a/n- Yo, this is my gift for a secret santa fic exchange.
—-
Korra tried to keep a straight face when a familiar pair of brothers walked into the gym. Honestly, she did. It broke about two seconds of looking at Mako's less than amused expression at the fact that he had a mustache and monocle scribbled onto his face in purple marker.
Mako's eyebrow twitched when Korra inevitably pointed at his face and burst into laughter. Bolin was laughing as well, looking proud when Korra raised her hand to give him a high-five. "Aw man, you got 'im!" she cackled, their grins matching.
"Payback for dyeing all my costumes pink last week!" Bolin laughed as he polished his nails on his chest.
"This isn't funny," Mako snapped at them, face set on 'grump'. "We have a rehearsal today! I can't let Asami see me like this!" he said, finger pointing at his face.
"Lighten up, it's not permanent!" Bolin said casually, before he paused thoughtfully. "Or was it..?"
Mako groaned in distress, trying to rub the thick lines off his face. "I haven't been able to get it off!"
Korra snickered as she stretched her arms over her chest. "You could ask Asami to borrow some make-up on set."
"Oh, or maybe she'll notice you even more with the dashing mustache!" Bolin chimed in, ever the one to look on the bright side of things.
"I look like Varrick," Mako deadpanned.
"Who is a very talented visionary," Bolin was quick to point out. Mako glared at him before shutting his eyes with a sigh. "I wonder if there's a way to skip the rehearsal today?"
Korra seemed to perk up at the possible opportunity, stepping into Mako's personal place. "Oh, I know a way-"
"No, Korra," Mako immediately stopped her.
"Oh c'mon!" Korra protested, clasping her hands together. "I could totally fill in for you!"
"There's a reason you can't be in movies, Korra," Mako said. "Your face does that weird thing whenever a camera is on you."
Korra frowned in annoyance. "It can't be that bad."
Bolin looked confused. "I thought you were always just doing a Miley Cyrus impression whenever we take pictures together?"
Korra's face flushed, but she remained stubbornly planted in front of Mako. "So what? It's just rehearsal, right? I've been helping you with the fight scene choreography, I'm the only other person who knows it!" She held her arms up in frustration. "Give me a break, I'm tired of being a stunt double when there're hardly any water tribe stars out there!"
Mako raised a brow, looking down his nose at her knowingly. "You just want to meet Asami Sato, don't you?"
"SO badly, you have no idea," Korra readily admitted to wanting to meet the one of the stars of the picture being filmed. "Though all the other reasons are totally valid."
Mako's eyes considered her as if checking the ripeness of a tomato for a few moments before Korra's face broke out into another giggle fit. "I'm sorry, I can't take you seriously when you look like dollar store sherlock."
Mako rolled his eyes grudgingly. "Fine. But just until I figure out how to wash this stuff off my face!"
"Yes!" Korra jumped up and gave him a quick bear hug which Bolin was eager to partake in as well. Mako indulged them but acted the grumpy part all the while as he patted their backs like they were his children.
"One thing you gotta remember," Mako mentioned to Korra as they worked out together. "Asami is really cool and down to earth, so try not to act all weird about meeting her."
Korra rolled her eyes and groaned. Mako was sucking the excitement out of her finally meeting Asami Sato, one of the hottest new talents on screen! "I think I can handle it," she settled on saying. "How hard can it be, right?"
—-
It was damn hard.
Because she was standing on the same set as Asami Sato, and Mako's words were now the furthest thing from her mind.
"So try to be cool," Bolin said as they walked across the set, which was, as far as Korra could tell, the inside of a furniture factory of some sort. Korra wasn't unfamiliar to the hustle and bustle of a movie set, but it still left her feeling nervous excitement as cast and crew set everything up around them for the perfect shot. "Be cool, like me," Bolin patted himself on the chest and lifted his brows proudly. "The star of the film, I hope you recall."
"How can I forget," Korra chuckled.
It felt like forever, but they finally reached Asami and the man she was chatting with, who appeared to be Varrick, Korra guessed just by looking at him. He looked just like she pictured him in her head.
