In the night, Bolin can hear Korra through the wall. Air Temple Island is solidly built, but it lets the air flow and where air goes, sound goes as well. It was a warm humid night when he heard the first soft moans floating through the small windows just under the ceiling. While he was shaking off the fog of sleep, his first thought was that Korra was in some kind of pain. He stumbled to his feet and closer to the wall before he was properly awake, but his brain slowly registered that she was... not in pain precisely.

When he stood next to the wall, he could only just catch the edge of her ragged breathing and panting. Every so often, she made a louder sound, but everything was so soft he wondered how it ever woke him up. He stood for a long time with his eyes shut and his hands pressed to the wall. He had just decided that he must be imagining things when she cried out again, little more than a breathy moan. Now he was certain he was dreaming, because he could have sworn that she had said, "Bolin." The noises stopped after that, but he lay awake for hours trying to make sense of what he had just heard.

He was torn the next night about whether he should ignore whatever was going on or listen more beside the windows. He had nearly made up his mind to pretend nothing was happening, but once the noises began again he couldn't tear himself away from the wall. Now that he knew what he was listening for, the sounds of pleasure were unmistakable. He felt like he could almost hear the slip of sheets against her bare skin, and his hands shook as he once again pressed them to that one stone wall that separated him and Korra. After some time he heard her call out his name again, louder and clearer than it had been the previous evening.

When Bolin went to his cot, he tried to sleep, but his head was full of visions of Korra twisting naked on her bed with her hands between her thighs. He imagined sweat shining on all the dark curves of her skin and her hair spilling across the mattress. When she came, she called out his name (his name!). Just that one thought was enough to make him painfully hard. He grabbed his cock and pulled it as he thought of Korra, not just alone, but pressed against him. Her hair, her eyes, her lips, her fingers... He came quickly, and remembered at the last moment to be quiet. If she found out what he was doing, it would be unforgiveable.

After that night, he moved his cot to rest against the wall between their rooms. Every night he lies awake and waits for those telltale signs that Korra is pleasuring herself. The sound of his name floating through the night air as she comes is the most erotic thing he's ever known. He thinks often about bridging the gap and approaching her physically, but he's too scared that she'll hate him forever, and so he takes what he can get.

Every night, she lies awake and listens to him as she touches herself. He isn't really as quiet as he thinks he is, but she loves the noises that come back to her across the wall. She never finishes a night without saying his name, and lately she's been hearing a whispered, "Korra," through the windows. She thought that he would come to her before this, but he really is a shy boy. Soon, she plans to pick a night to slip through his door and surprise him. When she thinks of the way he'll blush and stammer but press her tightly against him, she feels a heat pooling between her legs and reaches down to touch herself again.