Title: Graduation Bet

Rating: K+

Words: 3499

Summary: "You said in our sophomore year that you would ask Asami out before we graduated." Mako gestured to the crowd of seniors sitting in their cap and gowns all around the three of them. "We're graduating right now! You literally have until the end of the graduation party at Asami's house later tonight or we're telling her ourselves." Korrasami. Pro-bending Circuit submission.

a/n: Another tournament submission, this time with a new show and a new pairing! I've actually never written Korrasami before, so I'd actually really appreciate some reviews on this one. Plus, I may consider writing for them again in the very near future. Hope you all enjoy!

Warnings: Modern AU. It's a graduation story, so feel free to fill in the blanks.

Task: Celebrate the end of school/lessons (graduation)

Prompts:

"I didn't think I'd get this far."

gunpowder

"In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." — Abraham Lincoln

Bonus Task: Include Earth in the story

OOO

Graduation Bet

OOO

Mako held the piece of paper with both of his hands, squinting at the neat cursive writing across the page. "Asami, you're using words that are too big. I mean, what the hell does 'percipient' even mean?"

Asami put down her wrench and sighed in Mako's direction. "You want me to edit it again? I thought it was good this time around."

Korra plucked the paper out of Mako's hands and stuck her tongue out at him. "That's because Mako doesn't appreciate your vocabulary. I thought it sounded cool. Nice joke at the beginning, by the way."

Asami smiled in relief. "Thanks Korra."

It was Bolin's turn to snatch the paper this time. "Your quote is from Abraham Lincoln? Seriously? That's so bougie, Asami," Bolin giggled. "Why not put some crazy cool celebrity in there. Like that dude from that movie we watched last night! Oh, what's his name…?"

"Okay, there was nothing remotely redeeming about that movie, bro," Mako deadpanned. "She puts a line from there in her speech, they're gonna kick her off stage."

"Whaa? There were some good one-liners!"

Asami frowned and snatcher her speech back. "Look, it's pithy and inspiring. That's the whole point. Inspire the graduating class. Is it inspiring? Am I acting too stuck up? Is it too long? Should I take some of that stuff about 'finding our callings' out? I mean that's sort of corny, isn't it?"

"Wo-hoa," Korra stopped Asami mid-rant and took the written speech away from her. Korra laughed internally when she saw Asami take a deep breath and push her hair away from her face. As collected and optimistic as the girl was, when it came to her work, she was extremely self-critical. Korra knew it was because Asami always wanted to do an exceptional job at everything she did, but sometimes she freaked herself out like this. It was always kind of cute, but Korra never said anything.

"Look, stop stressing," Korra soothed, pushing Asami's hair away from her shoulders. She pulled a hair tie off her wrist and pulled Asami's hair back into a low ponytail. "You've been freaking out about this valedictorian speech for the past week. Graduation is in a couple of days, and you're supposed to be relaxing and enjoying the fact that we're finally done." Korra peeked around Asami's shoulder and smiled. "Stop looking at it for a while, huh?"

Asami smiled and laughed at herself a little, knocking her cheek against Korra's. "Yeah, I know. Ugh, I know I'm overreacting but I want this speech to be perfect. I've got to make an impression, you know?"

Korra was about to open her mouth and respond before her eyes drifted over to Mako, who was smirking knowingly at the two girls. Korra raised a brow, until she realized how close she was standing to her friend. Both hands on her shoulders, their cheeks pressing together, and Korra's torso pressed flush against the back of the chair Asami was sitting in. Korra could feel herself blushing when she immediately straightened up and created a little distance. Mako did nothing but laugh and pull his chair closer to Asami's work table.

"Korra's right," Mako promised. "Bolin and I were just messing with you. The speech is brilliant, and you don't need to do anything to it. Besides, don't you think your physics project is a little bit more pressing? It's due tomorrow."

"Yeah, Korra told me it was an engine, but it just looks like a desk fan to me," Bolin replied, staring pointedly at the device that Asami was tinkering with before she pulled out her speech for all of her friends to read.

Asami picked up her wrench again and started tightening something. "It's a small two-way oscillating steam engine. I'm trying to power it with the combustion products of black powder instead of steam." She reached under her work desk and pulled out a small grain casing that smelled strongly of gunpowder. "You just put it in the chamber, ignite, and the engine will spin. Well, hopefully," Asami shrugged, turning back to the engine. "It might blow up if I screwed up and put too much inside the casing. That's what happened last time."

