Sexual content warning!!!
"No, no way, that just will not do," Asami frowns, staring hard at Korra across the lunch table.
Asami has become a regular face in their group, for reasons Korra isn't quite sure about, but she brings a chef who makes the Fire Ferrets some really delicious chow after their matches and all of their practices, so nobody's complaining. Korra doesn't mind Asami, really—she's nice and generous, in that weird, crazy way a lot of rich people are—but she wouldn't consider them close friends by any stretch. So she's not sure why her inability to drive became the topic of conversation in the first place, but the bigger question is why Asami is suddenly dead set on teaching her how.
"Uh, really, it's fine, Miss Sato. I have Naga to get me places," Korra mumbles into her tea.
Asami pouts at her and folds her arms across her chest. "You don't need to call me that. We're not at some formal dinner party, Miss Avatar," she says, and Korra winces. She hates being called that—it makes her feel less like a person and more like a monument, some statue that people revere and love, but don't give any humanity to—and sighs, getting the message.
"Look, Asami," Korra starts, putting down her tea and giving Asami her full attention. Between them, Mako and Bolin are concentrating entirely too hard on their plates of curry, unwilling to step in and stop whatever's about to happen. "I appreciate the offer, and I'm sure no one's a better teacher than you, but I have a perfectly reliable means of transportation, and I'm too busy for driving lessons that I really don't need, anyway."
"I know you're busy, and Naga is a great polar bear dog, Korra, but she can't come with you everywhere. And sometimes bending isn't an option, either, so you need to be prepared for anything and everything, and driving is an important skill! Besides, most of Republic City drives Satomobiles now, and they aren't like some fashion trend, these will be here to stay, and what will the public think if their own Avatar refuses to adapt to the future and the changes it brings? A positive public image is already hard enough for you to maintain without new headlines about you being stuck in your ways and all old fashioned and the like. If you want to win the people of Republic City over, you need to modernize. And you'll do that by driving."
Korra is gawking now, and even Bolin and Mako have looked up from stuffing their faces with equally astonished faces. After a few long beats of silence, Mako quietly says, "Y'know, she kinda has a point—" before being smacked in the face with Korra's chopsticks hard enough to send him falling backwards off his seat. Mako groans, Bolin snickers, Asami makes worried noises and runs to his side, and Korra fumes in her seat because now she has to learn how to drive.
Two days later, Asami hauls a reluctant Korra out after pro-bending practice and walks her right up to a brand new Satomobile.
"Fresh off the line, just for you," Asami winks, walking around to the passenger side and opening the door. But Korra just stares at it, unwilling to step towards it, like it's an animal that'll attack the moment she gets close. "It won't eat you," Asami says, sticking her head out the side and making Korra jump.
"I-I know," Korra says, but she still doesn't move.
Asami huffs, making the bangs in her face dance a little bit, and pushes the driver's side door open.
"You can do this, Korra."
It's a simple thing to say, but it's the right thing, and Korra steps forward, awkwardly fitting herself into the driver's seat and pulling the door closed.
She regrets it almost instantly, though, because on the floor are three pedals and a big lever and in front of her is a wheel and there is no way she can do this.
"Relax," Asami smiles, reaching forward and pressing a button that has the car going from still and quiet to bouncing and loud. Korra raises her hands in the air, away from all buttons and levers and wheels she could possibly touch. Now that the car is alive and ready to move, touching anything could mean very bad things for everyone involved.
"This is a bad idea."
"It's not going to kill you," Asami says, laughing quietly, but Korra doesn't think it's very funny.
"No, but I'm going to end up killing somebody else. I don't know what to do with these pedals! I'm going to run right into some shop or some person and then what'll the headlines say?"
Asami stops laughing and looks at Korra with a soft, serious expression. "The headlines won't say anything, because that won't happen. You see this lever?" she asks, voice quiet as she points down to the lever on the floor, "That's the brake. We aren't going anywhere with that brake on. All we're doing today is getting you used to what the pedals do. That's all."
Korra blinks, turns to the wheel in front of her, and slowly puts her hands down into her lap.
"Sorry, I—... I'm not sure why I'm panicking so much about this. It's just driving," Korra says, laughing in an attempt to hide her embarrassment. Asami takes one of her hands between her own and squeezes.
"This isn't something natural for you like bending or fighting. Of course it's going to be scary. But you can trust me, okay?"
Korra looks back up at her and sees Asami's soft smile, feeling the gentle brush of her gloved fingers over the back of her hand, and thinks that, maybe, she can.
~
Driving practice becomes a bi-weekly affair.
