Day 1: Quirk
She had long since noticed that little quirk of his, it was discreet and most people didn't see it but he did it very often and even now, after four years in his company, she still wondered what it was all about.
"Why do you do that?" Korra blurted out the question from her comfortable spot at his side, with her head on his deeply scarred chest. She was talking without thinking and there it was again- that little quirk, that little oddity.
"Do what, Korra?" He looked at her with pale icy blue eyes burning with a heat that was only reserved for her.
"That little head thing, that quirk you do all the time." She explained , propping her arm under her chin as she looked up at him with no judgment whatsoever, which was what he expected from everyone, hence why he loved her so much, hence why she dazzled him with her innocence even now.
"I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean." He trailed his fingers in her hair and watched her, feeling the unique sensation of peace that only she seemed to grant his troubled spirit.
"You're doing it right now, Noatak!" Korra pouted playfully and poked his nose, mimicking his little idiosyncrasy. "You tilt your head down and to the left whenever someone talks to you."
"Oh…" Noatak's brows rose up in sudden surprise. "This?" He cocked his head slightly, obscuring the majority of the left side of his face, the heavily damaged side, and exposing the handsome right profile of his visage.
"Yeah, that!" Korra pointed at him and smiled. "What's that quirk all about?"
"I figured you of all people would have figured it out by now, Korra." Noatak smiled rather sorrowfully, even after all this time it still hurt to think about…well, about the origin of that oddity.
"Huh?" The Avatar looked innocently lost, almost like a child even though the fact that she was naked and flushed in his arms in the bed that had been sharing for a couple of years now proved just how very adult she had become since the Equalist War.
"You really don't know?" Noatak trailed his marred fingers down her back, inciting a slight shiver.
"Tell me." Korra insisted, now very acutely curious.
"I tilt my head to the left in order to properly hear what is being said." Noatak replied still holding that sorrowful smile.
"I don't get it."
"My left ear is completely deaf, Korra." He explained patiently, neglecting to point out that he had also learned to read lips thanks to that disability. "I developed the unconscious quirk of tilting my head in order to perceive what people are saying with my right ear."
"Deaf?" Korra was staring at him with shock widening her beautiful cerulean eyes. "Because of the…" She trailed off, already she regretted having brought up the subject.
"Because of the boat explosion, yes." Noatak nodded softly and pulled her tighter into his arms, trying to reassure her that she had done nothing wrong.
It still hurt to remember the accident that had been no accident; it was still agony to remember that the repenting Tarrlok had died but that monstrous Amon had lived because of his cursed bending and the mercy of the loving but naïve Avatar. It was torture to think of that day four years before when his brother had tried to bring an end to their sad story but he knew he had to come to terms with his own survival and he despised that Korra could feel guilty for bringing it up, after all she had the right to know everything she wanted, she had saved his life and his soul that day… Sure, she hadn't been the one to pull him out of the water as a destroyed wreck of a man but she had been his healer when she had been called to be his executioner; and then she had cleared the warped hatred he carried in his soul when she had patiently tended to him and spoken peacefully of her own thoughts and ideals for all those weeks but most of all she had given him a new start and a new purpose in life when she had given in to his selfish obsession and granted him her love.
"I…I never noticed." Korra whispered, swallowing dryly as empathetic pain filled her.
"That was the point, my love." Noatak kissed her cheek soothingly. "It's actually a relief to know that it is not all that obvious."
"Is there anything else?" Korra looked at him again, there wasn't any pity in her eyes but there was plenty of worry and care. "I mean…If it's not too painful to talk about."
"Do you really want to know?" Noatak was tilting his head again quite unconsciously. "I don't mind telling you, Korra, but please wipe that worried frown from your face. I much prefer your smile."
"Tell me and I'll try." Korra huffed stubbornly.
"Alright." He chuckled briefly and considered her question. "As you know most of my back and upper left side of my body is heavily scarred from the burns and as my healer you also know about my missing fingers and the scarred lung but I guess that if you never noticed the deaf left ear then you probably never noticed the mostly blind left eye either or the temperature control issue."
"Spirits…" Korra looked absolutely livid. "How could I miss that?"
"You missed it because those are unfixable and I did my best to overcome them and keep them from you."
"Why?!" She was still too stunned to react with anything but shock.
"Because I didn't want you to worry like you are right now. Because I knew you would feel responsible for not being able to do more and because I did not wish for any pity." Noatak traced her cheek with his damaged hand, all three remaining fingers trailing delicately across her smooth skin. "And because I love you too much to burden you anymore, Korra."
"Noatak… I will always worry but I would never pity you. Not you, of all people." Korra leaned into his tender touch.
"I know that now." Noatak smiled, she had long since discovered that his mask had been a necessary tool since he was the sort of man that had a really hard time keeping his emotions off his face.
"I just wish I could have fixed you up."
" Oh Korra, you did… More than you will ever imagine. You saved more than my life, you fixed my soul and my heart." He held her by the waist and hoisted her up until she was over him, allowing them to be as close as possible with their bodies tangled together as one.
"Anything else?" Korra looked at him hesitantly but comfortable.
"Not really, my love." Noatak played with a lock of her hair between his fingers. "And if it makes you feel better you have a couple of unique physical quirks yourself."
"Like what?" Her sorrow was quickly drowned by curiosity.
"Perhaps I'll point them out when I see them." He smirked and raised a brow suggestively.
"That was a perverted remark, wasn't it?" Korra gave him a flat face.
"Oh yes." Noatak laughed lightly. "But I meant what I said, you do have lovely little quirks."
