Here it is! The grand finale of Out of the Woods! Maybe. I might go back and redo "Two Paper Airplanes Flying" because I don't like it. We'll seeeeeee.
Other times, when Korra slid a hand into her pocket and closed her fingers around the jewelry, the stone charm and the metal ring were hot against her skin like they were alive.
Like the time Korra had finally gotten back from a week-long diplomatic visit to the Fire Nation only to find Asami had to leave the next day for a business trip to Ba Sing Se and they'd shouted at each other because they missed each other so much it hurt…
"Well what do you want me to do, Korra? I can't just cancel this trip, I've been working really hard for this deal and-"
"I never said you should cancel it!"
"Then why won't you come with me?"
"I told you, I just got home! I'm tired! I've been in the Fire Nation for a week and I just want to be home for more than five minutes!"
Korra and Asami faced each other rigidly from opposite sides of their living room. Korra was the one that put the space between them. She'd been trying to get away from Asami since the moment this fight started in their kitchen when Asami had told her she had to leave in the morning right on the heels of Korra finally getting home.
But Asami had followed her from room to room, their voices rising in volume as they went, trying to settle her down and catch her eye so they could actually talk instead of screaming at each other. But Korra didn't want to settle down. She was mad. She had to move. She had to do something.
"Then don't come with me," Asami snapped. Her tone was fierce, but she was holding her hands up as if in surrender. "But you have no right to be mad at me about me leaving."
"No right?" Korra shot back, running her hands through her hair in agitation. "Of course I have a right, I'm… I mean we're…" She groaned in frustration and stomped her foot. "I love you!"
Asami's eyes went wide. She ground her teeth for a moment, clenching and unclenching her fingers at her sides.
"And you think that means you own me?" she asked after several tense moments, her voice shaking with anger.
"No, of course not!"
"That's kind of what it sounded like! Are you trying to make me feel bad for doing my job?"
"No, I'm not-"
"Then what are you trying to do?"
"I don't know!" Korra blurted. "I just feel like you care more about your work than you do about me."
"That's rich coming from you," Asami flung back immediately. "You're the Avatar, Korra. You are constitutionally incapable of caring more about me than you do about the world."
"That's not fair!"
"You're damn right it's not fair!"
Korra roared in frustration and started pacing again, hands back in her hair. They'd never fought like this before. They'd had fights, sure, but never like this. This was confusing and loud and close and it was starting to feel dangerously like an ending, and Korra didn't want it to be an ending. She didn't want there to be an ending at all.
"I just… I miss you so much," Korra finally forced out, squeezing her eyes shut so she wouldn't have to see the reaction on Asami's face. "One of us is always gone and all I do is miss you and… and I can't live like this anymore."
The silence felt like broken glass.
"What do you mean?" Asami asked lowly.
Korra finally looked up at her. She was standing ramrod straight, panting through her nose and biting her lower lip to keep from making a sound. Her cheeks were red from shouting, her fists clenched at her sides so hard they were shaking. Her eyes were narrowed, but Korra could still see the tears shining in them.
Korra had done this. She had done this to her. She clenched her own fists so hard her knuckles cracked.
"I just… I need some air," she hissed, turning on her heel and wrenching the door open.
"Korra-"
She slammed the door behind her before Asami could say another word.
She didn't know where she was going. She didn't know why. She just needed to move. So she walked down the hallway of their apartment building and out the door to the street, and then she stopped.
Korra took a few ragged breaths, forcing the cool night air into her lungs. She was going to cry, she could feel it. The burning in her chest, the lump in her throat, the stinging in her eyes. She was just so frustrated, so upset, so… full. Full of feelings, all fighting against each other. She hadn't talked to Asami in a week, and she got back full of words and stories and things to tell her over the course of a couple days of unwinding, but instead they were screaming at each other because they just couldn't catch a break.
It was stupid, Korra thought as she stood stock-still on the sidewalk. It was stupid that they'd fought and it was stupid that she'd walked out. But she felt hot and itchy and vulnerable and she had to run. Her breath hitched and hot tears slid down her cheeks.