Bolin straightened up in his chair and looked around. "Shouldn't you do this outside!?"

"Eh, we're half-outside," Asami elaborated, gesturing to the opened garage door. "I'm sure it'll be fine. I think I got it right this time."

Korra started eyeing the combustion chamber. "Woah, that's so cool! Wait wait wait, I thought this stuff explodes. Like, you know with guns and fireworks and stuff. How do you know it won't blow up?"

Asami smiled as she continued working and started explaining. "Well, I made the blend. So the explosive stuff is fast burning powder, but this is a slow-burning blend so it won't actually…"

She leaned her elbows on the workbench and stared at Asami while she was pointing to her machine, but this time Korra caught Bolin whispering in Mako's ear and jutting his chin in Korra's direction. Mako nodded and smiled in Korra's direction, darting his eyes to Asami quickly and then back. Bolin was waggling his eyebrows and making kissing faces at her, and Korra mouthed to the boys to shut up.

Mako rolled his eyes and mouthed back at her. Ask her!

But Korra's eyes widened and she shook her head vigorously. She knew exactly what Mako was talking about, and she was really trying to avoid the issue and hope that her other friends had conveniently forgotten about it as well. But, Mako always did say that Korra had absolutely no subtlety when it came to — well, anything really — and that this lack of subtlety was especially obvious when it came to how Korra acted around their other friend.

Korra thought she was getting better about it. She used to openly stare at Asami in the middle of class and play it off like she was just this spacey dork that always happened to land her eyes on the girl. At least she stopped that. But it seemed that neither of the brothers were convinced of this.

Crap.

Asami's hand waving in front of Korra's face shook her back into attention. "Hey, are you listening? If I'm boring you, let me know," Asami smirked good naturedly.

Korra smiled — gosh Asami had the cutest smirk, ugh — and nodded. "Yeah, sorry. What were you saying again?"

OOO

"You're stalling Korra. You shook on this, remember?"

Korra didn't want to remember. She was too busy hiding her head in her lap and trying to conceal her mortification. "I can't do it, Mako. I'm breaking the deal, I'm not doing it."

"Woah, woah, woooooah," Bolin perked up, leaning across his brothers lap to tap at Korra's shoulder. "Don't you dare. We shook on it. I take shakes very seriously. You promised Korra, you said you would."

"Personally, I don't get why you're not jumping on the opportunity," Mako muttered, adjusting his graduation cap so that it sat properly on his head. "You two are so touchy-feely and friendly and all smiles and laughing...I mean, I've only seen Asami act like that around me, and that was only when we were seriously dating, and even then it wasn't as bad as it is with you. She definitely likes you, so you have nothing to lose."

Korra looked like she was about to die of embarrassment. "But you don't know that!" she moaned quietly. "I'm going to waltz up in front of her, try to ask her out, and self-combust. Even Asami's not going to know what to do when I start doing that. No, it's just better for everyone if I just don't say anything."

Mako turned to the head of the stage, glad to see that the principal was still talking and that they could still get away with whispering quietly in their seats. "Do you hear yourself? You're just going to stay in love with your best friend forever and not say anything to her because you're afraid?" Mako shook his head. "Korra, you took on a football player last week and you actually got him on his back and with a broken nose. If that's not the ballsiest thing I've ever seen in my life, I'll eat my cap. Where the hell did all that courage go?"

Bolin leaned on his brother's shoulder and fluttered his eyelashes. "It got lost in Asami's captivating, green eyes," he whispered sweetly.

"Shut up!" Korra hissed.

"You said in our sophomore year that you would ask Asami out before we graduated." Mako gestured to the crowd of seniors sitting in their cap and gowns all around the three of them. "We're graduating right now! You literally have until the end of the graduation party at Asami's house later tonight or we're telling her ourselves."

Korra reached over frantically and covered Mako's mouth with her hand. "Oh, no you don't. Either she hears it from me, or she hears it from no one! Stay out of this!"

"Well then tell her and we won't get involved!" Bolin argued back.

Korra sighed and settled back into her seat when a teacher came over to their row and told them all to be quiet during the ceremony. She leaned slightly to her left when the coast was clear to whisper in Mako's ear. "I know she likes me. We're friends, that's a give in. But there's no way she likes me enough to date me. I mean...she dated you!"

"So did you!" Mako argued back. "That's not an excuse. Trust me, she flirted with me a lot freshman year. I know when that girl is vibing on people and she is vibing on you hard."

