Last night had been nice. Korra slowly opened her eyes as the sunlight from outside spread across her face from the open window. A slight breeze rustled the curtains, and the blankets around her were suddenly pulled further off of her.
She grumbled, feeling the cool air across her skin, and shifted closer to the bundle who stole her covers.
Because of being in charge of rebuilding an entire city as well as keeping up with Avatar duties, Korra and Asami rarely got to spend more than a few fleeting minutes with each other every couple of days. But for the first time in two weeks, they had
an entire weekend together. Even better than that, Asami had gotten her work for the night finished earlier than expected and had gone over to Korra's new apartment located near the spirit portal last night.
"Cold." A voice broke out from underneath the blankets, muffled sounding but still cute enough to leave Korra with a small smile on her face.
"I'm cold too, turn around."
The blankets shifted around so Korra could see the sleepy face of her girlfriend with her eyes still closed and a pout on her face.
"Warm me up." Asami lifted the blankets up and pulled Korra closer to her so they were both wrapped underneath the covers.
Their legs intertwined together and Korra slid her arms around Asami's waist. They hadn't told anyone about their relationship yet. With too many eyes on them in the public it felt nice to have something private that meant so much to the both of them.
Not even Mako or Bolin knew, and they were Korra and Asami's closest friends.
Asami gently kissed the top of Korra's head and sighed as she drifted back asleep. Korra, on the other hand, always had trouble falling back to sleep once she was up.
The thought of telling her friends, her family, and Mako something this important about her and Asami caused her hands to tremble. Not all of it was due to fear, it also made butterflies erupt in her stomach as she pressed her face closer underneath Asami's
chin.
It's not like they planned to keep it a secret forever, just until things settled down enough in Republic city for everyones lives to go back to normal. At least, that's what Korra kept telling herself.
Before her thoughts could continue, the doorbell rang.
That's weird...not many people know I live here.
The two girls ignored it, continuing to stay wrapped up in each others comfort...Until the doorbell rang again. Korra groaned, squeezing Asami tighter. "Get the door for me?"
"Nobody knows I'm here. It's too early."
It was usually Korra staying over at Asami's place, since Korra used to live with what felt like two dozen other people hovering over their shoulders on Air Temple Island. But once the city rebuilding spread closer to the spirit portal, Korra had decided
to finally get a place of her own that was closer to where she was needed.
And luckily enough, it was also closer to her girlfriend.
The ringing noise persisted. "Korra, make them stop."
Reluctantly, the avatar dragged herself out of bed, away from the warm blankets and into the frigid air of her apartment. She pulled various pieces of clothing out from her drawers, not aiming to look nice but only to appear decent enough to stop the
ungodly racket coming from the front door.
"I'm coming!" Korra shouted towards the door.
She reached for the door handle and pulled it open. On the other side of the door was none other than Mako, dressed in casual clothing and holding a small package.
"Oh, Mako, hey...Um, what are you doing?" Korra asked.
"I heard from Bolin that you had today free, so I thought I'd stop by to give you your house warming gift." He said. "Uh, sorry I'm giving it to you so late. And, you know, so early in the day."
He at least had the decency to look bashful after realizing the sun was barely up in the sky and he had just woken the Avatar up on her day off. Mako scratched behind his head and peered inside the apartment over Korra's shoulder.
"So...can I come in?"
"What? Oh, yeah! Sorry, come on in." She reluctantly opened the door so her friend could come inside.
Hopefully, she thought, he won't stay long enough to realize I'm not alone. Having Mako come over unannounced and stumble upon Asami at her apartment wasn't her ideal way of breaking the news to her friend.
"Nice place. A lot better than my first apartment." Mako looked around the open room, admiring how it kept its simplicity while also having a few touches of water tribe decor.
The living room of the apartment was a small area containing an open kitchen on the left side and two doors on the right. A couch sat in the middle of the room facing a low table, used more often for eating than the actual dining table.
In the kitchen there were two sets of dinner utensils left of the table from Asami's surprise visit the night before. Korra had gotten very pleasantly distracted by her girlfriend before she could clean them up at the time.
Mako set the gift that he brought on the living room table and stood awkwardly by the couch.
"Please, have a seat." She told him.
He coughed.
"Ummm, Korra? Is that...yours?" Mako gestured hesitantly to the corner of the room, next to the faded blue couch.
She glanced to where he pointed, her eyes quickly being drawn to the very obviously red and very obviously not her pair of underwear.
"Is what mine?" On instinct she moved her body to block her friends vision of the offending garment. Act casual, act normal, you got this.
"Korra, I just watched you move in front of where I was pointing."
"What? That's ridiculous. You're ridiculous. Silly Mako…..Being ridiculous." Nailed it.
"I'm a detective. I think I know what's going on here." He stepped closer to her, making her take another step back. "Ever since I got here you've acted like you're hiding something."
