Yooo here's part two of "Out of the Woods." Or I guess part 3 if you want to count the original.
Two to go after this.
Other times, they were so young and so in love that Korra could feel the weight of the necklace and the ring like they were a hundred pounds.
Like the time they'd been arguing late into the night and Asami's favorite song came on the radio and they shoved the furniture to the edges of the room and danced for hours and laughed and kissed until they were dizzy and exhausted and couldn't remember why they'd been arguing in the first place.
Asami had been drinking.
Korra could smell it on her the second she came in close to kiss her hello when she got home at the end of a long day. She could feel it in the way she turned away, Korra's kiss landing on her cheek instead of her lips, and shrugged off the hands on her shoulders. She could see it in the way she was sitting on the couch, stiff and rigid like she was overcompensating.
The apartment was dark, the only light coming from a single lamp in the living room and the rather unremarkable sunset coming in through the windows. The radio was playing quietly in the kitchen, a somber jazz song floating through the apartment. Asami only listened to this station when she was sad.
Something was really wrong.
"What happened?" Korra asked, voice low and gentle. She perched herself on the edge of the coffee table, knees brushing Asami's, and tried to catch her eye.
Asami wouldn't look at her.
"Talk to me," Korra murmured, reaching forward for her girlfriend's hands. She flinched away. "Asami, please."
"Read the newspaper today?" Asami demanded suddenly, shooting a glare at Korra. The Avatar frowned and shook her head. Asami shoved a rolled-up copy of the offending document into her hands. "What a shame. You made the front page."
Korra unrolled the newspaper and looked at the headline. It was about the summit Korra had attended two days ago in Ba Sing Se about preserving the Spirit Wilds. Nothing worth drinking over. But then Korra's eyes fell on the picture they'd chosen to use.
It was a candid photo Korra didn't remember being taken. It showed Korra deep in conversation with a pretty young woman. They were laughing about something, standing close to hear each other over the crowd of people they were in, and the girl had a hand on Korra's arm.
Korra almost laughed. Luckily, she didn't.
"Asami," she sighed, shaking her head. "This is what you're upset about?"
"Why would I be upset?" Asami snapped. "You look like you had a great time with… her."
"Asami…"
"No no, it's fine, I get it," she continued coolly, still refusing to meet Korra's eyes. "She's a master earthbender, right? You two must have so much in common."
"Okay, come on," Korra said firmly, frowning. "That picture was totally out of context. We were laughing because Wu was giving a speech and you know how he is and it was loud so we had to stand close to hear each other and…" Korra trailed off, clenching her jaw. "You know, I shouldn't have to explain myself. Don't you trust me?"
"Yes," Asami said stiffly, getting to her feet abruptly and wobbling slightly. "It's everybody else I don't trust."
Korra stayed where she was, following Asami with her eyes as she paced behind the couch.
"You'll drive yourself crazy thinking like that," Korra said lowly. Asami stopped pacing and looked away, clenching her fists at her sides. Korra got to her feet and approached her carefully. "You know I love you, Asami. I would never-"
"Cheat on me?" Asami finished for her, stepping back to put space between them. "Of course not. Because that would be totally different from that time Mako cheated on me with you."
Korra felt the words more than she heard them. They stung, the words and the tone and the look in Asami's eyes when she said them. Korra took a step back this time, staggering like Asami had actually hit her. She may as well have, as Korra felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. She must have looked it too, because Asami's eyes immediately filled with tears.
"Oh spirits," she whispered, shaking her head quickly. "No, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have… Korra, I'm so sorry…"
Asami reached out for her with shaky hands, and Korra couldn't stop herself from flinching back again. Asami looked absolutely wounded by it and dropped her hands to her sides, clenching her fists so hard Korra could tell her nails were digging into her palms just by looking at her.
"Why are you doing this?" Korra asked quietly, and she could hear the hurt in her own voice so clearly it burned.