Korra turned to Mako and eyed him suspiciously. "...you're lying."

Mako did nothing but shrug and shush Korra after he pointed to the stage. Sure enough, the principal had just announced the class valedictorian, and Asami started to make her way up to the stage. Asami made her way to the podium and tapped on the microphone once and began her introduction of thanking all of the guests and the administration sitting to her left. She was standing straight with her chin lifted and her voice strong, but Korra could see that she was tapping her manicured nails rhythmically against the podium, a nervous habit that she fell into when she was trying hard not to lose her composure in front of crowds.

She seemed to have been scanning the crowd for a moment before she found Mako, Bolin, and Korra all sitting together in the crowd of students. She smiled a little when her eyes fell on Korra and then turned back to the students, dropping that joke from her speech that Korra loved, and relaxing when she saw how much everyone was laughing.

Korra leaned her chin into the palms of her hands. "Ugh, she's so adorable. She lit up the minute everyone started laughing, that's so cute. And look at her drumming her nails on the podium. She's nervous but she's still doing so great."

Bolin started laughing into his brother's shoulder. "Korra, please make a move after this ceremony, you're so bewitched it's ridiculous."

Korra was about to berate Bolin about the teasing, but Asami's speech caught her attention for a moment.

"In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years," Asami quoted. "Sometimes, it can seem like our years with our friends are passing us by too quickly for us to handle. We get scared about the future, and we go forth unsure of what the future will bring, afraid of how quickly it'll pass us by. But the most important thing I want to tell you all is that every laugh, every smile, every friendship, and every accomplishment that you made during your time here is what truly matters. Fill your days with meaning. Take risks. Be brave. Be vulnerable. Be vivacious. Because those are the kinds of things that last lifetimes and stick with us forever."

Korra smiled to herself and sat back in her chair. Asami blew it out of the park, just like Korra predicted. Asami always worried for nothing. Plus, that was some pretty sound advice that she gave the graduating class. Be brave. Be vulnerable. Take risks. Mako must have known it to because he was nudging her with his elbow throughout that entire portion of Asami's speech. Korra knew what he was getting at, because she was starting to make the same realization. Thinking back on it, the friendships within their group had withstood some pretty awkward stuff over the years, and they had all turned out fine in the end.

Asking Asami out couldn't possibly result in any awkwardness worse than all that, right?

OOO

Bolin had to beg Asami for literally weeks before she relented and allowed him to plan a post-graduation party at her house. His excuse was that she was the only student who had a house anywhere big enough to hold that many students, and unfortunately the logic was sound. Korra was never one for large crowds and parties, so after talking with a few people she knew and trading congratulations with everyone, Korra snuck out of the party and made it to the grounds behind the Sato mansion hoping to get some fresh air. But the moment she stepped out onto the patio, she saw Asami sitting at the bottom most step leading to the grounds, pulling grass and bits of dirt out of the ground and staring out at the empty gardens.

Korra leaned down, pulled off her flats, and padded down the stairs. She tapped Asami lightly on the shoulder until the taller girl turned to her. Korra smiled and gestured to the space next to Asami. "Mind if I sit?"

Asami shook her head and grinned. "No, no, go ahead. I could use some company anyway."

Korra raised a brow at all the grass and dirt Asami had dug up. "Planning on ripping up the entire backyard?"

Asami rolled her eyes and laughed while looking down at her hands. "Eh, I always hated what dad did with this yard anyway. Makes me feel like I'm in a 19th century manor. I was thinking of getting rid of everything and starting over."

Korra chuckled and reached down to help her pull more bits of grass out of the Earth. "You always say that, but I know why you keep it," she replied knowingly.

"Yeah, I know," Asami laughed back. "It was his last little pet project before he died, I feel bad ripping it out." She sighed deeply and started sifting the dirt in between her fingers. "Didn't hit me until a while ago that my parents weren't there for my graduation...didn't see my speech, or see me get my diploma. There was no one there to take all those dorky pictures. Plus, it makes me living in this house all by myself even worse, you know?"

Korra frowned and looked down at Asami's hand that kept ripping up the dirt underneath her and knew that she was getting incredibly upset and trying not to show it. She reached over, picked up Asami's hand, and held it in her lap. "Stop. You're ruining your manicure," Korra joked, trying to lighten the mood. Asami cracked a small smile, and Korra continued. "Look, I don't know what it's like to lose your parents. But they would have been so proud of you. You were your dad's pride and joy, trust me, I saw it. You were the only thing he really cared about, and I'm sure that's not going to change."

