“Seriously, what’s wrong?” Opal persisted, still following Asami to the locker room since the game was in a few hours or so, and Asami seriously could not deal with it at the moment. She had to get her shit together before they’re playing.
“Nothing, Opie.” She tiredly replied, “Nothing’s wrong, I’m just tired.”
Today was their game, and Asami had to admit that it was convenient to have a star player like Korra to lean on, since she wasn't in the right headspace for it at all. She spent the last couple of practices avoiding Ella, and fleeing the scene as soon as possible to avoid any awkward interactions. Opal pressed on the matter, but Asami felt as if she physically couldn't tell her. In fact, she felt sick to her stomach just from thinking about the situation. As soon as Ella left her apartment that day, Asami started feeling really, really ashamed and disgusted with herself. She couldn’t face Ella, or anyone for that matter, she just felt like crawling into her apartment and never ever leaving.
She didn’t get it. This was what she wanted, right? So why was she feeling this way?
“I know that you’re lying to me.” Her friend responded, and though her tone was assertive, it was obvious to Asami that she was just worried about her wellbeing.
"Don't worry about it," Asami waved her off, avoiding eye contact. She then attempted to enter the locker room, but was blocked by Opal. She tried bypassing her, but her friend was one step ahead.
"What's going on with you?" Opal asked, visibly worried. "I never see you anymore, and even when I do, you seem… Off." She said, sounding worried. "You can talk to me, you know."
Asami hesitated. Had she really been pulling away that much? She could've sworn that she hung out with Opal in the last…wait… Oh.
"I know, I'm sorry," Asami replied, "I'm just… Really going through it lately."
"I get that, and I'm here for you," Opal assured, "I just want to help. I miss my friend, the friend that used to talk to me about stuff." She hald
"You're right," the team's captain sighed, "I haven't been the best friend lately, and I'm really sorry, but I don't have the mental capacity to open up that Pandora's box just now. Can we meet up after the game and talk?" She pleaded.
At that, Opal smiled softly. "Sure thing, buddy." She said, finally letting Asami into the locker room.
Asami was hoping to be the first to get there, but unfortunately Ella got there first. The first thing Asami thought upon seeing Ella's grim expression was 'oh boy', but soon she realized that her shameful one-night-stand wasn't even looking at her.
And not even a second later, she herself noticed why Ella seemed so upset, and the shock made her drop the duffle bag she had been holding.
Her heart rate began picking up, blurring out the sounds around her. She could just barely hear Opal’s audible gasp as she entered the room.
Holy shit.
Even though they had practice just last night, and they left the room in good condition, somehow it was no longer the case. The entire room was completely vandalized. Every locker, every wall, was almost completely covered in spray paint. She couldn't even find one inch in the room that had stayed clean, besides the ceiling. It was horrifying and impressive at the same time, as Asami had no idea how anyone was able to pull something like this off. The more she looked at it, the more her anxiety fed off it, and she could feel her heart rate picking up.
However, she did her best to keep her cool. The last thing she wanted was another freakout for people to remember her by. So, she gently placed her hand on Opal’s shoulder, clearing her throat.
"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.
As soon as she heard Lin's approval for her to go in, she did, doing her best to appear casual and not at all freaked out.
"Sato, what are you doing here?" She asked, confused. “I was just about to get to the field.”
“Yeah, so…” Asami searched for words. “We have a bit of a situation in the locker room… It would be easier to just show you.”
"What?" Lin asked, confused.
"Just… Follow me." Asami said, turning around and walking away and starting to walk over to the locker room. She used that time, with their coach silently following her, to mentally prepare herself. She wasn't thrilled to go back to that absolute wreck of a room, but she knew she could do this.
Coming into the locker room was surreal. By the time Asami had gotten coach Beifong, everyone from their team had already gotten there, and were all equally mortified. Lin was fuming, her entire face turned red with anger the moment she stepped into that cursed room.
"Who. Did. This?" Their coach barked at them, startling those who hadn't noticed the two come in.
"We don't know." Kuvira was the one to answer, her arms crossed.
"This was probably the other team, right?" Korra suggested, sitting on one of the stools.