"I don't know," Asami blurted immediately. She roughly brushed tears from her eyes, and Korra moved toward her instinctively, drawn to her like her sole purpose in life was to comfort her. She took Asami's face in her hands, her touch soft and careful, and brushed the tears away with her thumbs so gently it just made Asami cry harder. "I'm so sorry, Korra. I don't know. I just… I don't know how to be happy."
"What do you mean?"
"Whenever something makes me happy I lose it," Asami continued recklessly, dropping her hands to Korra's hips to steady herself. "I get comfortable and I let myself open up and then something awful happens. My mother gets killed and my father betrays me and you disappear for three years and my father gets killed and I just…"
Her breath caught and she stopped, closing her eyes tight and taking a shaky breath. Korra leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. Asami just barely choked back a sob.
"Today it's been one year since we moved in together," Asami whispered. "And nothing awful has happened yet. And I'm scared. So I had a drink. And then another. And now I'm just a mess and I was cruel to you because you being angry with me is so much better than you dying."
"Whoa whoa, slow down," Korra said firmly. She slid her hands down to Asami's neck, thumbs brushing her jaw to keep Asami's eyes on her. "You can try to make me angry and push me away all you want, but I'm not going anywhere. You're stuck with me, Asami Sato."
Asami let out a watery laugh and Korra smiled sadly at the sound.
"And I'm not planning on dying anytime soon, so you just have to learn to be happy with me," the Avatar continued conversationally, leaning in further and pressing their foreheads together. "Maybe next time just… talk to me, instead of getting all upset and drinking by yourself."
"Okay," Asami breathed, closing her eyes and wrapping her arms fully around Korra's waist.
The stood like that for a moment, physically trying to wind down from what had just happened, when the song on the radio changed. Asami perked up and Korra grinned.
"Now help me move the furniture, would you?" Korra asked quietly, stepping back from Asami and disappearing into the kitchen.
"Move the furniture?" Asami repeated, looking around the room with a frown. But then the radio got louder, Korra turning up the volume, and she reappeared with a smile on her face.
"So we can dance," she replied like it was obvious, shoving the nearest chair up against the wall. "This is your favorite song, isn't it?"
Asami just stood there for a few long moments, watching as Korra went about moving the end table and another chair to clear a space in the center of the room. When Korra finally looked back at Asami, gesturing toward the couch, Asami was staring at her like she'd never seen her before. It occurred to Korra suddenly that it might have been a long time since someone had known Asami's favorite song, and all Korra could think of in that moment was the betrothal necklace and engagement ring in her pocket. They felt heavy, and Korra slipped a hand into her pocket to close her fingers around them.
But then Asami was smiling at her and helping her move the couch, and Korra knew proposing was a bad idea after the day Asami must have had. So she just offered Asami her hand and pulled her to her chest, reveling in her laugh as they spun slowly around the room together.
Korra hummed along with the first few lines, trying to build up her courage. She knew the words. She'd heard Asami singing it to herself in the garage when she was working on an airplane propeller. She'd heard her singing it quietly in the shower. She'd heard her singing it the few times Asami had attempted to cook.
"Let me call you 'Sweetheart,' I'm in love with you," Korra murmured in Asami's ear as they swayed through the room. They were so close she felt Asami's breath catch in her throat. "Let me hear you whisper that you love me too."
Asami started laughing, and Korra almost had to stop singing when started laughing too. They weren't even dancing with the music anymore, just whirling across the floor together.
"Keep the love-light glowing in your eyes so true," Korra laughed, twirling Asami under her arm and pulling her back to her so hard they both stumbled. "Let me call you 'Sweetheart,' I'm in love with you."
She didn't manage to sing any more than that after Asami started kissing her. It was a bit awkward, kissing when they were both smiling and laughing and Asami was still crying a little bit. Mostly they just ended up brushing their lips together and laughing into each other's mouths, but Korra would remember it later as one of her favorite times kissing Asami.
The laughter died down eventually, leading to long, slow kisses, warm and sweet and wet and passionate and maybe tasting a bit of alcohol. And those were nice, too.
Are we out of the woods yet?