Asami grinned and squeezed Korra's hand before leaning her head on the shorter girl's shoulder. "Yeah, I know. It's just...it sucks."

"Well," Korra announced, reaching into her back pocket and pulling out her phone. "Worry not. Because I figured you'd be upset that no one would be there in the audience celebrating with you, so…" Korra unlocked her phone and swiped through her photo stream until she came upon the twenty or so pictures she had taken with her phone of Asami finishing her speech, Asami receiving her diploma, and Asami waving to the camera which probably happened with Bolin, Mako, and Korra all stood up to cheer for her. "I mean, okay, I'm not a professional photographer, but Mako knows a guy that can fix these up really nice and blow them up for you so you can hang them around the house."

Asami lifted her head to look Korra in the face. "Shut up, you did not." Asami turned Korra's phone towards her and swiped through all of the photos that Korra had taken of her during the graduation. Asami laughed in disbelief. "Wow. You know, for iPhone photos, these aren't too bad." Asami looked back at Korra. "You didn't have to do that."

"Everyone deserves someone to celebrate with," Korra explained. "Especially you. If I have to take dorky pictures, attach our graduation key chains to my car keys, and stick those high school graduation bumper stickers on the back of my car, then I'm doing it. I hate that you feel like you're missing out on something because of your parents, and I didn't want you to feel left out. You're always sad about the fact that you're alone, but you're not. You've got Bolin. You've got Mako. And you've got me," Korra grinned. "Trust me, I'll beat this graduation thing to death and brag to my family about you if you want me to. I'll be totally legit."

Asami threw her head back and laughed, leaning into Korra's side. Korra started laughing with her as well, and started leaning back into her. "I'm serious. I'll be a total dork for you."

Asami leaned her chin on Korra's shoulder and muttered quietly. "You're way too sweet, Korra."

Korra could feel her heart racing from their proximity, but she tried her hardest to keep herself collected on the outside. "I'd do anything for you, you know that."

Asami leaned up and pressed a soft, quick kiss on Korra's cheek. "I do now," she replied sweetly. "Thank you."

Asami had thanked Korra for a lot of things in the past, but for some reason this felt different. Maybe it was the way Asami was staring at Korra, but Korra finally threw caution to the wind and decided to just go for it like Mako and Bolin told her to. She leaned forward and placed a quick kiss on Asami's lips — just lips, closed mouth, and short enough that it could be construed as a friendly tap on the lips in case she scared Asami off.

Korra immediately backed away a few inches and looked at Asami's face for a reaction. The only the thing she was really gauging was wide-eyed shock, and she was almost positive that wasn't the kind of reaction you wanted after you kissed someone. Korra frowned and looked away nervously.

"S-Sorry, that was stupid," Korra immediately apologized. "I was just — I dunno, I just got caught up in the moment. I wasn't trying to, I mean — I didn't mean to —"

But Asami cut Korra off by grabbing her chin and kissing her herself, this time a lot more fully and a lot more longer than their first kiss. Korra only let the surprise shock her motionless for a few seconds before she smiled into the kiss. She reached up and buried her hand in Asami's hair, and Asami's hand moved from Korra's chin to cradle her cheek, pulling her closer and gently opening her mouth to let her tongue gently move along Korra's lips. Korra smiled wider and moved her hand to rest on Asami's waist, tilting her head to the side when their tongues met. She had managed to imagine this scenario dozens of times, but it was a lot more satisfying in real life. She kicked herself and realized she should have listened to Mako and Bolin sooner.

Korra separated the kiss and stared at Asami who was flushed and biting her lips with an adorable smile. Korra said the first thing that came into her head. "Wanna go grab lunch tomorrow with me? Just the two of us?"

Asami smirked and nodded immediately. "Of course. Where to?"

"...I dunno," Korra admitted. "I didn't think I'd get this far."

Asami rolled her eyes. "I've been waiting for you to ask me out for ages."

"Wait, seriously? Ugh," Korra looked away in exasperation. "Was everyone waiting for me to make a move?"

"Sort of," Asami admitted. "But it's okay. I'm sure you'll more than make up for it without even trying."

Korra turned back to Asami and grinned charmingly. "You know I will."

Needless to say, the two of them never bothered to return to the party.