"You're just saying that to make me feel better…" Korra pouted but her mood had lightened slightly and she nuzzled the right side of his neck, now self-consciously teaching herself only to whisper all her loving words to his right side.
"No, I'm being absolutely honest. If I wished to make you feel better I would do this." Noatak tilted her head by fisting his hand into her hair to urge her closer in order to kiss her feverishly and deeply, lips locking and melting together as tongues danced passionately while his free hand trailed down her spine again to cup her rear, bringing her even closer.
"That does make me feel a little better." Korra breathed the words into his lips as the long languid kiss broke and a smug smile tugged at the corners of her lips.
"Just a little?" He snickered, planting yet another kiss in her lips, trying to dispel the dark topic once and for all.
"Yeah…" Korra hesitated but something came to mind and the opportunity seemed too good to waste, she had learned from Noatak never to waste a good opening. "Wanna know what would really make me feel better?"
"Name it and it's yours, Korra. I would give you anything."
"I want a baby."
"Except that." Noatak corrected himself rapidly.
"Come on, Noatak! How many times must I beg for it? I want your baby and I want it now, while there's peace and there's no need for the Avatar to fight. It's the perfect time." Korra whined and scowled at the long argued subject, she had first brought it up two years earlier and he had been denying her ever since.
"That's not the point, Korra." Noatak combed stray tresses of her hair away from her face tenderly.
"Then what? Do you hate kids that much or do you just think I'd be that bad a mom?" Korra sulked further though almost comically, she wasn't really upset, she had long since resigned herself to his denial but she hated that he never explained himself, that mysterious streak was yet another of his little quirks.
"Neither of those, dear." Noatak traced her bottom lip with him thumb to dispel her pout.
"Then what?" She pouted further just to rebel against his touch.
"You should know that too." He gave her a penetrating look that provoked shivers all over Korra's skin.
"Well I don't." She stuck her tongue out defiantly. "So tell me."
"We are both waterbenders and offspring of waterbenders, Korra. What are the odds that any child of ours won't inherit our skills?" Noatak sounded resentful.
"So what's the problem if our kid is a bender? Don't tell me you're still sticking to all that 'bending is evil' crap?" Korra's face fell into a deeper frown.
"No, that would be hypocrisy." Noatak shook his head calmly.
"Then what…?"
"Korra…" Noatak hesitated but then his resolve steeled. "What was the most intense pain you ever felt in your entire life?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Just answer."
"You know what it was." Korra avoided the answer and looked away reluctantly.
"Answer." He tipped her chin to force her to look at him again as he tilted his head in that unique little quirk.
"Bloodbending." Korra's face steeled too, she was suddenly uncomfortable to be lying naked over his bare body which prompt her to sit up, straddling him dominantly.
"Exactly." Noatak nodded calmly. "You know what I carry in my blood, what Tarrlok tried to eliminate. I can't bear the thought I bringing yet another accursed bloodbender of Yakone's lineage into the world."
"Noatak, so long as you don't teach our kids that skill, they won't use it and even if they somehow learn it, the circumstances are different. You are not your father, you're better than that, you can teach them to follow the right path." Korra smiled, softening up optimistically now that she knew what had been eating him.
"What if I am like him? Believe it or not he was a good husband and a loving father at first, he only became a warped, hatred filled, abusing monster much later, Korra. What if I lose perspective again just like him?"
"That's what I'm here for, Noatak." Korra smirked, kissing him sweetly but deeply. "If you ever lose your way again this Avatar will kick your ass into the Spirit World and back."
"You make a very good point, my dear." Noatak kissed back fervently. "You have defeated me before."
"Does that mean you agree with me?" Korra gave him an expecting puppy-eyed look.
"Well…" Noatak had to admit that the prospect of having a family of his own was selfishly tempting but most of all it was the desire to make Korra happy that urged him to take her side and forced him to see her perspective. "It means I agree to try to agree with you." He replied cryptically.
"So…Can I have my wish?" Korra grinned full of self-confidence. "Can we have a kid?"
"If that's what fate has in store for us then yes, Korra." He finally gave in with plenty of reservations, yet he decided to hand his fears over to destiny.
"When?"
"No time like the present." He smiled again, pulling her down to him once more for a passionate heated kiss that stole away their breaths but poured their souls into each other.
"Sounds like fun." She murmured huskily biting her lower lip seductively but unconsciously, dragging her pearly white teeth over said plump lip.
"Ah…There's one of those little quirks of yours that I simply can't resist." He kissed her again, sucking her bitten lip tenderly and locking her in a passionate embrace as he rolled to pin her under him.
In the end he always gave in to her, she was his weakness and she knew it. She was the Yin to his Yang, she was mercy to his ruthlessness, she was the beauty to his disfigurement, the youth to his experience, she was the kindness to his cruelty, the innocence to his shrewdness, the empathy to his manipulation, she was the heated brashness to his cold scheming and yet they were one, they were two pieces of a whole no matter what differences tore them apart.
Quirks or no quirks, oddities or not, they belonged together.
~~~~~~.:oOo:.~~~~~~
(Author's Note: I figured deafness was a credible disability for Noatak given the size of the explosion that happened right next to him. Also, the quirk I chose actually hits very close to home for me- my father happens to be completely deaf from his left ear and partially deaf from the right one. I lived alone with him for over a decade and saw how he struggled not to let that disability show or hamper his life, even though it still hinders his greatest love (music) and affects his social life to huge extents. Either way he was my inspiration for Noatak's attitude here.)