her chuckle.
"Sameeeee," Asami stretched out with a goofy smile, "but I was a fricking child. What's your excuse?"
Korra hesitated, and Asami must've recognized it because she quickly withdrew her question. "I'm sorry, that's nosey of me, I shouldn't have asked."
"No, it's fine," Korra mumbled, slightly uncomfortable, "I was just medicated at the time, so I couldn't drink."
Asami had a lot of follow up questions, it was practically written all over her face, but she didn't dwell on the subject. Something Korra was very grateful for. Instead, she just very slowly laid on her back, gesturing for Korra to join. She felt a little awkward about it, but she figured it would be weirder if she continued to sit while Asami was laying down. So, she did. They didn't touch each other, nor did they look at each other, but it was still quite nice. Korra always felt a little bit warmer around Asami, but it was probably just the climate in Republic City.
"So," Korra spoke again after a few minutes of silence, "I just told you my deepest darkest secret," she then joked, "I feel like it's your turn."
While Korra mostly meant it as a joke, she found herself intrigued about Asami's possible answer. After hearing so much about her time in college, she couldnt help but wonder if she's now about to hear more about that. Or perhaps something else. That, if Asami chose to tell her, of course.
Asami snorted. "Deepest darkest secret? That's the best you got?"
Not really. "Is being high for the entirety of college not good enough for you?" Korra said cynically.
"Eh, I have so many deepest darkest secrets I don't know which one is the most juicy," Asami said with a smirk.
"I'm all ears, city girl." Korra laughed.
The two fell to silence once again, but it wasn't a bad thing. It gave Korra a second to appreciate the situation; Asami next to her, the two of them getting along... that's all she wanted with Asami, and for once she wasn't pessimistic about the future at all, all she could feel this excitement.
Korra squinted her eyes shut ad breathed in through her nose. She drowned in Asami's perfume, and she didn't mind that even I'm the slightest. She could hear Asami's breathing softly from besides her, and she wondered whether or not Asami had accidentally fallen asleep, or was she awake? She contemplated checking, but she was too comfortable to move.
But Asami didn't fall asleep, and it was proven to Korra when after a few more minutes of silence, Asami spoke again.
"I don't miss my mom."
Korra opened her eyes immediately, turning her head to look at Asami, who was staring at the ceiling, playing with her fingers nervously and not meeting Korra's gaze. It took her a moment to realize that Asami was answering her question– what is your deepest, darkest secret? She had been so calm and content and in the moment, that she had forgotten about it completely.
"Well, that's... valid." Korra blinked, unsure of what to say.
Asami shrugged. "I dont mean it in a bad way, y'know?" She added. "I'm sure she was great, but..."
"But what?" Korra asked, curious.
"But she's a complete stranger." Asami mumbled. "I have absolutely zero memories of her. If we didn't have so many photos of her, I'd probably wouldn't even know how much I ressemble my mom."
"That makes sense," Korra said, "you were very young when she... well, y'know. I honestly don't remeber anything from six years old."
"My therapist thinks I don't remember because I don't want to remeber," Asami continued on, mumbling quietly, "he says that I can't process my trauma if I don't try and connect with her." She then groaned. "Great, now I want another drink."
"I think you're good," Korra chuckled, smiling kindly at her, "thanks for feeling comfortable enough to tell me, I'm sure it's not easy."
"The vodka makes it easier," Asami joked.
Korra laughed, shaking her head. "You make a fun drunk, city girl."
"You too," Asami grinned at her.
"I'm stone cold sober Sami," Korra said amused.
Asami didn't seem phased though, she just looked away and started playing with her hair. "You're still a fun drunk, from what I remeber..."
"What are you talking about?" Korra blinked, eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "You mean like, from when we first met...?"
"Nono," Asami shook her head furiously, "not that, but I can't tell you."
"Oh, okay," Korra answered in a slightly disappointed overtone.
"Okay I'll tell you!" Asami jumped around to face her, giving Korra a heart attack. "Do you remeber our time at the bar after our first date?"
"Umm, barely," Korra admitted sheepishly after her heart finally started beating again, "why?"
"Because," Asami said half whispering, "we made out in the bathroom."
Korra felt like she was struck by lightning. "What?" She said, shocked.
Asami nodded. "We made out in the bathroom," she repeated "and it was like, sooooo hot y'know what I'm saying?"
"I'm sorry, what?" Korra continued in disbelief. "Like, you and me? Me like... Korra?"
"Yeah!" Asami giggled, covering her mouth. "Oh God, sober me is going to regret this sooo much."
"I can't believe you didn't tell me!" Korra scolded, yet at the same time she couldn't help but smile a little. Score!
"I'm sorryyyy I was embarrassedddd!" Asami's laugh echoed throughout the room. "We talked about our date and how we didn't kiss then you kissed me and next thing I know we're in the bathroom and are mere minutes away from fucking."
"Uh," great, now Korra was blushing. Hopefully Asami was too drunk to notice. "And did we...?" She said, unsure if she wanted Asami's answer to that question.
"Nope," Asami popped, "you chickened out."
"Oh, well that's..." good? She wasn't sure what was the right thing to say. Somehow, she found herself in this type of situation a lot more ever since she met Asami. "So... um... what now?"
"Now," Asami suddenly sounded serious, "you cuddle me, bitch."
Even though Korra was baffled and lost in the scenario she was in, she couldn't help but laugh on scoot over to Asami, who lifted herself and allowed Korra to place her arm there. She took in a deep breath as she enveloped Asami, who was now laying on her side, bringing their bodies together with a comfortable sigh, her eyes closing on their own.
Then, Asami broke their silence.
"I'll go to the south with you," she said.
Korra opened her eyes, suprised Asami even remembered their conversation from a few weeks ago.
"Yeah?" Korra couldn't help but smile.
"Yeah," Asami said decisively.
"I'm going to head to the south like, a week or two before the wedding y'know." Korra had mentioned, just incase Asami didn't remember.
"I know, that's what I meant," Asami said sheepishly, fiddling around with a peice of stray hair in her hand, "I'll go with you. I could use a break from work anyways." She joked.
"You're lucky you like your job," Korra said, not because she believed what she said, but because she wanted to see if she was right.
Asami stayed silent for a while, and her hands stilled. Minutes later, Asami had muttered a small 'yeah', which gave Korra all the answers she needed.
However, she decided that this wasn't the time nor the setting to open the subject. Maybe later into their relationship, or... whatever this was. Right now, all she wanted was to keep holding Asami, and she was content with just that.