Linger

He couldn't remember when it had started. Only that the occasional glance toward her began to stretch past casual and toward "lingering". It was amidst strategic talks to quell residual uprisings of the equalist revolution. It was when she laughed when reacting to Bolin's most recent antics. Or in the small, sad smile that crept on her lips when she saw Mako and Korra interact with one another. The General had acquired a trained eye having lead soldiers into battle. He recognized when someone was feigning bravery for something greater than themselves.

Asami's time after the revolution had mostly been spent taking over Future Industries, oftentimes forgoing the social events she had previously fluttered to as a young heiress of a wealthy business man.

So it was with great surprise that the General saw her at this particular gala in Republic City. As Iroh participated in the obligatory, polite mingling with the other guests, the general spotted the freshly made businesswoman expertly networking amongst other circles before secluding herself on a balcony off to the side. Dressed in a forest-green, brocade dress she was a delicate silhouette against the greater backdrop of the city lights.

He had paused at the threshold of the glass door, watching her rumple a handkerchief and level her shoulders as if accustomed to an illusionary burden. She shifted her small wineglass from hand to hand, taking delicate lady-like sips, but in frequent fashion to bolster what was her debut back into the social circles as a young entrepreneur. It was in these moments and actions that the General wondered how many people simply took for granted all this young woman had been through. Having lost a mother and betrayed by a father, she still helmed the most enterprising company in Republic City with little to no experience to her name.

She was quiet as he joined her, both of them soaking in the lights of the city and the warm weather that accompanied a metropolis buzzing with night life.

"General." She acknowledged with a nod and a smile. The same small one she used for mingling with guests, for reassuring her friends that all was well.

"Miss Sato." He obliged. Upon closer inspection he noticed the warm flush to her cheeks and the glisten of her eyes, indicators of the wine in her hand having served its purpose.

"Asami." she corrected, "come now General we've known each other long enough for you to call me by my first name." She teased with a chuckle, taking another delicate sip from her glass. She had chastised him delicately before on other occasions.

"You still call me General." He rebutted politely, letting a smile quirk his lips.

"Well if I ever acquire a title then you can address me by it. Until then, 'Asami' will suffice." She retorted, she tipped the stem of the glass back and forth before resigning to set it down.

"Asami."

He meant to say it as an acknowledgment, a resignation to accepting her request. But the name left his lips in a way that surprised him. It was delicate. Rolling off the tongue with a level of endearment he wasn't prepared to expect.

She turned her eyes to him, her lips slightly apart. For a moment he was sure she felt it too, and then she looked away smiling that small smile and laughed a bit tipsily.

She turned to face closer to him, he could smell the jasmine oil in her hair and the metal tang of hours in the factory underneath it.

"General, I'm sure your propriety would forbid you from being anything but a gentleman. But I'd bet you've broken a lot of hearts." The observation left her lips in a lilting and unguarded fashion.

"Last time I checked, I wasn't the one receiving declarations of love almost daily." He quirked his brow at her playfully.

"Meelo doesn't count!" She exclaimed immediately.

And then they were both laughing, and her arm went out to the railing to steady herself and landed on his arm instead. It was at this point that she would be a lady and retrieve her hand delicately, and that he would be the gentleman and say it was nothing. But she let her hand linger, eyes tilted up looking up from thick lashes. And he did not move to pull away. Emboldened by the wine, she began to lean her body towards him, her hand sliding up his upper arm. His body reacted instinctively, coming to grip her elbow as she delicately leaned her body into his, but not touching.

They paused, both daring the other to take it further. Iroh brought his hand toward her cheek, delicately brushing a stray strand from her eyes. Still not touching.

He leaned in, and he could hear her intake of breath, feel the warmth from her cheeks, and the grip of her hand on his arm. He brought his mouth to the shell of her ear, fully aware of how he was affecting the slightly tipsy heiress.

"You're a little compromised now don't you think?"

He watched her eyes flash with heat and try to put his statement together with their proximity. Instead he held her wine glass delicately between his fingers. And her eyes softened before she shook her head and looked back upward to him.

"Is it in your nature as a military man to look for weakness in people?" she challenged, not unkindly.

Her eyes held startling clarity despite being intoxicated. And in that moment, he knew she wasn't talking about her drinking habits or this night at all in fact. She had known, she had noticed his lingering stare in the moments when she thought her small smile enough to cover her inner emotions. Iroh paused only for a moment, before resigning to something.

"No..." He continued to twist the stem of the glass in his fingers. "As a military general it's in my nature to recognize when someone is enduring something for the sake of something more than themselves. As you do, Asami..." He watched the surprise of the compliment spread through her features, he raised her glass to her in a small toast before drowning its contents. He watched her eyes widen slightly as they watched his lips. Setting the drained glass down, he leaned close to her.

"It is also my nature, as a general and a gentleman, to reassure people such as yourself that they are not alone in their endeavors." He reached up his hands ghosting the space alongside her cheek.

"It is in my personal nature…" he persisted, bringing his other hand against her waist, "that you know, that I know what you do for the people who rely on you and the people who expect you to take things with the level of grace and understanding you seem to project effortlessly…"

Her eyes were shining, in shock, and Iroh didn't falter, it had been a long time coming since he decided what he would say if she ever called him out.

He finally brought his hand to rest on her cheek, and was rewarded by a hitched sigh at the sensation of skin on skin.

"It is in my nature, to recognize that such strength comes at great personal cost, and that even if no one else seems to see it…" His lips found the shell of her ear. "I want you to know, that I do."

He watched her expression change, flitting from surprise to mild anger to confusion, and he began to wonder if he had pushed her too far. That if his military straight-forwardness was misguided when dealing with a lady and her emotions. But Asami Sato was not just a lady of delicate emotion anymore.

Her expression settled onto one of slight awe, and a smile, a small… but genuine smile perched her lips.

And after all the lingering gazes, for him that was enough.

Author's Notes: A one-shot that was fun to write, that may be the first in a series of drabbles. Lots of fics that I read portray Iroh to be really the really straight-laced military type, I think he's got a bit more depth than that though. I find him observational and quick on his feet from being the youngest general, and I wanted to explore how that made him perceptive to someone like Asami, who's had to forgo so much for very little acknowledgment. Hope you enjoyed it.