Notes: I interrupt Skinny Love to bring you some Bosami loving. Because—come on—this pairing is adorable. (At least from what we know now—which is nothing, really.) This is similar to a fic I read long ago. I just can't remember what it was. :/ Warning: OOC-ness. Because I don't know Asami and I generally suck at characterizations, yes? (Maybe I'll edit this when we're introduced to her. Maybe not.)
Someone remind me to try out some Bolinora later on.
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Hey sugar show me all your love
All you're giving me is friction
Hey sugar what you gotta say?
(Everybody Talks - Neon Trees)
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Korra, Bolin decided, was the best wingman ever.
Because unlike his own brother, she actually had the balls to help him out with ladies. And because without her, there wouldn't have been an awesome beach party to celebrate her birthday. And without that, he wouldn't have drowned and scored a date with Asami.
(Then they did get married, but that was a good three years into the future, so let's rewind a bit.)
"Hey," Bolin said—at least, tried to say—smoothly while slicking his curly hair back. He was wearing a ridiculous pair of lime green swim trunks with cartoon fire ferret patterns printed all over it—it was just a horrendous sight on someone like him. He hoisted himself on one of the tall chairs and leaned on the counter of the small beach bar. "Do you come here often?"
His flirting was met with an irritated groan and a roll of Asami's amber eyes. "Bolin, my father owns the place."
His green eyes immediately lit up at the response—though it shouldn't have because she was obviously mocking him with her tone. Still, he didn't take it as a sign that he should stop talking to her. "No, no, what I meant to say was…"
"Was?" She raised a quirky brow at him and crossed her hands over her chest (which actually pushed her boobs together, but it wasn't that Bolin was looking or anything) and slightly curved her pink lips upward.
"I…uh…you look nice in your swimsuit?" Bolin muttered, flustered at the sight before him—which was really just Asami's breasts. When Asami followed his line of vision, she groaned—again—and put her palm over her forehead, sliding it down slowly as she released a long breath. (That was the fire nation girl in her acting.)
"Spirits, Bolin, you are disgusting," she told him with evident distaste. She jumped off from her seat and dusted her swimsuit. While glowering at him, she took the sari she had brought with her and wrapped it around herself, stomping away on the sand without looking back.
Bolin stared at the orange drink she had left behind.
"So, Bolin's got some moves, huh?" Korra came laughing with a broody firebender attached to her hip. Normally, he'd enjoy it when she referenced to the things he told her because it meant she paid attention, but now he just felt like everyone else was laughing at his sudden inability to charm a girl—or at least Asami. She jumped onto the seat Asami previously occupied and took a sniff of the orange drink before taking a sip herself. "Hey, why the gloom, Bo? I thought this was supposed to be a party! My party!"
Mako (who apparently wouldn't dare leave his girlfriend's side because there was some hairbender around) winced in embarrassment for Korra's loudness, but still stood right beside her. "Korra, I don't think that's helping him get with Asami."
"Oh, did she ditch you again?" She gave a frown and furrowed her thin eyebrows. "I gave you advice like an hour ago! What went wrong?"
Bolin was silent for a moment. Mako, knowing Bolin, had already figured out what he did wrong and started to laugh. "So you really did that?"
"Shut up, bro." Bolin glared at his own brother, before slumping his shoulders in defeat. "I hate being a guy."
Korra waved her hands in front of the sulking man and looked back and forth from him and her boyfriend. "I'm sorry, I don't get it. What exactly happened?"
"Shecaughtmestaringatherboobs," Bolin muttered miserably from the countertop.
"Bolin, I can't hear you. What?"
"Asami caught him staring at her chest," Mako supplied, grinning from ear to ear. He gave a low whistle—as if to mock his brother some more. (Not that he wanted to because they loved each other too much to purposely hurt each other.) "Real smooth, bro."
Suddenly Bolin was on the ground, and shoved his brother to the sand. Korra just watched them push each other around with affection. (She honestly found it endearing that Mako would let himself be plummeted just to let Bolin get some of his frustrations out.)