Another step, this one towards the door to the bedroom. "There were two sets of plates in the sink, which you tried to hide. There is another person's clothes in your house, which you tried to ignore. "
Her eyes darted over to the door and willed it to stay shut, for Asami to please don't come out until he leaves. "And now you're doing that thing with your face. What is going on with you?"
Korra discreetly shifted her body between his and the bedroom door. "Uhh….nothing?" She grinned as best as she could.
It took him exactly two seconds before he pieced it together and reached past her to open the door. "Who are you hiding?"
Asami picked the exact moment he pulled open the door to get out bed, expecting Korra and not at all someone else.
"Are you coming back to- Mako!" She quickly jumped back to the mattress to cover herself with the bedsheets.
"Oh, spirits!" Mako threw his arm over his eyes and turned from the room. "I'm so. Sorry, this is...I'm so sorry."
Korra closed the door, leaving Mako out in the living room. She rested her back against the doorframe and put her head in her hands. "This is not how I wanted this to go."
"At least you have clothes on." Now that Mako had left the room, Asami picked up her clothes from the ground and began putting them on.
"We should talk. To him. About us."
"I think he probably knows by now, Korra." Her girlfriend pouted by the door and Asami sighed. "But you're right."
Mako sat on the couch. His face bright red and mind a mess. What was going on? His two ex-girlfriends...together? It was impossible. Why couldn't he have just called before coming over?
The door behind him opened and he fought his instinct to look over his shoulder at the noise, not wanting to see more than he already had. His eyes clenched closed, imagining himself anywhere other than where he was right now.
"Mako…" Asami's voice sounded. "Let's talk."
Stubbornly, he abruptly stood up but kept his face away from the two girls. "Nothing to talk about. I should get going."
"We're dating." The other girl blurted out. "Me and Asami. We're dating."
Mako stopped in his tracks, right before getting to the door to leave. "How long?"
"About two months." Asami answered this time.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"It wasn't the right time. We were going to, honestly. You know I would never keep something like this from you." Korra said.
"There's something I should tell you too." Mako turned around, pink still spread across his cheeks but looking more comfortable. "I'm seeing someone."
"What?!" The Avatar shouted. "Who? Since when?"
"The new girl at the station. It's only been a couple of weeks."
"Oh. Congratulations."
A tense silence filled the room. Asami cleared her throat, "Thank you for stopping by, Mako. I think I'm going to head back to bed now."
She left the room, leaving Korra and Mako to stare awkwardly at each other.
"Sorry-" They both started.
"You first." Mako said.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. And that you had to...find out this way." Korra admitted to her friend.
"No, I'm the one who should be sorry. I didn't call or let you know I was coming over, and I invited myself in like an idiot and-"
"Mako, it's fine." She laughed. "Don't worry about it. I'm not the one you saw naked. Which, by the way, I don't appreciate you walking in on my girlfriend like that."
Girlfriend. It was the first time she'd told another person that out loud. It felt strange, unfamiliar to her but not unnatural.
"It's nothing I haven't seen before." Mako turned back to the door.
Korra was thrown off by his response. "Hey-"
"See you later, talk soon!" And he was gone, a silence ringing out in his absence.
She took a deep breath. It had been quite an eventful way to start the day, but she was glad it ended well. There were many people still left to tell, but the hardest one was done.
Korra suddenly felt very tired, she was up late the previous night and it was still fairly early in the day. It wouldn't be too lazy of her to go back to sleep. Besides, she had her favorite person in the world waiting for her to come back to bed.
The bedroom door creaked when it opened, no matter how subtly Korra tried to push it. Inside on the bed was Asami, awake, but only just barely. She had returned to her spot curled up underneath the blankets on the bed.
"Hey." Asami greeted her.
"Hey…"
"I'm still cold, you know."
Korra smiled, and lifted up the sheets to slip into bed. By habit she snuck her arms around Asami from behind and pulled her closer. She placed a kiss on the side of Asami's neck causing the other girl to shudder.
"How about we work on warming each other up?" Korra asked after another kiss, this one lower.
Asami sighed and turned around to face her, pressing a hand to Korra's mouth and pushing her away. "I love you, but I'm really tired right now."
Korra loosely grabbed the hand that was over her mouth and moved it to kiss each finger individually. After she kissed the last one Asami pulled her hand back and placed it on Korra's shoulder, rubbing it and sliding her fingers over to play with the
short hair on the back of her neck.
The Avatar closed her eyes in contempt and connected her lips to Asami's, gently biting down on her lower lip. Moments passed and Korra pulled back, instead pressing their foreheads together. "I love you, too."
Asami curled up closer to Korra, tucking her head underneath the other girl's chin. "Goodnight, Korra."
And Korra couldn't have been happier, staying in bed all day with her girlfriend, doing absolutely nothing except relaxing. It was perfect.