Korra's lips are hot on Mako's as her hands wander the expanse of his back. Lightning runs under her skin as much from the novelty and thrill of the forbidden as anything he's actually doing. She's never had a boyfriend before, never kissed anyone who wasn't her own father before Mako. She wants to drink deep of all the things she's only ever read about now that Amon is gone and she has her bending back. A moan—an actual moan—rips from his throat as Korra puts her tongue in his mouth. Everything. She's going to have everything that was denied her when she was stuck in this compound.
There's a creak like the door opening. "Korra, Mako. Dinner's—" Asami's voice fades away into nothing and Korra realizes too late that it actually was the door. She and Mako break apart with a yelp and Korra rounds to face Asami. She's as impeccably dressed as always, but her nose is red with the beginning of a cold. Her eyes are wide and she looks like she wants to crawl into a hole and stay there. Or maybe Korra is just projecting.
"I'll just, um, leave you two alone. Dinner's ready." And before Korra can say anything else, Asami closes the door.
"Well, that was awkward." Mako rubs the back of his neck, his face bright red. "She'll be all right, right? Asami is always all right."
"Yeah," Korra agrees weakly, but her stomach is somewhere near her knees. She's read about love triangles (strange that the word applies to her) but they were never like this. The other girl was always evil or selfish, an obstacle for the heroine to overcome before getting her just reward. But Asami is good. She gave up everything to help Korra. She should be the heroine in a story. Korra being happy shouldn't require making Asami unhappy.
They scurry to dinner like guilty spider-rats. Mako sits on her left, Asami on her right. Every cough and sniffle seems to echo in Korra's ears. Asami pushes her seaweed from one side of the plate to the other without much interest. Cold. Just the cold, Korra tells herself. But Asami looks more miserable than sick. Korra looks to Mako for guidance, but he looks like a catdeer caught in the headlights.
The sick feeling in Korra's stomach deepens. It's more than just the guilt of winning a prize she doesn't quite feel she deserves. They developed a routine at the island. Korra would make a joke and please smile from Asami's lips. Asami might explain the vagaries of anything from radios to makeup. For the first time since she realized that she was the Avatar, Korra had had friends. Those friends were here with her now. The compound that had been her prison should have at last felt like a home.
"Hey, Asami," she tries, "what do you get when you cross a platypus-bear with a turtleduck?"
Asami looks up, blinks, and focuses reluctantly on Korra. "What?" She sounds tired.
"I—nevermind." Korra gives up and focuses on the adults instead. Her mother and father are beaming at her, lavishing praise that Korra only half-heard. All grown up. Knew you could do it. Tenzin looks just as proud, and Korra wonders if he finally sees the Avatar when he looks at her. The White Lotus scowl as if Equalists might come charging through the door at any moment. But it's Pema and Beifong who catch and hold Korra's interest.
Pema looks exhausted, but she and Beifong are talking in low voices. Suddenly Beifong barks out a laugh and her whole face changes. She looks…human. Not softer, exactly, but Korra can at least believe that she used to be young and have a boyfriend and everything else that had seemed impossible when she was stuffy old Chief Beifong. "That is…I'm surprised the Chief Acolyte didn't throw you out on the spot."
Pema gives her a conspiratorial smile. "Oh, he would have, but the ostrich-horse won the race. I made a fortune that summer. So did the Chief Acolyte."
Tenzin's face turns an alarming shade of red. "I don't know if this story is appropriate for mixed company."
Beifong makes a contemptuous noise. "Screw it, Tenzin. Soon as we get back to the city and I straighten out the mess Saikhan made of everything, your wife and I are going to the track."
"I didn't know Mommy liked cars!" Ikki says brightly. "Can we come?"
"I think she's talking about the kind of track where you gamb—"
Tenzin covers Jinora's mouth and glares halfheartedly at Beifong and his wife. "That's quite enough. I think I liked it better when you two didn't get along," he mutters.
"Only took twelve years," Pema says with a small smile.
Korra looks at Asami. Sick and sad and still somehow as beautiful as a fairytale princess. Then she looked at Pema and Beifong. That's what she wants. She wants a conspirator, someone she can talk to about silly or scandalous things. She wants Asami to take her for another drive and feel the wind in her hair. To hear Asami laugh and know that she was the cause. She has Mako's love and he has hers, but there is another sort of love she wants too, and she doesn't want to choose between them.
Assuming she hasn't screwed everything up already.
They finish dinner. Bolin stands. "Korra, your dad promised to take us to see this really cool rock formation. It's shaped like a skull."
She doesn't have the heart to tell them she's been there a dozen times and it doesn't really look like a skull. But maybe this is the opening she needs. "You guys go on ahead."
Mako looks at her strangely, but Bolin is dragging him out the door before he can really do anything. Korra watches as Asami excuse herself to get some rest, counts to twenty, and then follows. Her heart is hammering in her chest. She knocks on the door.
Endless seconds tick by. Sweat forms on Korra's forehead. Asami is probably taking a nap and it's not like she hates Korra or anything and why isn't she answering?
The door opens and Asami is staring at her. Her nose is a little redder. "Korra?"
And Korra realizes she has no idea what to say. So she does what she always does when this happens: she babbles. "Hi. I'm really sorry about earlier. I know I didn't really handle things well with Mako when you were going out with him, but I've never really had another girl for a friend before and I hate how everything is awkward between us and it doesn't feel right and I hate that bad things happen to you because of me and can we just go back to how things that were at the race track?"
More silence. Korra fights the urge to bury her face in her hands. This is worse than telling Mako how she feels about him. She is a complete and utter idiot and maybe she's the villain of the story and just who does she think she is?
But Asami takes her gently by the wrists. "I was lonely before you came, too. And I never blamed you for anything."
"So we're still…" Korra fumbles for the right word. "Good?"
"We're good." Asami's smile is tentative, but real.
Korra smiles in relief. Maybe things will be all right after all. "So maybe we could have a girl's night in? Play some pai sho?" Her smile grows wider. "Or not. You are sick, and I would hate for you to use that as an excuse when I trounce you."
Asami's answering smile is like lightning. She flips her hair. "Korra, I had never been 'trounced' in my life."
"Well, Ms. Sato, there's a first time for everything."
By the time Mako and Bolin find them the next morning, Korra has lost six games and is coming down with a cold of her own. And it is totally worth it.