They were whispering things to each other and Korra had to move to the edge of her seat to catch some things. She thought they were insulting one another or something, but then she heard something and decided to jump off and join their little brawl. ("Aww, Mako, it's not like you don't stare at Korra's when you're sparring—I mean it's really obvious.")
"You what?" she screeched, tackling her boyfriend. Though her face was quite flushed from the mortification of knowing that Mako looked down there (not that she minded because he was, after all, her boyfriend, but still), she decided that punching his bare chest was good enough retaliation.
Mako yelped and tried to scramble off of his girlfriend, but she was gripping the side of his shorts and if he even attempted to get away, she was only going to pull them down. "Two on one isn't fair!"
"Try having a hundred equalists trying to chi block you and then you tell me what isn't fair!" Korra screamed before proceeding to hit him again.
Bolin sighed and sat down on the sand, drawing small circles with his finger while he watched the two lovebirds sort their own issues out. ("You are such a pervert!" "I can't believe you believe him!" "I can't believe you would objectify me like that!" "You're too freaking feminist for your own good!" "You have to deal with it!")
After five minutes of them quarreling (and disgustingly making out on the beach), Bolin got up and started to walk away. They wouldn't be able to help him win Asami if they were in that state. He started to trudge away back to the resort Asami's dad owned (and let Korra rent for free for her birthday) when he heard Korra and Mako catching up to him.
"Hey, Bo, we're going to help you! We're a team, after all," Korra said cheerily, her arm hooked with Mako's. "I'm sure you can still charm your way to Asami's heart. She has no reason to like you!"
Bolin stopped in his tracks and faced them with a pout. "Yeah, but, I just don't know how to. I've tried every tactic I've used before, but nothing is working on her."
"Doesn't that just mean she's different from all your other fangirls?" Mako quipped. "I mean, she just doesn't throw herself at you."
"Where is she anyway?" Korra asked, looking at the beachside to spot her friend.
"She's riding one of those sea motorcycle things," Bolin answered, staring longingly at Asami. "She's so cool…"
"Okay, I have an idea." Korra grinned and unhooked her arm from Mako. Mako saw the conspiratorial glint in Korra's blue eyes and he just knew that it wasn't going to be good. "You don't know how to swim, right?"
Bolin shook his head. "Nuh-uh."
"Great!" Korra announced with a smile. She planted her feet firmly onto the sand below her and motioned her arms to push the air in front of her. For the first few seconds following her movement, nothing happened. Mako and Bolin looked at her confusedly, but Korra pulled her boyfriend back with her when the ground started to rumble.
There was a small hill of sand moving rapidly at their direction and before Bolin could react, it had swept him off his feet and was dragging him to the beach.
"Korra!" he screamed, holding onto the sand boulder. "Korra, stop this! I can't swim!"
"You'll thank me for this later!" she shouted, pulling Mako back because he was obviously not going to let his little brother drown because of his girlfriend's foolish plans to get Bolin with Asami.
"Korra, let me go, he's going to die!"
"No, he's not," she assured him. "Asami's there to save him. She's the only one at the area who can reach him fast enough."
True enough, Asami was already speeding her way toward the drowning figure—even though she may or may not know who exactly was drowning. (She sort of had a mild savior complex brought about by all her training—all while having her hair whip back dramatically against the wind behind her, that flawless bitch.)
Korra looked over to the heroic act with a certain pride; Mako fidgeted uncomfortably at her side. When she saw Asami helping Bolin lift himself up onto the scooter, she turned to face her boyfriend with a smirk. "See, I told you it would end well—"
Her statement was cut off by a loud shriek and a roar of the engine of Asami's sea motorcycle thing.
"She threw him off!" Mako was about to sprint to the shore when Korra put her hand on his chest to stop him.
"No, look. She's holding his ankle. I think…she's just letting him enjoy the fish?" Korra finished awkwardly before bursting out into laughter at how helpless Bolin and Asami were.
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Asami couldn't stand it anymore.
Bolin had been giving her the silent treatment for the past thirty minutes. She stayed with him at the small infirmary to make sure he wasn't dead. (Because during her punishment for him, she forgot that a person couldn't really breathe underwater and that he may or may not have hit rocks.)