On her two least busy days, after pro-bending practice and before she has to go back to train with Tenzin, Korra spends about an hour with Asami in the powder blue Satomobile she drives to the stadium. It takes about four lessons before Korra will even touch the wheel, still barely grasping what each of the individual pedals do, and they still haven't graduated past leaving the brake on to actually try going anywhere yet.
"There's low gear, neutral, and high gear," Asami repeatedly explains, but Korra doesn't really understand no matter how many times she goes over it. Why isn't there just go and stop? Somehow the pedals and the handbrake both play in to switching between the gears, but Korra is still hesitant to put her foot down on any of the pedals even when they're guaranteed not to go anywhere if she does.
During their sixth lesson, Korra insists on giving up. Again.
"I just don't think this is something I can do," Korra says, deflating. Asami frowns, her hair falling into her face and tickling at Korra's skin where it brushes her arm.
Korra's grown to like Asami a lot more over the last three weeks—she's stubborn, if a bit more subtle about it than Korra, and confident in everything she does. She doesn't let people talk down to her or walk all over her, and she's gorgeous and capable, too. Korra's been spending a lot more time thinking about just how gorgeous she is—how nice her clothes look and how well they fit her, the way her hair always looks so soft that Korra just wants to bury her hands in it like the water she was born to bend—and has had a hard time convincing herself it's only admiration. It's especially hard when they spend time together, cramped in a Satomobile in the parking lot of the arena where no one can see them.
But right now, Korra isn't thinking about that. She's too focused on how pathetic she is for not being able to drive a stupid car.
"Sure it is," Asami insists, but she doesn't sound too confident, either.
"Maybe if there was a way to explain it like bending, but I can't even get airbending right and it is bending," Korra is rambling, pushing her knuckle against the bridge of her nose in frustration, but Asami makes a sudden noise, a gasp as she's hit with a new idea, and Korra looks up, confused.
"I don't really know much about bending," Asami shrugs, "but there's something else I can suggest. Have you ever had sex?"
Korra stares at her, letting the words register for a moment, then chokes on air and starts coughing into the steering wheel. When she can breathe again, her voice is weak and tiny when she asks, "Why is that important?"
"Oh, I'm so sorry, was that rude of me? I don't really know the rules about asking the Avatar about their sex life, I didn't mean to—" Asami starts apologizing, leaning away on the seat, and Korra frowns.
"There aren't any rules about it, and I've had sex before, it's just— I don't understand why that's important right now," Korra splutters, before adding, "We're talking about driving a car," as if Asami has completely forgotten the purpose of them being in this car together in the first place.
"Yes we are," Asami agrees, smiling again, "and you were talking about explaining it through bending. I'm not a bender, so I can't compare it that way, but I have had sex, and it's a similar sort of thing."
"How is it similar?!" Korra squawks, her face burning as her embarrassment rises.
Asami moves forward, climbing over the lever between them, and it takes a second before Korra realizes she's climbing right into her lap.
"Uh," Korra says, past the point of coherent thought. She hasn't unlocked the Avatar State yet or spoken to any of her past lives, but she has a feeling none of them would have any experience with this sort of situation, either, and that makes her feel a little bit better.
"Driving is a lot like sex," Asami whispers against her ear, voice suddenly several shades rougher than it was a second ago, and her hands slowly reaching down and settling over Korra's hips. Asami's hair is brushing against her face and her neck while her thumbs trace soft circles over Korra's skin through the material of her shirt, and Korra feels a familiar heat stirring in her belly. "You begin by going slow," Asami continues, "in a low gear, just rolling forward and getting the movement started."
Her hands are shifting now, her left squeezing at the skin and muscle of Korra's waist while the other slides up her side. She's going slow and deliberate, letting Korra know what she's going to do but giving her plenty of time to push her away and stop her, but Korra doesn't move, letting Asami touch her however she wants. Her hand reaches Korra's chest, and even through her shirt and her wrap, she can feel her nipples harden as Asami kneads her breast with just the right amount of pressure.
"The left pedal," Asami is saying, and Korra's barely hearing her over the sound of her own heavy panting and the buzz of growing pleasure making her head swim, but she tries her best to listen as Asami continues, "engages the gear," while slipping her left hand beneath the waistband of Korra's pants. Korra grabs her by the wrist then, and Asami stops. The only sound is Korra's breathing and the only movement between them is the quick rise and fall of her chest, and she's not even sure why she's hesitating now. She waits a moment more before loosening her grip, and Asami continues like she hadn't been stopped at all.