"No signs of break-in, " Lin shook her head, "And they don't have a key. This is someone on the inside."
"What? No way." Asami argued, surprised by the accusation. "There's no chance that someone on this team did this."
"It doesn't sound likely," Opal agreed, "what would someone's motivation even be?"
"I have to agree." their goalkeeper, Jargala, joined in. "Why would someone in our team try to sabotage our game?"
"I just find it hard to believe someone in here can be responsible for this." Asami explained to their coach.
"I don't." Ella said bitterly.
At that, every single person in this room turned to face her with a questioning look. Ella seemed absolutely furious, like she was going to kill someone. Asami had seen a lot in her life, but had never seen her be so upset, it was unraveling.
"What?" Jargala asked, confused. "How so?"
Ella scoffed. "Oh come on!" She called out. "This has Korra written all over it!"
Asami took a step back, shocked at the sudden alligation, especially as it was so ridiculous. Why in hell would Korra do something like this? Asami would've believed that anyone else in the entire world was responsible, before she would think of Korra comitting this crime.
The accused, did not take a moment to react, she jumped up on her feet, fists clenched in anger. "What?!" She exclaimed.
"You're crazy!" Kuvira yelled, angry.
"Ella, what the fuck?" Sato asked, confused. "This is absolutely ridiculous, Korra wouldn't do something like this."
"Um, hello? She already did!" Ella exclaimed angrily. "Or did y'all forget the mess she made last time?"
Remembering the last incident, Asami turned red with embarrassment. But, she persisted. "But, she wouldn't do that again," she then turned to Korra, who was staring at her in confusion, "right?" She asked.
Korra shook herself back to reality. "Right." She agreed. "I would never." She emphasized the last word, shooting an angry glare at Ella. "Never." She repeated, streching each syllable to get her point accross.
At that, Ella simply snorted. "That was believable," she sarcastically said, "she didn't do it, and I'm straight. Are y'all blind?"
"She's right," coach Beifong said with a grim expression, much to everyone's surprise, "we can't say that it wasn't Korra with complete confidence." She explained to the rest of the team. Korra looked at Kuvira frantically, like she was rightfully looking for protection, which Kuv provided.
"We also can't definitively say that it wasn't a giant pink elephant, so?" Kuvira answered. "This could be anyone!"
"I'll tell you who it most definitely wasn't," Lin said with a stern expression, "a giant pink elephant."
Kuvira squared her jaw. "You missed the point." She said sternly.
"No, I didn't, your point is stupid." Their coach said flatly. "She has a record, which makes her prime suspect. Ask any detective."
"Fuck the police!" Kuvira exclaimed in frustration.
"I'm sorry kid," Lin turned to Korra, "but I can't let you play today."
Asami's jaw dropped.
Korra's eyes widened. "Are you fucking serious?" She asked in complete shock.
"Woah, that seems like a bit much." Opal stepped in. "We don't know if she even did it!"
"We don't know that she didn't." Coach Beifong argued.
"What happened to 'innocent until proven guilty'?" Asami demanded.
"This isn't a democracy, Sato." The coach turned to face her, glaring. "Whoever did this did thousands in damages! This person will most definitely be expelled! This is a serious matter!"
"But it wasn't necessarily Korra," Jargala said, "It could've been literally anyone else."
Their coach sighed, turning to face Korra. "I'm sorry, kid." She said again. "But it's out of my hands."
Korra fell back on the stool in defeat, staring at the floor. Asami couldn't imagine what was going through her mind at the moment, and she didn't dare to ask. Kuvira, with a stern expression, grabbed her sister and went to talk with her outside. Lin Beifong sighed and began silently examining the damage around the room. This boiled Asami's blood, and she angrily followed her, fists clenched.
“You can’t just suspend Waters mere hours before the game!” She said, discreetly yet harshly. “At the very least let her play this time so that we can prep for the next game!”
“I’m not talking to you about this, Sato.” Their coach replied flatly. "This decision is final."
"You're punishing the entire team, and for what?" Asami continued. "For something she didn't even do? Or at the very least, for something you have zero proff that she had anything to do with?
Beifong simply scoffed, not giving an answer. Asami was just about to go off on her again, when someone grabbed her arm.