Asami, however, she looked so much more beautiful than Korra had seen in posters. There was actually a moment where Asami started to turn towards her and her hair did a thing where time started crawling by, Asami's green eyes meeting Korra's in a way that beat out any movie Korra had ever seen her entire life.
"Oh wow," Korra said dreamily. "She's sooooo pretty and cool," she said with a goofy little smile of admiration.
Asami's painted red lips quirked up. "Thank you," she told Korra, making the water tribe girl realize that she was in fact standing directly in front of the star. And that she had said those words aloud to Asami's face. And that she still had the dumb look on her face.
Bolin slapped a hand over his mouth to avoid laughing out loud.
Laughing in embarrassment, Korra held her hand out in an attempt to recover from that. "Not how I wanted to say it, but I totally meant it!" Korra grinned at her, noting with surprise that she actually was a little shorter than Asami. "I'm Korra, by the way, huge fan. I'm here to fill in for Mako today."
Asami's slim hand grasped Korra's rough one, smiling in amusement. It was a smile that let Korra know she wasn't going to forget that cute first impression no matter how much she recovered, though it was gracious all the same. Korra flushed at the sight. "Good to meet you, Korra!"
A head leaned between them, breaking their connection. "Filling in for Mako, you say?" Varrick said with a raised brow. Bolin was quick to step in, coughing into his hand.
"Yes, you see, he has fallen ill with a skin condition. Very contagious. Probably deadly," he lied.
"Dead?" Varrick barked. "I have no time for that! Tell him to get his tush back here ASAP before I fire him!"
"He's fine, actually," Korra said sheepishly in her best conflict-solving voice. "He's just giving me a shot, really. He'll be back to form by tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm more than capable of doing this fight scene in his place."
"Hmmm," Varrick studied her closely, hand propping his prominent chin up. "Meh, you'll do. I just want to get this rehearsal over with so that I can eat my special brunch. Zhu Li! What's the status of my special brunch?"
"I've already ordered it-"
"Excellent!" Varrick cut off his assistant that Korra hadn't even noticed hovering behind him. "Places, people! Time is a wasting when food is on the way!"
Bolin gave her wink and went off to his own direction, wherever that may be. Varrick and his shadow scittered away, leaving her on her relative own with Asami fucking Sato.
"Our place is going to be over here, by the way," Asami helpfully said when Korra looked at her with a face that gave away she was a little lost.
"RIght, right," Korra coughed, walking towards a few markers on the ground, several lights punctuating the area. Several camera's aiming in their direction made the hairs on the back of Korra's neck prick and she hoped to god she wasn't making her dreaded camera face.
"Is this your first time?" Asami asked, making Korra jump to attention.
"Er…" Korra raised her brows and blushed, the wording making her mind go straight to the gutter.
"On camera, I mean," Asami said, smiling like she could read Korra's mind. Korra was beginning to think that was a very real possibility. "And no, I don't read minds."
Korra chuckled nervously. "Coulda fooled me. And it's not really my first time; I've done a little stunt work, mostly fight choreography. Never acted though. Mako says I have a weird camera face." Korra started doing some warm-ups as she explained.
Asami 'hmm'd, putting a hand on her chin and looking Korra up and down. "I find that very hard to believe."
Korra grinned in disbelief. She had just been checked out! Not that she minded, she worked very hard on her body and would gladly flex for a pretty lady. "My face is up here, Ms. Sato," Korra said teasingly, even as she planted her fists on her hips as an encouragement for further 'inspection'.
Asami's eyes snapped back to Korra's face, and softened in relief upon seeing Korra's playful expression. "Wow, I'm sorry, that was incredibly rude of me," Asami said sheepishly, covering her face in embarrassment. "I was just thinking that I wouldn't mind seeing you in front of the camera more often."
Korra laughed. "No worries, I suck at acting. My passion is with martial arts!" She jumped on her toes a few times to loosen up a bit. It helped with her numerous nerves as well. "I wouldn't mind seeing you more on camera either. I mean, I saw your last couple of movies, and I think you're really awesome!" Korra's blues sparkled honestly as she spoke to Asami.
"Thanks for the compliment again," Asami said. "Though you could say my true passion also lies elsewhere."
"Oh yeah?" Korra asked curiously.
