Care-free
By diav

Genre: Friendship/Romance
Rating: K
Characters: Korra, Asami Sato, Bolin, Mako
Story Type: one-shot
Summary: AU. Picks up three months after Shopping. Korra has doubts about her relationship with Asami.
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Avatar: The Legend of Korra.

They had only been dating for three months. Apart from them, only Bo knew about the relationship.

It wasn't exactly something you'd announce to the world, Korra thought. Especially since they went to a private high school, where there were always snooty teenagers who tried to dig up dirt on everyone.

So why was Asami so... care-free about it?

Korra knew it would do them no good if she was always uptight about it, but she honestly didn't want gossip to spread, given Asami's popularity and her social status.

Asami had told her that it wouldn't matter if people knew, but Korra knew that Asami was equally worried about what would happen if her father found out. Being an heiress came with many limitations and had hindered many of their planned dates, so Korra knew Mr. Sato would be less than pleased to find out that his daughter was dating a... commoner.

That's what I am, Korra absentmindedly thought as she felt Asami squeeze her hand in the movie theatre. I don't even come from a financially-well background - my parents are working their butts off to put me through school and what am I doing? Dating the most popular girl in school, an heiress, for Pete's sake! Someone who outranks me in everything: looks, social status, wealth, academics- what the heck does she see in-

"-Korra, the movie's over," Asami gently tapped her shoulder.

"Huh? Oh. Yeah."

"You weren't paying attention, were you?" They remained in their seats as the other patrons left the theatre.

"Sorry... I was... thinking about... stuff." Korra fidgeted a bit, still in a depressed funk about how her thoughts had derailed.

"What's wrong?" Asami was looking at her in concern.

"Um, it's nothing... I've just been in a weird mood lately... I'm sorry to have worried you."

"Korra," Asami brushed hair from her girlfriend's face. "You know I won't feel better if you say it's nothing. What's on your mind to have made you so..." Asami paused, realising that Korra was upset about something. "...sad?"

Korra opened her mouth to speak, but the words would not come. The ushers came in to clean out the garbage from the theatre, so she motioned that they should leave, but Asami shook her head. "I don't think we should talk about this here," was all she could muster.

"Fine. Let's go somewhere where we can talk in private." Asami got up and Korra followed.

They meandered through the crowd: Asami took the lead as Korra followed a few feet away. Asami had not tried to take her hand nor made any indication that she wanted Korra beside her, so all Korra could do was follow until they reached a suitable spot.

Somehow, they had ended up at the basketball court. Thankfully, no one was there today. If Bolin was around, Korra was sure he wouldn't leave them alone. Asami sat down on the benches while Korra opted for the ground. It wasn't that she was dressed nicely like Asami, but she felt it might be better to face Asami and to keep her distance.

"So what's on your mind?" asked Asami calmly. She was nervous because she knew Korra always had second thoughts about them going out. The heiress knew how uncomfortable Korra was when classmates teased her for not fitting into the preppy and wealthy demographic, and the added bonus was that they did not consider Korra 'feminine' enough.

To Asami, however, Korra was just Korra. It didn't matter to her what background Korra came from, it didn't matter how masculine or feminine Korra was; what mattered was that Korra was herself. And it was the fear that Korra didn't want to continue being herself that made Asami afraid of what might happen. She didn't want Korra to change just for her, and she didn't want to change for Korra.

Korra was staring at the ground now, looking glum as she answered barely audibly. "What do you see in someone like me? You're way out of my league... But here we are."

Asami got up and sat down on the ground in front of Korra.

"Asami, you'll get your pants dirty-"

"-that doesn't matter. And I'm not whatever pristine image people paint me to be, you know that more than anyone." Asami took Korra's hands. "Korra, I know it's not easy for both of us, but isn't that what makes it more worthwhile? We'll overcome whatever comes our way." She paused and gave Korra's hands a light squeeze. "What I see in you is someone who is always able to get back up after being knocked down. What I see is someone who can tell when I'm bluffing and am actually nervous. What I see is someone who understands me for who I am, not what people want me to be. Most importantly, you're always honest and straightforward with me... I value that above all else... So whatever's bothering you, let me share that burden, ok? It takes two to tango, after all."