"We want to talk to you," she said with a serious expression.
"We? Who's we?" Asami asked in confusion, but she didn't get any spoken answer. Instead, Opal began dragging her outside, until they reached Kuvira, who had her arms crossed. Then, finally, Opal let Asami go.
"This wasn't Korra." Kuvira said sternly.
Asami blinked at her. "I agree," she said, baffled.
"No, you don't get it." Kuvira shook her head. "She was a wreck after the first time, there's no way she'd do that again. I find it more likely that you did it rather than her." She said matter of factly.
"Woah." Asami was slightly angry at the accusation. "This wasn't me!"
"We know," Opal assured, "but I have to agree with Kuv, there's no way Korra did this."
"You don't even like Korra, what makes you so sure?" Asami asked Opal.
Her friend shrugged. "I don't like her as a person, but she's still my teammate, it's different." She explained. "Plus, the timelines make no sense. Kuvira was with her for the entirety of last night, when would she even do this?"
"Okay, great, so we have an alibi." the captain said. "Tell coach and let's get ready for the game!"
Kuvira shook her head. "You don't get it," she said grimly, "the coach has to punish someone for this. We need to find a better suspect than Korra."
"We think it's Ella." Opal added.
Asami took a step back. "What?" She asked, shocked. "Why would Ella do something like this?"
"Probably revenge on Korra for what she did to you," Opal suggested, "or just because she hates Waters. There are millions of motives that Húndàn could have that come to mind, weres Korra really only has one that doesn't make a lot of sense."
"What, Korra's motive is that she hates me?" Asami asked.
"Bingo."
"What?" Kuvira interjected, confused. "Korra doesn't hate you."
"Uh, yeah, she so obviously does," Opal turned to Kuv.
"Can we not get into this right now?" Asami asked, desperate. "It's giving me a headache. Just tell me, what do we do about Ella, then?
"She has a combination lock on her locker," Kuvira explained, "and for some reason, Opie has this idea that you'll be able to pick it."
"I've never done anything like that," Their team captain said in surprise, turning to her friend, "what makes you think I could do this?" she asked Opal.
"You also never solved a rubix cube until I gave our brother's unsolved one," Opie recalled, "and how long did it take you to solve it?" She asked Asami, waiting for an answer.
Asami scratched her head, trying to remember the incident. "Roughly ten minutes?" She guessed.
"Two minutes." Opal corrected.
"Oh," Asami was pleasantly surprised with herself, "well that's not too bad."
"So, can you pick it?" Kuvira urgently asked. "We'll distract Ella."
"I don't know," Asami honestly said, "I can try."
The two sisters looked at each other and nodded in unison. "Let's do this." Kuvira said sternly.
The two of them entered the locker room together, with Asami close behind. Upon entering, Kuvira dragged Ella into a heated argument about Korra, while Opal basically kept on lookout. Asami gave her friend a hesitated look, and Opal nodded in assurance as a response. So, Asami quietly made her way to what she knew as Ella's locker, discreetly passing by the bench Korra was sitting on staring at the floor. Shortly after, she reached the locker and started examining the lock. She turned it in her hand as much as possible, studying its weight and sketching out the possible mechanisms in her mind.
Eventually, she came to the conclusion that if she pulled on it, she could hear said mechanisms working. So, she tried testing her theory, applying pressure while turning the numbers. At first, nothing was happening, until she figured that one of the number wheels had more resistance than others, and decided to focus on that one. Eventually, she heard a slightly louder click, and smiled to herself.
She grinned to herself. "Bingo." She said under her breath.
She repeated the process with the remaining three wheels, and lo and behold, the lock snapped open. At least her engineering degree was useful for something even when her dad was making her get a second one in politics. But, man, Those locks were way less safe than Asami would've thought…
Taking a deep breath and bracing herself, Asami opened the locker. However, nothing in the world could've prepared her for that sight. Piles on piles of spray paint cans were flooding the entire locker, not even leaving room for Ella's uniform, which was absent. Slowly, Asami picked up one of the cans, finding it empty. She turned it in her hand, trying to somehow find a better explanation to what it was. However, there was nothing in the world that could explain it. Nothing, but her 'friend'.
