Specifically for saigneux, but also for everyone who requested a sequel to "A New Record." Y'all are thirsty mofos, you know that? I hope this worked.. this is a topic I am not well-versed in at all. Onward!

"It looks wonderful."

Baatar looked up, lifting his visor. "I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow," he said slowly. The rest of the construction team for the colossus had decided to break, and he had permitted it. There was something oddly peaceful about bolting down heavy plates of segmented platinum. "It should be ready by dinner."

"Working through lunch, then," Kuvira said, resting a gloved hand on his shoulder. It was more statement than question, and he tugged the glove off with a smile.

"What did you bring me?" he asked, nodding towards the box she held.

"Nothing special, just the sesame noodles you like," she said, setting it aside. "I'm practicing for our married life."

"Because you'll be staying at home and packing me lunches while I work on new patents and oversee infrastructure of the empire?" he teased, taking her hand in his. "Sounds just like you."

Kuvira shrugged, nudging his thigh with her knee before sitting on his lap. "Sometimes I think it would be nice, to have a normal job and lead a normal, quiet life with you. You have your mech development, and I'd be a military strategist rather than on the front lines. We'd come home at normal hours and spend our evenings relaxed and free to just talk."

He brought her left hand to his lips. "It's not too late to hand power over to the royal idiot."

"Please." She snorted, stroking the back of his hand. "That's the most repugnant idea I've ever heard, I don't care if it's not serious."

"Kuvira," Baatar said gently, "you do know that if you want to quit our campaign at any time, or if you decide you're through with ruling the empire, I'd support you. I'd be upset, but I'd be more upset if you felt boxed-in and unhappy."

She kissed his cheek. "So you'd pick me over the empire?"

He laughed. "You say it as though that's the wrong choice."

"Enough about that," she said, squeezing his fingers. "So, we demo tomorrow? I get to play inside a giant robot?"

"Yes," he said, nodding as his expression became sly. "And if it works smoothly?"

She arched a brow. "Then you can secure the weapon, and we'll run that demo next."

"And... is that it?"

A trace of a smile lingered at the corners of her mouth. "Were you expecting something else?"

He rubbed the back of his head, a new smudge of grease on his nose. "Well.. I expected you to feel a bit more... celebratory."

She wiped the smudge off, a fraction of space between them. He could feel his heart quicken as she leaned in, the look in her eyes the one that followed a victory, the one that made his mind go embarrassingly fuzzy and his tongue thick in his mouth. "Meaning?" she said, her hands at their usual place behind his neck.

He glanced at the door and back to her, swallowing. "I'm working.. am I allowed to kiss you, or...?"

She closed the gap, and he closed his eyes as his lips parted. "You ask too many questions," she said, breaking away. "Fine, I'll humor you."

"When?"

"Don't worry," she said, giving him a final peck. "Debt fulfillment is my strong suit."

o0o

He was late in returning to his room at the end of the day, the colossus newly completed and ready for the preliminary tests. What he saw as he crossed the threshold made him stumble in surprise before stepping in and shutting the door. Kuvira's uniform was neatly folded on his desk, her armor removed and placed to the side. Her hair was down but pinned back from her face, and she was wearing a long, flowing robe of semi-sheer silk. The fabric was a pale green, with trimmings in ivory lace and a single tie at the neck. Baatar recognized it as the set he had insisted on buying her in Omashu; Kuvira never had cared for lingerie, dubbing it too expensive for something that would never be seen.

"I'll see it," he had pointed out as the clerk fought back a smile, wrapping the set in tissue paper and handing Kuvira the shopping bag.

"For how long, thirty seconds?" she had muttered, shoving the bag into his hands. "Why pay so much for something you're going to tear off anyway?"

"Am I not allowed to spoil you?"

"This is why I do the budgeting," she had said, taking his arm as they left the boutique. "Never let a trust fund baby handle the money."

The brassiere and underwear were simple, lace and silk piping over the green fabric creating an elegant contrast of textures, but he felt his jaw drop as he took in his first look all the same. He hadn't seen her in it since the day it was purchased, and he mentally congratulated himself on insisting on the set for her. Her limbs were long and graceful, the dimmed lights making the shadows on the contours of her muscles all the more apparent. There was something oddly endearing about seeing her undressed and ready to show him a good time, but still occupying herself with briefing summaries while she waited for his arrival.

He cleared his throat. "Well, hello. What might have brought you here?"

Kuvira glanced up, resignation in her expression as she tossed the papers aside. "Wipe that grin off your face," she ordered, uncrossing her legs and knocking back the contents of her glass as she stood, "and sit down. I will never give anyone room to say I go back on my word..." She gestured sharply and the music started up, a slow, sexy, jazzy number that made his skin prickle in anticipation. She flipped her hair out of her face, slowly running a hand through it as she started towards him on the balls of her feet.