She'd never expected being in love with her best friend to be so difficult.
It should have been easy, but they had to work for it. They'd had to since day one, and maybe even before then. And she was tired, she was so tired of running herself ragged all over the world. She just wanted to sit with her girlfriend for a couple days. Just sit. Sit and talk and drink some tea and kiss and laugh and… anything but fight with her.
The light of the Spirit Portal caught Korra's eye, shining in the distance over the rooftops. She stared at it, tried to focus on it completely and block out everything else.
They'd been so deliriously happy in the Spirit World. It had been easy there. And they'd talked about it on their last day there, promised each other they wouldn't give up without a fight. They knew it would be hard. And yet here Korra was on the sidewalk.
She slipped a hand into her pocket without thinking about it, flinching in surprise when her fingers touched the necklace and the ring that were always there. They were both warm to the touch. And that warmth just made Korra think about forever.
The Avatar let out a long sigh and wiped her eyes before turning around and walking right back into their apartment.
Asami looked up in surprise when she heard her close the door behind her. She was sitting on the couch with her head in her hands, tears running down her face.
"If you're here to take your stuff and leave I won't let you," she said tightly, rising slowly to her feet. "I can't lose you."
"I'm not going anywhere," Korra said quietly. She approached Asami carefully, moving slow like she was a cornered animal. But Asami just yanked Korra into her embrace as soon as she was within reach.
"That was a really shitty thing to do," Asami grumbled into Korra's hair, her breath still hitching with her tears.
"I know," Korra murmured. She wrapped her arms as tight around Asami as she dared, and still it didn't feel like enough. "I'm sorry."
"We'd never yelled like that before… I was scared you wouldn't come back."
"I'll always come back."
"You wouldn't have to come back if you hadn't left."
Korra released a frustrated breath and pressed a kiss to Asami's neck. Then another, and another, traveling up toward her jaw. She slid her hands down Asami's back, pressing her fingers into her hips until she gasped.
"Hey cut it out," Asami snapped suddenly, giving Korra a firm shove and pushing her back to arm's length. "I'm all for make-up sex, but we have to actually make-up first."
"Did we not?" Korra asked blankly, wide pupils fixed on Asami's lips.
"I'm going to make more of an effort," Asami continued, frowning at her girlfriend and tugging her back into a soft embrace. "And so should you. We've both gotten… complacent. We used to try much harder to get our schedules to fit together and travel together."
"You're right," Korra sighed, leaning in a pressing her forehead against Asami's. She reached up and brushed away the final remnants of Asami's tears with her thumbs. "Starting with me coming with you to Ba Sing Se tomorrow."
"Korra…" Asami murmured, brushing their noses together and blushing. "You don't have to… I mean you just got home…"
"You're my home," Korra said instantly.
The answer seemed to knock the breath right out of Asami. The way Korra said it, so quickly and so surely, like it was the single thing in the world she knew to be true, brought tears right back to Asami's eyes.
"Okay," she whispered shakily, closing her eyes.
Korra smiled. The only time Asami Sato was ever truly shy and speechless was when Korra did something like that. Told her in plain terms how much she loved her. Let slip through words or actions how much she adored her.
The Avatar promised herself in that moment that she would try to do this at least once a day for the rest of their lives.
"You can go back to seducing me now," Asami muttered into Korra's neck, embarrassed.
Korra just laughed and did as she was told.
When Korra woke up with the sunrise, hot and a bit sore and completely tangled up in Asami's arms, the first thing she saw was Asami's gaze on her. The Avatar quirked an eyebrow at her and she laughed softly.
"I love seeing you sleep peacefully," Asami whispered.
Korra knew why. She didn't need to ask. Asami was there when her nightmares were at their worst after she was poisoned by the Red Lotus. Korra kissed her without a second thought.
"I know my duty is to the world…" she murmured, the words brushing Asami's lips. "But I love you more than anything. You know that, right?"
"I know," Asami said with a smile, dropping open-mouthed kisses on Korra's lips between breaths. "I love you too."
...Good.