In confidence, she marched to where Kuvira and Ella were arguing, and waved the can in front of the two.
"Care to explain what this is?" Asami asked Ella with a murderous glare.
"Oh shit, you actually found something?" Kuvira said in complete awe. "Awesome!"
"That, looks like a spray can," Ella pointed at it, with such calm that Asami could almost believe that she didn't know what it had to do with her, "I'm guessing you found Korra's stash."
"Right," Asami said cynically, "and why was Korra's stash inside your locker?"
"You went through my locker?" Ella seemed to get angrier. "You really shouldn't have done that."
"How could you do this?" Asami demanded. "How could you sabotage our game and then blame it on Korra? What is wrong with you?"
"I didn't do anything!" Ella argued.
"Your locker was locked, Ella, why?" Her hands were clenched so roughl that she caused a dent in the spray can she was holding. "This isn't planted evidence!"
"How do you know?" Húndàn huffed out.
"Too many things point to you, dude." Opal stepped in with her arms crossed. "You were the first one here."
"First one to cast the blame," Kuvira added, fuming, "and on Korra of all people, the person here you hate most on this team."
"And the spray cans were in your fucking locker!" Asami exclaimed. "Why?"
"I didn't do anything." Ella insisted.
"Bullshit!" Asami yelled, her face red with anger. "I know this was you! Just fucking admit it!"
"You know what?" Ella finally snapped. "What if I did do it? Why does she get to sleep in and be late to every goddamn practice and still be on the starting line-up every single time? What if for once I got to play? Would the world fucking end?"
Ella's half assed excuse really pissed off Asami, and she practically saw red by the end of it. Her fists were clenched so hard, that the spray can in her hand was completely crushed, to the point that the metal cut her hand slightly, but she didn't even notice that. She was furious with Ella, who made it so much worse for herself just now.
"You wanna be on the starting line-up instead of Korra so badly?" Asami asked cynically. "Then work harder and beat her to it! Fuck your lazy ass, and fuck your excuses! You don't get to ruin somebody just because you're not as good as them!"
And with that, she angrily marched back to their coach, to fill her in.
Korra didn’t know when it was that the yelling match between Asami and Ella had begun, she wasn’t that focused after their coach announced that yet again Korra was suspended, except this time it wasn’t her fault. She couldn’t really think past that, and everything around her felt blurry, like she was in a different reality looking in. She felt too fuzzy to even wonder why Asami cared so much if Korra played or not. It was almost as though she wasn’t sober enough to comprehend anything, except she made a point to not drink the day before the game and have a decent night’s rest, as she always did. How stupid could she be?
She wasn’t really listening to their team captain screaming at the biggest asshole she had ever met, even though generally the two love-birds fighting would definitely peak her interest. In fact, she was just barely aware of it until the yelling match switched places, and had started to occur right in front of her.
"Guess what I found in Hundan's locker?" Sato asked rhetorically, tossing a metal object on the floor in front of their coach. After staring at her for a moment, Korra realized it was a spray can, and she finally snapped back to reality. Her back straightened as she realized Asami was proving her innocence, and she began following the situation closely and quietly.
"She's lying." The motherfucker herself dared showing her face, emerging from the corridor Asami and her had been previously fighting in. "She's just trying to cover for Waters." She said, crossing her arms.
"And why would she do that?" Opal Scoffed in response, arriving at the scene.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Ella sarcastically said, "did you not know that Sato and Waters have the hots for each other?"
Instinctively, Korra's head snapped in Asami's direction, like she was looking for a comment. Asami ignored Ella, though it was impossible to miss the shade of red she turned into.
"If you don't believe me, you're welcome to check her locker." Asami folded her arms, still glaring at Ella.
Their coach didn't waste a second and headed to Ella's locker. Ella attempted to stop but was blocked off by Kuvira, who seemed ready to throw hands. Not even a minute later, coach Beifong returned and made a phone call.
"You and me are going to have a hearing with the dean." She said to Korra's lame ass substitute. "And let me tell you, it's not going to be a nice one."
Ella turned completely white at that. "I-I'm being set up!" She spluttered, but all of the confidence she possessed just a minute ago seemed to fade away. "Coach! You can't do this!"