Korra blinked back the tears that had formed in her eyes. It was hard to talk about things like this, but Asami always made it feel like it was ok to be so open about her feelings. She understood now that Asami was probably just as scared as she was, regardless of how care-free the heiress seemed to be in public. Korra nodded her head because she knew her voice would fail her and let Asami embrace her in an awkward hug.

"You know," mumbled Asami, "I thought you were going to break up with me."

Korra shook her head. "No, not that.. It's just... It's just hard to talk about feelings and stuff... And all of this is new to me. What people say about me never bothered me before but it has been bothering me recently because of how it might affect you-"

"-I don't value my popularity as much as people expect me to, Korra... So who cares what they think?" Asami chuckled. "You're always so selfless, Korra, worrying about others but yourself... I'll manage just fine, don't worry."

"I just don't want you to be embarrassed or ashamed-"

"-for being with you? Now you're being silly. You know I don't care about the reputation..." Asami put both hands on Korra's shoulders and looked her in the eye. "If anyone gives you a hard time, just tell me. They have no right lording themselves over you just because they think you're different. We're all different. Who wants to be in the norm?"

Korra cracked a smile and nodded. "Sorry for making you worry... I know everything hasn't been... uh, smooth... since we started dating."

"I'm to blame for that, since it's usually my dad's doing with scheduling in random things, but you know I value the time that we do have together." Asami had let go of Korra's shoulders and was leaning in to kiss her girlfriend when-

"Ah! Mako! Turn around!"

Both women turned to see Bolin trying to push his brother away from the court.

"Bo, what are you doing?" shouted Mako as his little brother gave the two women a wink. "I can totally see that Asami and Korra were about to make out! I know that they're dating!" Bolin stopped pushing and awkwardly flailed his arms around.

"Bo, don't be a drama queen!" laughed Korra. The two girls made their way to the boys, Korra being very conscious that Asami was holding her hand.

"Bu- Bu- How-" Bolin turned to his brother and pointed an accusing finger. "You were keeping tabs on Asami, weren't you?!"

Mako raised both hands in surrender. "Bo, you should know how the rumour mill works at school... I mean, Asami knows that everyone knows."

"They do?!" Korra and Bolin exclaimed in unison. In shock, Bolin dropped the basketball he was carrying.

Asami covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. "The two of you react in such similar ways..." She cleared her throat. "Mako's right... I'm pretty sure everyone knows by now... I was going to tell you before we were so rudely interrupted." Bolin gulped audibly, but he knew Asami was teasing.

"B-but we were so careful and aughhh!" Korra groaned. "Everyone's going to give me hell on Monday."

"They won't," replied Mako. Everyone turned their heads to look at him. He shrugged. "They seemed all right with you guys dating when I overheard the gossip."

"Really, and why's that?" asked Asami.

"Because you're not dating a jerk like me," he answered plainly.

"Oh."

"Korra, I know we don't get along much but I know you're a good person... The entire class knows that, so just don't do anything stupid and ruin it." Mako nodded as he walked off to fetch the basketball that Bolin dropped.

"Well, that was an interesting turn of events," mumbled Asami.

"Did my brother just..." Bolin looked really happy to the point where he might've cried, but he held it in. "He just gave my best friend and his ex his blessing!" He ran off to try to hug his brother, leaving Asami and Korra standing there.

"...not like we were asking for it," muttered Asami. It wasn't that she was bitter - it was that she had never seen Mako so supportive, so she was surprised. She turned to look at Korra; her girlfriend seemed to be mulling something over, so she did not say anything when she took Korra's hand in hers.

"You know," Korra started, "now I'm more concerned about how your dad'll react."

Asami led them back to the benches and sat down. Their hands were entwined now, neither wanting to let go of the other. "He'll find out in due time, but..." Asami leaned in again and Korra followed suit.

Their kiss was brief, both tasting like the sweet aftertaste of candy that was consumed earlier in the theatre. It was a reassuring kind of kiss, one that made Korra feel like everything would fall in place and work out.

"We can, in the meanwhile, afford to be a bit care-free now that everyone at school knows," finished Asami as she noticed Korra smiling at her.

In the background, Mako was looking their way and Bolin was whooping and cheering for his two friends, his odd way of showing support.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind that," said Korra as she kissed Asami again.

Author's Note: Wow, everyone is so OOC... and this is so damn cheesy. Too lazy to fix since this was a drabble for Femslash February...