"I'm sorry, okay," she rasped out, tired of having to put up with his childishness. It was probably the fifteenth time she said it to him. (And he was still ignoring her!) "Bolin, come on, I really mean it."
Another minute passed and still he didn't respond.
"Are you deaf or something?" she muttered, unbelieving. "Look, I know it was rather harsh, but I'll make it up to you. Come on, Bolin, I'll do anything."
"Even go out with me?" Bolin finally asked with a hopeful look in his eyes. Asami frowned—of all the things he could ask? She glowered and sent a slap to his arm (though she wouldn't admit to letting her hand stay there for a few seconds more than necessary because—those biceps were fine).
"Bolin, I can't do that," she said guiltily. She already felt sorry—she didn't really want to hurt him any more than she had a while ago. (The priceless look of pain on his face was worth it, though.)
"You can't or your father won't let you?" Bolin asked cautiously. He lifted his upper body, but his bandaged head throbbed and he had to support himself with his arms on his side. "Asami, I—"
"The latter," she answered, helping him back down onto the bed. "You know me well enough, it seems. And you should also know that if it wasn't for that, I would go out with you in a heartbeat."
"Really?"
"Really."
"But you won't." He exhaled gruffly, lifting his hand to touch the bandages. He flinched and put his hand back down onto the cushion. "It's fine, I guess."
She gave him a half-smile—though whether it was out of pity or because she was saddened by the truth of it, she wasn't sure. She stood up from the small bedside stool and began to make her way out. "I'll come back to visit again later. I'm sorry. Again."
"Nah, I'm a big boy," he told her, goofy grin and all.
She bent a bit and kissed his forehead. "I hope you get better."
(Bolin didn't realize she left because the image of her cleavage was still pretty clear in his addled mind.)
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"So you like him, but you don't?"
Asami threw the pillow she was clutching to her Avatar friend and rolled onto the floor. With a sigh, she said, "Well, yeah. I don't understand it either, Korra, he's strong and sweet and really cute, too, but…"
"But what?" Korra, at this point, was laughing at her insensitively. "Come on, Asami, what's so bad about Bolin being all those?"
"Nothing!" She continues to roll on her carpet (oh, her father would be appalled at her behavior if he knew). "It's just that… I don't think I'm good enough for him."
"Oh, he thinks the same way about you, too," Korra scoffs, crossing the room to tower over her friend. "But that doesn't stop him from pining for you, does it?"
"Well, I don't pine for him," she sniffed and started to get back up onto her bed. "I have more class than that."
Korra nodded understandingly. "Of course."
"It's not fair," Asami continued to whine. "He goes gallivanting with those fangirls of his while he knows that I'm just here."
"Well, he's just being nice," Korra consoled her. "You know how he is."
"Right. Bolin's just friendly, is all." Asami furrowed her eyebrows and when she couldn't breathe her frustrations away, she resorted to lying down on her back. "Korra, do you think what I did to him at your party was justified? I mean, I liked him even then."
Korra blinked twice. Thrice. Then proceeded to howl with laughter. "Asami, you shouldn't be asking me. When I realized I was in love with Mako, I airbended all the way to their old attic apartment."
"What happened then?"
"He confessed and we both fell into Yue Bay."
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The next day, there was a match at the pro-bending arena. And like all other matches, Asami was present to witness it—with the best seats in the house, of course. It was the first round of this year's tournament and she was definitely not going to miss it for anything.
Especially since the Fire Ferrets were playing.
"Aaaand Bolin's knocked him out! Can you believe it? The win goes to the Fire Ferrets, who were the underdogs just three seasons ago!"
At this point, Asami was already leaning on the rails and pumping her fists up uncharacteristically. "Go Fire Ferrets!"
Bolin was the only one left on the playing area and he had taken off his helmet and tossed it aside. He was waving and bowing to all of his fans—girls, really—and smiling. ("Bolin, I love you!" Asami wanted to leave her stand and punch the poor girl's face.)