Asami nodded, head cocking towards Korra as if revealing a secret to her. "I love engineering and mechanics."
"Whoa," Korra's eyebrows went up in surprise. "That's so fucking hot."
Asami's eyes widened in surprise a fraction before she started laughing. Korra froze, realizing she had said the first thing that came to her mind once more. "I'm sorry! I just said the first thing in my head, and it must be the cameras, or you, or… I'm just nervous," Korra grumbled, face steaming, hand rubbing the back of her neck. "I'm not usually this nervous, I swear."
"That's okay," Asami said, wiping a tear from her eye as she recovered from laughing. "Just relax. I'll go easy on you," she said with a friendly smirk.
"Go easy on me?" Korra asked before seemingly a dozen spotlights snapped on their location at once, startling her.
"Alright!" Varrick said loudly, in a director's chair off to the side. "Remember Asami, you're the evil princess on her way to destroy the hero, Nut Tuk," Varrick explained through an unnecessary megaphone. "But you're going to have to go through his loyal brother first! Who has had a sex change, by the way."
Korra exhaled nervously, trying not to look directly at a camera. This was only a rehearsal, so they weren't really recording, just getting all the right angled and lighting, that was all. She focused on her 'opponent', Asami, who was rolling her shoulders and focusing her sights on Korra. Tilting her head to the side, Korra got into a stance. She hoped she wouldn't screw up and hurt Asami by accident.
"ACTION!" Varrick shouted, and Asami went into action immediately, leg snapping out and nearly catching Korra in the face.
Having expected the choreographed move, but not the speed and precision, Korra nearly didn't dodge in time. Gone was the open smile, Asami looked like she genuinely wanted to kill her in that moment. The change in aura nearly cost Korra a swing to the head, her only saving grace instinct and muscle memory.
'I thought she said she was going to take it easy on me,' Korra thought to herself, feeling adrenalin coursing through her veins. She smirked to herself, not having expected the actress to bring it.
"Get out of the way, Nut Tuk's life is mine," Asami said in a deadly voice. Probably a line for the scene. Wow, she was seriously a good actress.
Shit, Korra hadn't bothered remembering any of the lines. "Not gonna happen, Princess," Korra guessed the line, executing the next series of moves. She was a pro at this stuff, her body swift and her blows powerful, but pulled at the very last moment so that they landed softly on whoever she working with.
Asami held her ground, parrying and countering in a way born out of experience rather than memorization. The more they exchanged blows, it became clear to Korra that Asami also had a background in martial arts. No wonder she had no need of a stunt woman. Was there no limit to her talent?!
Gradually, Korra forgot the cameras and her surroundings, all of her focus going into this fight. Sweat trickled down her back as they moved around each other, through the set. Pretty soon Korra broke off the from the choreography and sent new blows at Asami. Caught off guard, but not thrown off her game, Asami met them lively.
"CUT!" Varrick roared into his megaphone, startling them out of the little word they had built around each other. The man looked bored and frustrated. "That cut was becoming way longer than it had any right to be! And you're enemies, you're not supposed to be smiling at each other while you're trying to kill each other!"
Asami caught the smile on her face, blinking in surprise at herself.
"Also, my brunch is getting cold!" Varrick grumbled. "Zhu Li, microwave!"
"Well, that was… exhilarating!" Asami said with a smile, wiping a little sweat from her forehead. "Mako's good, but I haven't had that much fun with a fight scene in a while."
Korra's heart, already pumping from the activity, hammered even more at those words. "Yeah, that was really cool! We should get physical again sometime," said Korra, realizing how suggestive her words were only after she said them. She stood her ground though, hands on her hips, eyes looking directly into Asami's.
Asami chuckled, green eyes lidding a little as she gazed at Korra. "I agree."
Later that day, Mako's mustache was still a fading mark on his upper lip, making his expression that much more comical as he stared in disbelief at the photo Korra was holding up. "You gotta be kidding me."
"Nope," Korra said dreamily, looking at her prized photo. It was a picture of her and Asami, which she had shyly asked for before she left the set. In the picture she was making her dumbest camera face yet, and Asami looked as lovely as ever, their arms over each other's shoulders. On the back of the photo, was Asami's number in the star's handwriting.