The look in her eyes was unforgettable. Korra could not wipe it from her mind because it signaled the start of something that she did not understand, something that she did not ask for, but something that she also did not particularly feel like stopping. Asami was going to teach her how to flirt, and Korra was going to listen to her.
It had not been Korra's idea to go out to a night club. In her opinion, pent up energy was better spent sparring or general ass-kicking, not dancing and drinking in a place with a bunch of strangers. Yes, both provided a work out, but that's pretty much where the similarities ended in Korra's opinion. Unfortunately, she was not always the one who had the final say in group activities, so when Opal had excitedly suggested it, Korra had not been able to say no. It was the younger girl's first time to really spend a night out in Republic City, and for someone who had been raised in a much smaller town like Zaofu, that was a big deal. How could Korra possibly have denied the girl a chance to experience a taste of city life?
Of course, Asami had jumped right on the idea, and Korra was about to back out gracefully, but she lost her chance as soon as Asami spouted off the brilliant idea that they should make a "girls' night" out of it. Opal had practically squealed in excitement, so Korra had been forced to grimace and pretend to be excited right along with her two female friends.
So that's how Korra ended up standing at the bar of a night club beside Opal and Asami, the three of them each having a drink to start off the evening. It didn't take long for Asami to find her way onto the dance floor right in the middle of the crowd, and Opal followed quickly after, gesturing for Korra to follow. Korra shook her head, gesturing to her unfinished drink, so Opal shrugged and melded into the crowd dancing to the thumping bass.
Korra let out a slow sigh. It wasn't that she was pissed to be out or anything. Hell, she loved getting the chance to spend time with Asami and Opal, especially since recently their lives had been beyond stressed with trying to fix the whole Earth Kingdom fiasco. And as Korra caught sight of Asami turning toward a tall dark-haired guy for a dance, she remembered just how long it had been since they had last had a night to just relax. But Korra, unlike the dancing Asami in view and her newfound man-friend, had never really been much for loud music and crowds. It was hard to have a conversation unless you were practically right up against someone or off in a booth in the corner. Plus, some strangers had no concept of personal space.
"Well, that was quite a sigh," a voice from next to Korra startled her, causing her to jump slightly and rapidly turn her head toward the sound. She was met with the entertained smile of a guy about her age.
"Oh, uh, yeah," Korra responded. She didn't really know what else to say besides that, plus she'd been caught totally unawares.
His smile continued. "A lot on your mind?" he inquired.
Korra examined his face to see if she recognized him from anywhere. She really didn't know why this guy was showing an interest, unless maybe he was just hoping to have a chance to poke fun at the Avatar for being out at a night club in her regular boring clothes or something. But he didn't seem to pose a threat, so Korra restrained from air bending him against the ceiling.
"I guess," she replied shortly. It wasn't so much that she was annoyed at the guy as much as the fact that she hated having to half-yell just to be heard over the music. Him talking to her at that particular place on that particular night was his first mistake.
She looked past Random-guy to catch sight of Opal laughing with Asami and the same guy from earlier that she'd been dancing with. Korra felt a twinge of regret for not immediately joining her friends on the dance floor.
Random-guy gave her a look up and down. "Need something to take your mind off of all that?"
Korra just blinked at him and pointed at her still half-full glass. "I'm good, thanks."
Then he just laughed, and Korra squinted at him, unsure of what she'd said that was so funny. "You know, I was thinking of something a little more interesting than just a drink," Random-guy responded, his smile turning into a smirk. His hand had somehow found it's way to Korra's arm, and that was his second mistake.
Korra reacted the only way she could when she was touched by someone she didn't want to be touched by- she grabbed the offending arm and twisted, spinning the guy forward and slamming his face into the bar. She held him there with his arm still twisted behind his back.
The bartender quirked an eyebrow but didn't say anything. He was new on this job and didn't want to mess with the Avatar within his first week on the job.
Random-guy, face now up close and personal with the bar, was not so quiet. "Ow! What the hell, woman?" he yelped. Korra let out her second sigh of the night and let go, realizing that the guy was probably fairly harmless.