Mako and Korra climbed back up, supporting one another, and congratulated Bolin by hugging him and jumping in excitement—at least, Korra was hopping around.
The ring announcer came out from that awkward hole of his and walked up to the three pro-benders and shouted into his microphone, "Here you have them, folks! The winners of the first round of the tournament! Bolin, how do you feel about this?"
Bolin grabbed the microphone almost apprehensively. The almost twenty year old earthbender fidgeted with the metallic stick and Asami looked at him queerly, backing to her chair slowly while her excitement dissipated.
"Asami?" Her ears perked up from hearing her name being called out. From the giant speakers. "Asami, I can see you. Hiiii."
She stood up again and saw him waving awkwardly—cutely, really—at her. "Will you go out with me?"
Yes! She could almost hear Korra's encouraging voice whisper to her. This is what you've been waiting for, right?
The screams from everyone else in the arena was…only somehow encouraging. (Did Bolin really need to be so public with asking her out?) She flushed under everyone's gaze—especially Bolin's expecting one. (Spirits, she didn't know what to do.)
Asami nodded—at least she thought she did. She wasn't sure. (Korra argued that she did before her father came marching in and dragging her away.)
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Bolin found Mister Sato really cool. Really, he did. He admired how he was a self-made man—like him and Mako. They were all in the self-made men club and it was…really cool to be in the same boat as him.
Literally.
"So, Bolin. How long have you been interested in my Asami?"
(Forever, he wanted to say, but he thought better.) He moved around in his seat until he was sure his butt wouldn't fly off out of nervousness. "For a few years now, Mister Sato, sir. Um. I sort of…liked her since a long, long time ago? Kind of. I wasn't really sure?"
(Spirits, he was stuttering.)
Mister Sato (bless his old, kind heart) laughed and patted Bolin's shoulder comfortably. "I remember I was just like you when I was courting Asami's mother. Ah, good times, those were. Sadly, she's passed away now, but she made me the happiest fool out there." Suddenly, his old chinky eyes were slits through his glasses and Bolin could've fallen out of his seat in fear had he not held onto the sides of the stool. "You better make her happy, boy."
"Of course, Mister Sato, sir! I have a lot of jokes I could tell her—"
"Bolin, son, I wasn't talking about those—"
"So a platypus bear walks into a bar—"
"One more word and I won't let you near my Asami."
(Bolin accidentally finished his joke and Mister Sato may have accidentally pushed him off the boat.)
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Luckily for him, Mister Sato was gracious enough to pay for his hospital fees.
"I didn't really expect our first date to be like this," Asami muttered, shifting her legs on the grass. They were out at the park because Bolin felt claustrophobic in his room. (And the one in charge of his ward nodded immediately, being a big fan of the Fire Ferrets and because he knew that going out for fresh air helps those who recently suffered from asphyxiation.) "Never mind that; I didn't really have expectations. Knowing how unpredictable the world seems to be whenever you and I are involved."
"You say it like it's a bad thing," Bolin replied with a light chuckle.
"No, but you might drown again," she argued, crossing her arms over her chest—and we know what that reminded Bolin of. "I knew I shouldn't have let him take you to that so-called fishing trip. He doesn't even like eating fish!"
"Asami, it's fine. I'm fine."
"You could have died!" she screamed at him, fisting some grass underneath her. "Bolin, I swear, you really should be more careful especially since you can't swim—"
"It's not my fault my limbs are awkward in water!"
Asami breathed in and out, recited a short mantra, and eyed him. He was pouting and fiddling with his fingers, looking down on the ground with his cheeks red—he was embarrassed and it was adorable. "Okay." She gave in. "How are you feeling?"
"Great," he replies cheerily, smiling. "Even better with someone as amazing as you with me."
Asami flushed quite visibly. "You…you could be with any other girl, you know. And saying things like that to them and everything else."
"Yeah," he acquiesced. "But they wouldn't be you, would they?"
(This was when he leaned in to kiss her, but stopped midway to find Korra and Mako spying on them from behind a sparkly bush—how it got that kind of shine, no one except Gommu could explain.)
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Opinions?
