A/N: This is my story for the Pro-Bending Circuit round 1. Characters include Korra and Asami. Not your typical "Korra tries to pull Asami away from work".

Team: Laogai Lion Vultures

Earthbender: Someone returning to their lover after a misunderstanding

Prompts:

Easy (1 point): (word) favourite

Medium (2 points): (smell) jasmine

Hard (3 points): (song) A Thousand Years by Christina Perri

Bonus Points: Include your element in your fic. It does not have to be bent but the element must be plot-relevant - 3 points

Word Count: 2307

"Hard Work Doesn't Always Pay Off"

Asami scribbled frantically with her pencil, signing off on papers one by one. She heard the door creak open, but chose to ignore it. Slowly, quiet footsteps tiptoed to her desk. In the back of her mind, Asami wanted to scold the intruder. It would be no good, though. The person slowly pushed away her nameplate and other materials to the side. The intruder then slid onto the desk on her back and popped her face in front of Asami's.

Asami sighed. "Hello, Korra."

The Avatar smiled. "Hi, Asami."

"What do you want this time?"

"You know what I want!" Korra announced, hopping off of her back, yet still sitting on top of the papers. "You're working too much again, and I'm here to sweep you off of your feet!"

Asami couldn't help but to chuckle at her girlfriend's display. Then she lean back into her seat and crossed her arms. "And just how are you going to do that?"

Korra paused, then looked down at herself, realizing she hadn't brought food or pro-bending tickets, which were the usual things that distracted Asami from her work. Then the Avatar smiled and flexed her arms proudly. She smirked and rose a brow comically at the CEO.

At this point, Asami couldn't help but to laugh out loud. "Sweetie, I really do appreciate the thought, but I can't leave work just yet. I'm on a tight schedule this week before the new exhibition."

Korra frowned and immediately dropped her arms. Asami stood up and grabbed her by the chin before planting a soft kiss on her cheek. "I promise I'll try to be home at a decent time this evening, though, just for you." She whispered in her ear.

Korra instantly turned red and Asami knew she had achieved what she wanted. The CEO then walked around the desk and proceeded towards the exit.

"H-Hey, where are you going?" Korra asked, still quite red.

Asami turned and smirked at her. "I'm headed to the factory. I've gotten reports that are showing less productivity, so I'm going to go check it out myself."

Korra's redness was slowly letting up. "Can I come with you?" She asked, hopping off of the desk.

Asami rose a brow. "You want to come with me to do work?" Korra nodded. Asami sighed. "Okay, but no funny business."

Korra smiled. "Promise."

Korra scanned the factory in awe. Pipes went from wall to wall above them. Conveyer belts rolled from room to room. Workers hurried to apply parts to the objects rolling past them. Every time she came here, it appalled her that her girlfriend helped create all of this. She almost walked into her girlfriend when she stopped to talk to the lead engineer. She quietly listened to their conversation about the piping being a problem recently.

Asami frowned at the mention of the pipes. It was one of the main sources that provided fuel to the machinery.

"I think it's a leak, but I didn't want to proceed until you knew about it at least." The engineer explained politely.

Asami nodded. "Thank you. You did the right thing. Let's go have a look." The CEO then turned to her girlfriend. "Can you wait here for a minute, Kor? I'm just gonna go check out a few things in the back."

Korra nodded mindlessly as she glanced around. She didn't quite understand the math and science behind all of the machinery, but she tried to learn sometimes. It always surprised Asami when Korra actually understood something about what she was talking about.

A few of the friendlier workers greeted the Avatar, who happily waved in return. She wandered over to where one man was screwing bolts into some piping on the wall. "So do you know what's going on with the piping?"

The man rose a brow and turned around. "Eh? Why, hello Avatar Korra. Well, I don't know the whole situation. I'm just trying to make sure nothing falls apart until we find a more permanent solution."

Korra peered over his shoulder to see that he was replacing old screws. "So you don't know why?"

"Nope, but if we don't do something soon, we could have an accident on our hands." He replied.

Korra scowled, not liking the sound of that. She couldn't do anything to help, though, not without Asami's approval first anyway. Last time she tried helping out, Asami nearly lost her mind in fear that she would cause a careless accident.

"Well, keep up the good work." Korra answered. She wandered around some more, watching the workers do all sorts of crazy science to create Asami's inventions. It didn't take long for her to get bored again, however. Asami was gone much longer than a few minutes. Korra retreated to sitting on a crate until her girlfriend returned.

A few minutes passed with the dull sound of machinery in the background. Korra took out a piece of meteorite that Su had given her. It would always settle her down when she was stressed or bored. She began making small shapes with the metal. She was starting to relax a little when suddenly a loud hiss shot from the pipes and workers yelled in panic. Korra quickly tucked away the meteorite and ran over to help.

Korra saw the mechanic from earlier trying to tighten some bolts with a few other men frantically. Some workers watched, while many others backed up in fear that it would blow. The Avatar quickly pushed her way through the men. Steam continued to erupt from the seams of the metal piping. "What happened?!"

"I don't know! It just started spewing randomly! Gah!" The man answered, continuing to stop the steam.

Korra was about to step up to help, but was stopped by a creaking sound above her. She froze and looked up. Men were already running away. A large section of pipe on the ceiling was about to cave in. She growled before ramming her fists into the air. The floor rose according to her will and a slab of earth shot up to catch the piping. It still creaked and groaned and liquid was seeping through, but it would hold until they could fix it. As she looked back at the men screwing the bolts, the pressure of the steam suddenly magnified. The force of it sent the piece of pipe right towards the Avatar. Korra mindlessly pulled a metal fragment from the conveyor belt and caught it, then use the metal fragment to push the pipe back in place and mold it into the wall. The men thanked her as she secured it back to the rest of the fuel system.