Random-guy stood up and gave Korra a glare of disdain. "I don't know what stick is up your ass, but you should see someone about removing it," he quipped before storming off. "And get some anger management lessons while you're at it!" he added before disappearing from Korra's view.
Alone again, Korra just shrugged at no one and turned back toward the bar, ordering another drink. The slightly terrified bartender practically jumped right to the tap.
"Was that really necessary?" Asami, now back at Korra's side, said into Korra's ear.
Korra turned to look at her. "He put his hand on me," Korra replied nonchalantly.
Asami raised an eyebrow. "And that warranted you giving his face an introduction to the wooden bar?"
"I didn't know what he was gonna do. He could have been assaulting me for all I knew, or trying to kidnap me. And you know he wasn't really hurt by that," Korra shot back.
"Assaulting you? Kidnapping? He was flirting!" Asami exclaimed. Korra's eyes widened just a fraction. Flirting? Had he been trying to pick her up?
Now feeling a little dumb, Korra just blinked at Asami, who just shook her head and laughed softly, under the sound of the music. "Are you really that oblivious?" Asami inquired.
Korra's eyes narrowed, now offended. "I am not oblivious!"
Opal had just approached the two in time to hear Korra's exclamation. "What is Korra oblivious about?" she asked.
"Flirting," Asami replied. Korra groaned and rolled her eyes.
Opal laughed heartily. "Is that why you smashed that guy's face into the bar?" Opal asked.
"There was no smashing! It was more like a… gentle reminder that the bar was there," Korra bumbled through her alternate explanation. Now Asami and Opal both laughed, earning glares from Korra.
"Whatever you call it, it was one of the most entertaining things most people here will see tonight," Opal replied. "But I really have to be going. Though, you might want to apologize to the bartender. He'd been nervously refilling your drink every time you take a sip."
Korra's eyes flashed to the man behind the bar who was, indeed, in the middle of topping off her drink even though Korra had just put it down after only a sip. Korra sighed, waving goodbye to Opal and turning to apologize to the bartender.
With that taken care of and Opal gone, that left Asami to continue teasing Korra about the incident, though the two had relocated to a booth in order to better have a conversation. "So that Avatar, who can bend all four elements and bring balance to the world, can't manage to balance a little bit of flirting," Asami teased with a smirk.
Korra gave her a specific rude hand gesture. "That's not true. I've handled flirting before."
Asami gave Korra a challenging look. "Oh yeah? When was that?"
"I have had a boyfriend before, remember?" Korra reminded Asami.
"What, Mako? That ship sailed years ago." Asami laughed. Annoyed, Korra tried to come up with a good response, but before she could, Asami was talking again. "No wonder you're rusty; you really need to work on your flirting skills."
"My skills are just fine, thank you," Korra replied indignantly.
"Yeah?" Asami inquired. "So you know how to handle it when people flirt with you?"
"Sure, why not?" Korra replied confidently. She didn't know why Asami was calling her flirting skills into question. If Korra remembered correctly, she had managed to keep Mako around for a while, and that would have required some flirting and such.
Asami scooted a little closer to Korra and leaned her face forward, staring Korra right in the eyes. Korra swallowed, uncertain of why Asami was doing this, but very certain that she could have counted every dark eyelash surrounding those deep green eyes if she wanted to.
"Because I'm not sure you could handle it," Asami said in a softer voice that was intensely sultry. Korra could not break eye contact, though she desperately wanted to in order to escape the intensity of the moment.
Mouth suddenly dry, Korra knew that she'd have to come up with some sort of comeback. "I can handle bending all four elements," settling with quoting Asami's earlier comment.
But Asami just smirked, sending a strange sensation through Korra's stomach. "For a water bender, you really don't know how to get a girl wet," Asami replied, almost purring. At that Korra's eyes almost bugged out of her head.
Asami finally broke the moment by laughing and backing up to her normal distance. "See? You are so bad at handling flirting, even when I'm just playing around!" Asami said through giggles.
Korra's heart felt faster than normal, but she managed to send Asami a killer glare. "You suck."
"And you suck at flirting," Asami shot back, still laughing. For a moment the two of them stayed like that, Asami deeply enjoying her little victory and Korra still recovering.
"You know what, Korra? I have an idea…" Asami trailed off.