Korra lets out a whine when Asami touches her where she's already wet and hot through the last layer of clothing between them, and her thighs squirm beneath Asami, making her bounce a bit. "Then, when you're ready, you start going a little bit faster," Asami is murmuring right against her ear, and she's only just teasing, her touches light and playful, enough to make Korra's vision fade to white at the edges, but she doesn't push any further than that.
"Eventually, you'll have to switch into neutral," she says, and the hand playing gently over Korra's clit stops moving, and the fingers massaging their way around her breast have stilled.
Korra just breathes in and out heavily for a few moments, staring up at the roof of the car above them, before asking, "What happens in neutral?"
"A few things," Asami says, pulling away from Korra's ear to meet her eyes, hands slipping further away until they're back in her lap, "You can either go into reverse—"
"Or?" Korra prompts, not liking the first option, and Asami grins.
"Or you can push forward into high gear, speeding up until you're left cruising on momentum."
Korra surges upward then, closing the space between them with a kiss, and Asami tastes like cherries against her lips. The inside of the Satomobile is small, but the seat is large enough for Korra to flip them over, pushing Asami down and spreading her out against it while she climbs on top of her, unbuttoning her jacket and tugging at her slacks. Asami nips at her shoulders until Korra goes back to kissing her again, blindly undoing Asami's clothes and shivering at the first touch of bare skin against her knuckles.
"You're a natural," Asami is mumbling between kisses, fingers dragging lightly across Korra's back, and Korra laughs into her lips.
Asami doesn't wear wraps and underthings like Korra, which Korra discovers when she feels something smooth and lacy beneath her hands when she's pushed enough of Asami's layers out of the way that all that's left is underwear. She pulls back from kissing again to look down at Asami, staring at the black silk across her breasts and crotch, and Korra realizes she's touching someone valuable, someone fragile—
"I have a dozen more pairs, just rip them off for all I care, just touch me," Asami breathes, and Korra doesn't care about fragile anymore as she tears the silk with a quick jerk of her wrist.
Korra's mouth goes straight for Asami's collarbone, then trails downward with gentle, quick bites until she has Asami's breast against her mouth and she can feel the stuttering breaths being sucked in by her lungs and the steady, pounding heartbeat beneath her. Her right hand goes for Asami's waist, then dips beneath the silk to touch her where she's open and wet and so very, very hot. Korra doesn't tease, like Asami did, and lets her thumb brush over the light hair there before finding Asami's clit and rubbing against it, smirking when Asami sucks in a gasp and moans. She does it again, this time sliding a finger down against her wet folds before pushing inside, and it makes Asami jerk and writhe beneath her.
"Oh, Gods, your hands are so rough," Asami hisses, and for a moment, Korra feels self-conscious. It's weird, suddenly being thrown back into self-awareness when she's pressed down against a half-naked, beautiful woman who's moaning for her, because of her. But Asami feels her sudden stiffness and adds, "I love them, everything about them, I'll write haikus about them and dream about them," and Korra's sudden tenseness dissolves and she lifts herself up from Asami's chest to kiss up her neck.
"I didn't know you wrote haikus," Korra whispers, a second finger pushing its way inside Asami's warmth, thrusting in and out in a slowly building tempo, and Asami keens, pressing up against Korra's body and making her feel hotter than the fire she's been able to feel within her since she was born.
"I don't. I can't, actually. I'll pay someone else to do it, maybe," Asami rambles between sharp inhales and soft exhales. Korra's thumb has found a rhythm, and a perfect amount of pressure, and she keeps to it while Asami's breathing gets harsher and harsher until she doesn't have enough air in her lungs to moan. Her mouth is on Asami's neck, kissing and sucking at the pulse she feels beating beneath her tongue until she's left a bruise, too lost in the heat and momentum to realize it's in a place where others will see it.
Asami's hands are digging hard into Korra's muscled back, clawing at her shirt and keeping Korra pressed against her. Korra's got three fingers pushing in and out of her now, making wet and sloppy sounds while Asami tenses, muscles pulling tighter and tighter, preparing for the inevitable snap. With a few more thrusts of her fingers and hard presses of her thumb, Asami cries out as her body starts to spasm, climax making her push down hard against Korra's hand, wanting to be touched as deep as she can. Korra keeps her fingers moving, letting Asami ride her orgasm out, until she falls back against the seat, limp and sated and blushing bright red.
Korra's still horny where she hovers above Asami, her own needs not yet satisfied, but she brings her hand up to her lips and licks at her fingers, tasting sweetness.
"Y'know. I still don't know how to drive," Korra points out, and Asami raises an eyebrow.
"Who said we were finished?" she asks, chest heaving with each word before grabbing Korra by the collar and pulling her back down.