Just as she was wiping the sweat from her forehead, the control room door slammed open. "What in the world is going on out here?!" Asami's eyes then widened at the sight of her factory. A giant slab of earth was keeping up a broken piece of the system. A fragment of her conveyor belt was stuck to the wall, holding up another piece of the pipe system. Her workers looked panicked. Her girlfriend stood in the middle of them. A bit of sweat was starting to appear on her face. "Korra, what happened?!"

Korra gulped at the sight of her girlfriend's anger. "Asami, it was an accident. I-I…"

Asami's anger hadn't dissipated and she grabbed Korra by the ear. "Every time I bring you to the factory, something goes wrong." She walked until she had dragged Korra outside. "I have to stop bringing you here."

"Asami, I didn't!"

"Korra, you need to just go home." Asami ordered.

Korra went wide-eyed. "I was just trying to help."

Asami sighed roughly and ran a hand through her hair. "I need to get a clean-up crew in here ASAP before it gets worse. I'm gonna be stuck here all evening now."

"Let me help."

"No! This is delicate work. Just let me take care of this."

Korra's breath hitched. Her words struck a cord somewhere in her heart. Without another word, she turned around and began to trek home.

Korra juggled the ball between her hands before dropping it and earthbending it across the backyard. Naga barked and dashed after it. Korra sighed and sat on the steps. 'Delicate work, psh! What does she mean I can't be delicate? I'm delicate with her all of the time! She wouldn't even listen to me…'

She sat there, stuck with her thoughts until she heard the back door open. She didn't bother looking up. Her guest sat down beside her and, after a moment, pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sorry."

Korra sighed and mumbled into her shoulder. "It's okay."

Asami pulled away and held her cheeks. "It's not okay. I should've listened to you first before pushing you out."

"At least no one got hurt."

"And that's thanks to you! The workers told me what happened and that everything would've collapsed if it wasn't for you."

Korra didn't respond, just fell back into Asami's embrace eagerly. Asami brushed the girl's hair with her fingers, enjoying the quiet moment underneath the stars. "Let me make it up to you."

Korra rose a brow up at her. "How's that?"

Asami smiled down at her gently and pulled her up. "C'mon, I'll show you."

Korra didn't bother arguing and let her girlfriend pull her inside. Once they made it to the living room, Asami ushered the Avatar to sit down. Korra blinked when she noticed two carry-out boxes and a few DVDs.

"Oh, I forgot the tea!" Asami exclaimed and ran into the kitchen. The sound of a screaming kettle could be heard.

The CEO returned and handed Korra a mug. The Avatar brought it to her face and took a sip. The scent of jasmine made her smile return slowly. "Thank you."

Asami blinked in surprise, then abruptly brought her back into a hug. "I should be thanking you. If it hadn't been for you, today could have been much worse than it was."

"Well, how about we move on now that we've thanked each other." Korra joked.

Asami giggled and nodded before taking a sip of her own tea. "I picked up a few movies. I didn't know what you'd be in the mood for."

Korra began fiddling through the cases. She stopped at one and began laughing loudly. "You grabbed this?!"

In her hand was the last movie to the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn 2. Asami chuckled. "I know how much you love Twilight."

Korra could only laugh some more. "'Sami, I hate Twilight."

"I know, but isn't the last movie your favorite."

"Yeah, because it's the end!" Korra covered her face to stop the laughing. "But I do love all of the fighting in the last movie. That was the only good thing about it. That, and there's that one guy who can bend the elements. I wonder where they got that idea from." Korra said, wiggling her eyebrows at her girlfriend.

Asami waved her off. "Oh please. Don't act like you didn't like that idea. I suggested it just for you."

"Yeah, yeah." Korra replied, just now opening her box of food. "I guess we can watch this then."

Asami smiled and took the case from her to pop it into the television. For the beginning of the movie, they ate their dinners. About half way through, Asami reached over the back of the couch and pulled the comforter down. Korra eagerly crawled into her grasp. Laying together, the couple finished watching the movie.

Asami watched the screen as the vampires said their goodbyes for the last time after the final fight. As the credits started rolling, a faint snore arose from below her chin. She looked down to see Korra fast asleep in her lap.

She began thinking back to all they had been through together. She found it hard to believe they hated each other in the beginning, but things had a way of working out in the end.

How can I love when I'm afraid to fall?
But watching you stand alone,
All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow.

In some ways, she always admired Korra. The girl was so strong and passionate about what she believed in. Asami watched her over and over again fight against enemies who wanted to hurt her or the people she loved. She watched the Avatar give herself up for the Air Nation. She watched the Avatar almost die. She helped the Avatar continue life after she was paralyzed. She sadly let go of the Avatar, who then disappeared for three years. If she had known it would take that long, she would have gone with her.

I have died every day waiting for you
Darling, don't be afraid I have loved you
For a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more

She waited so long for the Avatar to return to her. To the world, she was the Avatar. But to Asami, she was Korra, and she loved Korra more than anything in the world. And when everything settled down and they finally had a chance to talk in the Spirit World, she knew things would be okay for them.

And all along I believed I would find you
Time has brought your heart to me

I have loved you for a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more

Asami carefully leaned down and placed a chaste kiss to Korra's forehead. "I love you, Korra. I'll never let you go."

Asami slowly rubbed the girl's arm to help her sleep better. She sighed and laid her head on the pillow, ready to follow her example to sleep. However, a hand gently grabbed hers. She heard Korra hum happily to herself before sleepily answering her. "I love you too, Asami."