"I say this with love," he said, unable to fully suppress a goofy grin as she pushed him down into the waiting chair, "but several world leaders would beg to differ."

She paused, her head cocked to the side, and rested her chin in her hand. "Fair." She took a moment to tap into her stage persona, and when she locked eyes with him he recognized the Kuvira that had dazzled him the first time he watched her. She began slowly, starting with her hands in his hair before gliding them over his body. Even through the uniform, he felt his skin heat under her touch. "I don't know what I allowed after Zaofu," she said, her husky tone poorly suited to the warning in her words, "but for this, I expect you to keep your hands-" she metalbended two slim strips of metal to his wrists- "completely to yourself."

Baatar couldn't stop the grin from spreading over his face. "Yes, commander."

"Don't call me that in the bedroom," she muttered. "It carries disgusting 'sleeping-with-the-boss' connotations..." She trailed off as she circled his chair, her hand trailing over his shoulders and back. He took in the sight appreciatively, but it took every ounce of self-control to keep his hands at his sides as she turned her back to him, the results of sixteen years of dance practices before him.

"To be fair, that's exactly what I've been... doing..." he said, the words dragging as his mind steadily went blank, a day's worth of calculations draining with every step he watched. Her movements were as graceful as ever, but as she let the robe slip from her shoulders and fall to her feet, classical dance was the last thing her poses reminded him of. Her hair was down around her shoulders, and as she flipped it out of her way again it brushed his face. The scent of her perfume lingered in the air around them.

"I'm not your boss," she said, her irritated tone barely registering with him as she turned, nudging his legs apart with her knee and bending forward. He could see every fiber of the lace, could smell his whiskey on her breath, and tipped his head back so his face brushed her chest. "Remember, we're partners," she added, lowering herself to hover just above his lap, frowning at the dazed look in his eye. Her eyes flitted down and back up again. "Well, I assume it isn't the assurance of equality in our partnership that you find so arousing..."

"What?" The feel of her body suspended over his was distracting, but he heard her snort all the same. "Yes, ruling the empire... when doesn't that put you in the mood?" His hand grazed her thigh, running up the length of her leg before he had realized it.

Without warning, the two strips of metal pinioned his hands to his sides. "No, I'm pretty sure this is supposed to leave you wanting. That's how it works in gentleman's clubs, right?"

"As if I've ever been to one-"

"Lies. Xi's my second-most trusted advisor, I know what happened after Ba Sing Se."

"The men made me join them," he said. "They didn't know I had a girlfriend, because someone insisted on keeping the relationship a secret."

"How am I doing then, since this clearly isn't your first time?" Kuvira asked archly. "I know I'm not practiced..."

Baatar gritted his teeth as she moved her hips in time to the music, tantalizingly close to him but just shy of contact. "Not practiced? I'd say you're a bit too good at this."

She laughed, a rich warm sound that made him involuntarily strain against the restraints as she removed her leg from his shoulder. "It isn't difficult. You essentially gyrate to some music, any idiot can figure it out-"

She lowered herself to his lap, still keeping her movements fluid and tsking quietly when he angled his hips up to hers. Her arms were like extensions of her frame, one keeping his hands pinned back while she pulled herself closer with the other. She leaned forward, her torso flush with his own as she continued to move against him in time to the music, and Baatar realized with sudden dissatisfaction that he was still fully dressed. "Kuvira, please," he said at last, the clench in his stomach impossible to ignore any longer, "this is ridiculous-"

"Fine," she said, and with a sudden gesture she freed his hands. "Now what are you going to do?" she asked, seating herself on his lap and massaging the red indentations from his wrists.

"For a start..." He jerked his hands from hers, unbuttoning his uniform.

"Your face is so red," she teased. "Is everything all right?"

"No, but it will be soon... "

"I suppose you deserved this, after building me a superweapon in record time," Kuvira said, chuckling as he crushed her body to his, showering her with kisses, "but be a little less eager, it's just fulfillment of a debt."

"Is that what we're calling it now?" Baatar said, standing and lifting her up with him. "Fine, but in case you forgot your debt isn't fully paid. I built that thing in a week-"

"Yes, I'm very impressed," Kuvira said as her back hit the soft coverlet of his bed. "How should I pay off the rest?"

He answered her nonverbally, letting his hands and mouth speak for him. The sound and feel of her reciprocation was all the debt fulfillment he needed.

A/N: Hope that was hot enough for y'all's thirsty asses. If this was a miss rather than a hit, ehhh I tried?