Disclaimer: I do hereby disclaim all rights and responsibilities for the characters in this collection. Kudos to Bryke, indeed.

Author's Notes: Another little trove for all of my drabbles and snippets. So it's not like I have a multi-chapter fic (or four... five?) still in the works or anything, right? Whatever, this will probably be where I post excerpts (re: fifteen minute time limit/flash fics) from the stories that I have neither the time nor the energy to write. :P

Legend of Korra fandom. Various pairings. Here we go.

Pairing: Tahno/Korra
Genre: Angst/Romance/Hurt/Comfort
Word Count: 450
Rating: PG-13
Notes: Written post-episode 5, pre-6. Must have listened to Feel Good Drag by Anberlin at least fifteen times while conjuring this idea.

Optional Back Story: In my mind, Korra and company have just engaged in a furious battle with Amon, in which Tahno and another number of benders are able to restore their "lost" bending. Korra experienced yet another near death experience, but when she needs her teammates most in the aftermath, they have once again left her behind in order to cope in all of their own separate ways. In a fit of desperation (anger, frustration, loneliness), Korra takes Tahno up on his offer of getting a drink back in his apartment as some warped urge for affirmation of life, and after some alcohol gets in their system and some extensive flirting occurs, the conversation strays to Korra's "love life" and grows heated.

process of elimination

"And where were they the first time you challenged Amon?" he demanded, eyes wild, and Korra was momentarily stilled by surprise because Tahno was supposed to be cold and dignified and calculating and wasn't supposed to just lose it. "Where were your precious teammates when you faced him today?" He crept closer, hair dancing in front of his eyes with his erratic movements, and then he was right back in her face as he whispered, "Where are they now?"

His questions and their all-too-true implications snapped Korra out of her reverie, and it wasn't long before she was shouting too. "What's your point?" she spat viciously, roughly shoving him back a few paces as she threw her hands into his chest. "Trying to break me down and get at me by ruling everyone else out? Swoop in after they've all left me hanging so you can finally get your chance?" She wiped the stray spit that had fallen from her mouth and gotten caught along her lips, and focused on pouring out all of the anger, all of the hatred, and a little of the guilt and shame and fear too. "You're disgusting."

There was a stretch of pause as Tahno considered her words, taking time to let the moment hang in the air. Korra stood her ground, her hair a disheveled mess about her cut and bruised face, and waited expectantly for an insult that never came. Tahno released a breath, something akin to a mockery of laughter and a scoff, and stepped closer, looking her dead in the eyes.

"At least with me you'd always know where you stand," he promised, looking more like a man than Korra had ever seen him. But she knew all that his promises could and could not entail, and so her voice broke bitterly as she lashed out one last time.

"Or where I lay... is that it?"

Her uneven breathing was finally taking its toll, and the exhausted Avatar seemed to deflate before his very eyes. When he stepped closer, she didn't retreat, and when he carefully raised long, slender fingers to tilt the gentle curve of her chin up to face him, she didn't turn away. With a slowness that was almost painful, Tahno leaned in, watching through half-lidded eyes as Korra stood on the edge of rebellion. With an electric touch of his lips to hers that could hardly be considered a touch at all, he beckoned her to join him, to fall over the precipice together, again and again and again.

As his lips drew her in, he felt her fall, and a small smirk slid onto his lips as he graciously offered, "Whichever you prefer."