"Sure I can." Lin replied flatly, then turned back to Asami. "Good luck on the game, team." She said, then winked at Korra. "You too, Waters."
This was it. This was the confirmation that Korra was indeed back at the starting line-up. She wanted to jump with joy, but she remained stunned and frozen. All she could do was follow their coach dragging Ella outside with her eyes.
Once they weren't in her sight field, Korra turned to look at Asami in awe. Asami just covered for her for absolutely no reason, and a wave of warmth towards her savior washed over her as Kuvira, Jargala and their other teammates went to high five her for getting the truth out.
Once they all cleared out, Korra managed to speak.
"I can't believe you just did that for me." She said to Asami. However, the pale girl didn't even seem to notice, so she cleared her throat loudly. Then, finally, Asami turned to her with a confused expression.
"Are you talking to me?" She asked.
Korra couldn't help but chuckle. "Who else will I be talking to, silly?"
"Oh," Asami blinked, turning to her fully, "sorry, you were saying?" She asked with a perfect, blinding smile. God, Korra really missed that smile.
"I can't believe you did this for me, is what I said." Korra replied, chuckling.
"Oh," Asami looked dumbfounded, "I mean, it was nothing." She waved Korra off. "You're my teammate, I'd do it for any of you."
Well, that hurt a tiny bit, but Korra really shouldn't have expected anything less. "So," She said, smiling sadly, "I guess I'm not special, huh?"
Asami took a quick look around, and when she concluded that no one was listening to them, she turned back to Korra with a smirk.
"Well, maybe just a tiny bit." She said, winking.
Korra laughed through her embarrassment, hoping her cheeks changing colors wasn't noticeable. Was Asami flirting? Could it be? She was probably imagining it, given that her previous relationship just ended not even a couple of minutes ago.
"Still," Korra replied once she felt her face returning to its normal color, "I can't believe you accused your girlfriend in favor of me playing." She mused.
Asami was a little thrown off. "What?" She demanded, eyes wide.
"Um," Korra didn't know what to make of that, "you know, Ella?"
"Ella was not my girlfriend." Korra's crush said matter-of-fact-ly. "Why would you ever think that?"
Huh?
"What?" Korra's eyes widened. "She told me you two were…" Korra's sentence faded slowly, as she begun realizing that she had been played by Ella more than once.
"Yeah, well," Asami bitterly said, sitting down next to Korra, "We now know that she wasn't the most honest person."
Korra smiled apologetically. "Sorry." She said, still amazed with her absolute stupidity. She really just believed Ella without bothering to ask Asami about it? Unbelievable.
"No don't… don't apologize." Asami sighed. "If anything I should be apologizing to you for her behavior."
"You're not responsible for her behavior." Korra shook her head. "Since, well… She's not your girlfriend."
"I can also apologize for calling your dad crazy." Asami suggested awkwardly.
Korra rolled her eyes. "Do we really need to get into that again?" She asked.
"No, not really," Asami sheepishly said, "but… I am sorry about that, if it wasn't clear."
Korra shrugged. "I mean, he did fucking hose your dad." She deadpanned. "I have not spoken to him since."
Asami giggled, and it felt… good. She missed this, she absolutely missed this. However, she was still hurt. Still hurt that Asami cared so little about their friendship that she just barely attempted to salvage it.
"Can I ask you something?" Korra nervously asked.
"Mhm." Asami affirmed, still not quite looking Korra in the eyes.
"Why did you give up on our friendship so easily?" She proceeded to ask, her foot nervously tapping on the floor.
"What do you mean?" Her team captain asked curiously.
"I just mean like… you left me alone pretty easily." Korra explained, looking at the floor. "I feel like I put much more of an effort to get you to forgive me."
"But you told me to leave you alone." Asami said, confused. "I was trying to respect your boundaries."
"Oh," Korra chuckled nervously. Well, this was not what she wanted and expected at the time at all.
"I wouldn't give up on you otherwise." Asami assured her with a soft smile. "Our friendship meant a lot to me. Can we just… Forget about everything and just be friends?" She asked, hopefully. "If you don't have a problem with it, of course."
Korra managed to smile. "No problem with me." She lied. Of course she had a problem with it, she had no desire to be friends with Asami, she wanted much more than that. Fuck being friends, she wanted them to date, be girlfriends, fucking anything remotly romentic would be amazing. But this was a good start even if it was heartbreaking, and it was too soon to ask Asami out anyways.
"Good." Asami smiled widely, standing up and offering Korra a hand. "So let's go kick ass, friend." She said.
Even though she was just friendzoned, Korra managed to smile through it. "Sure, partner," she took Asami's hand, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach. "Let's beat those assholes."
---------------
The game wasn't easy. They were doing good this season, and were currently in the top placements of the league. However, it was obvious that the events of that morning had caused them all to be a bit distracted. And while Kuvira managed to score once, they spent most of the game in a tie.
It was definitely a tight game, and when they reached the last ten minutes and the score was still 1:1, Korra almost gave up. Almost, because you know who didn't give up? Asami.
Asami was always known as being good at creating something out of nothing, she was just able to see openings that no one else saw. Thankfully, today was one of those lucky days, where Asami managed to spring on an attack out of nowhere. It was so unexpected that no one on their team was ready to attack, not even Korra. Korra, however, was faster than most, so even though she caught on late, she managed to somewhat catch onto Asami.
Asami passed player after player, but most of the opposing team was still in her way. For a second, Korra thought Asami couldn't do this, but she really should've known better.
Without even a quick look in her direction, Asami passed the ball backwards to Korra. Korra, who had maybe one player guarding her. Korra, who wasn't even a little ready to get the ball, but somehow managed to receive it and let her instincts take over. Korra, who passed the last defense player before the goalkeeper, managed to get that ball in the net, with seven minutes remaining in the game.
Honestly? All she wanted to do after scoring was kiss that goddamn genius of a team captain, but unfortunately (or, luckily) their entire team jumped her as soon as the referee whistled. She managed to control her impulse after that, but she almost lost it when she saw that adorable idiot grinning at her. The rest of the game was a complete blur to Korra, she was completely out of it just staring at Asami. Thankfully, nothing major happened, and they won the game. They won!
"Good job out there, Waters." Their coach went to compliment Korra after the game, who in response just scoffed.
"I can't believe you almost didn't let me play," Korra said, annoyed, "we would've lost if it wasn't for me!"
"Oh, I was going to let you play," Coach Beifong said flatly, "did you actually think I'd punish you for something you didn't do?"
Korra blinked, confused. "Huh?"
"I just had a theory to test." Lin's lips began forming a smirk, which was an odd sight to behold. "I figured that if I did something to punish you, Sato would do everything she possibly can to prevent this from happening."
Weirdly enough, their coach then winked at the very baffled Korra after saying that. "Jee, I wonder why…" She said in a somewhat suggestive tone, before walking away.
Korra was left completely dumbstruck by the comment. Did… did Lin mean what Korra thought she meant? What in the world would make her ever think that? Was there any truth to that, and it was so obvious to everyone but Korra?
Just then and after handing high fives to many teammates for the second time that day, Asami waved Korra goodbye and left the locker room. Korra's heart started beating faster as she looked at Asami walk away, thinking over what their coach said, over what Kuvira had told to her for weeks. She had this sinking feeling that she was either too late, or too early, but in no way was hee timing quite right. Did Asami and her still have a chance?
In mere seconds, she concluded:
Fuck being friends. It was now, or never.
With all the courage she could muster, she ran out of the door. It didn't take her long to catch up to Asami, and as soon as she did she grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to a nearby classroom, making her yelp in surprise.
Immediately, she closed the door and exhaled heavily before facing Asami with a soft smile.
"What are you doing?" Asami asked, astonished.
Korra didn't answer, instead she stepped closer and closer to Asami until there were mere inches between their faces, and at this opportunity, Korra cupped Asami's jaw with her hand, silently adoring how red Asami had gotten.
"Hi." She managed to say, eyeing Asami's lips. She was looking for any indications that she should stop, that Asami wasn't intrested and she should back off, but she found none.
"Hello." Asami replied, sounding breathless.
And with that, Korra leaned in and kissed her.