Disclaimer: I do hereby disclaim all rights and responsibilities for the characters in this collection. Kudos to Bryke, indeed.
Word Count:
1,358
Author's Notes:
5/1/12. Written for Tahno Week! Day Two: Teamwork. I graduate on Friday! :) Because of this, I may not have all these chapters posted on the proper days, but I will do my best to have them posted soon. (As well as another chapter of Personal Record!)

Beta'd by ebonyquill.


(teamwork)


"What do you know about her?"

Asami looked up from the grinder she was handling. She was doing a fine job with the mountain of sweet-smelling coffee dust resting in the bowl, but it still made him want to sneeze. "Who?"

Tahno's mouth thinned to an invisible line and, with a small jerk of his head, he subtly nodded to the girl at the table by the window.

"Korra?"

"Yeah, whatever. And save the smirk, Sato, it's not doing you any favors."

"Ah. Well," she hummed, with a not-quite-gone smile. "She drinks caffe—"

"I know," he snapped. "Tell me something else."

"All right... well, what do you want to know?"

He frowned.

"How do you know her?" he demanded.

She blinked. (She tended to twirl a strand of hair around her finger while she thought, which annoyed him; apparently even keeping her hair up wasn't enough to keep the habit at bay.) "Well, my dad met her family when we were kids," she explained, dropping her hands to the counter and seamlessly returning to her early morning obligations. "We sort of grew up together."

"Then you're the reason she comes every day," he speculated.

"Well," Asami hedged. "Every day that I work, anyway."

His eyes narrowed. "You haven't been giving her the employee discount, have you?"

She merely laughed. "What employee discount? And something tells me this isn't really what you want to talk about, Tahno."

Tahno shifted his weight, reaffirming his stance. "And?"

"Just tell me what you want to know," she repeated, rolling her eyes. But then she paused. "Unless... you don't actually know what you want to know?"

He scowled.

"Oh, man," Asami laughed again, setting her grinder aside. "You've got it bad."

Tahno stiffened. "I haven't got anything."

"I beg to differ," Asami teased good-naturedly, sending a quick and subtle glance to the windows. "Does she know? Wait a minute—stupid question—of course she doesn't know."

"There isn't anything to know."

Asami considered him seriously, quite possibly for the first time since they'd met. "Well, isn't this an interesting change," she murmured. "You're usually chomping at the bit to hook another line."

"Excuse me?"

"You know—chase some tail. Pick up chicks."

"Wha—dammit, Sato, did you grow up in a barnyard or something? What's with all the animal analogies?"

"I've got plenty. I haven't even mentioned cocks yet."

"All right," he said quickly. "All right, fine. You've made your point."

"I still haven't heard yours," she reminded him, leaning her hip against the counter. "What's with avoiding the question?"

"Question? What question?"

"I asked what's up with you. From what I've gathered, this isn't usually how you play the game."

"Ah. That question. Well, you'll have to forgive me for not detecting a question amidst all the fucking extra wilderness."

"Tahno," she deadpanned. "What's the deal?"

"There is no deal," he insisted.

"Fine. Fine," she muttered, resuming her work. "Whatever you say, boss."

"You don't believe me?" Tahno demanded, leaning closer.

"I believe that you're gonna be asking me for these grinds in twenty minutes, and I'm sure as hell not going to be held responsible for a severe lack of the Brazilian blend just because you couldn't come straight out and tell me what you want."

His frown deepened. "Fine," he sourly replied... though it still took him a minute to pull himself together. Once Sato's brows had risen almost all the way into her hairline, he gritted out another measly: "Fine!" And then: "Tell me something that other people probably don't know about her."

"You mean like... her personal interests and stuff?"

"No, anybody could figure that out."

"So you don't want to know more about what she does every day? Or what she studies or anything?"

(Not yet, he thought, before he could shut his mind up.)

"No," he clarified. "I mean something that somebody else probably won't have in common with her."

"So, you mean... You're asking what I think makes her unique?"

He didn't look entirely satisfied, but he shrugged and said: "Yeah, sure. Something like that."

"All right," she agreed, stirring the fine powder thoughtfully. "Huh. Hold on let me think about that for a second."

While she thought—finger twirling, ponytail winding—Tahno chanced a look toward the door; there, off in the corner, was a tiny table meant for no more than two, and a girl with dark skin and a navy blue backpack and messy hair poring over a book. There was a familiar to-go cup resting in her hand and a crease between her brow. He wondered what she was reading.

"Well, before I started working here, I couldn't get her to drink anything of decent quality. She was the kind of girl that would throw a mug in the microwave, but wouldn't even bother to throw a store-bought teabag inside, so she'd just end up drinking the hot water."

"Why?"

Asami shrugged. "She likes the warmth. Her favorite season is winter, if only because she likes to cocoon herself in a nest of blankets. She loves polar bears. Also, she gets really angry when people shove fake flowers in the ground."

"People do that?"

"Enough to make her angry."

"Fucking weird."

"I know, right? Wait. Were you talking about people in general, or her?"

"Both."

She swatted him across the arm; he looked down at her indignantly—intimidatingly—but he should have known better than to try any of those tricks with Sato. "Watch yourself, boss."

Tahno held onto his glare for a moment longer, but then he released it, along with this arm. "Fine. What else?"

"She just got out of a not-so-awesome sort-of relationship about a month ago—"

"I didn't ask for that!"

"Yeah," Asami blinked. "But you want to hear it. Also, in case you haven't learned already—she's got a bit of a temper."

"So do I," he grouched.

"Not as quick or strong," she countered.

"Oh, are we talking about this guy?"

Tahno and Asami started, immediately turning their gazes toward the girl in question on the other side of the counter. Tahno nearly rammed his hip into the countertop.

"Um. What?" Asami asked, trying to regain her momentum. Sato's using the grinder upside down... But hopefully her friend wouldn't know the difference.

"Not as quick and strong," she repeated. The girl—Korra—jerked a thumb in his direction. "I just assumed you were talking about this guy."

He scowled more deeply.

"I beg your—"

"Anyway, I've gotta run, Asami, but I'll see you at home, okay?"

Tahno's gaze snapped back to his barista, who was sending the girl off with a warm-hearted salute. As soon as she was out of earshot:

"You live together?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Ah," she squinted, smiling sheepishly as she tapped the excess dust from her utensil. She wiped her hands on a nearby cloth and grinned. "Did I not mention that?"


Sometime later, as she was nearing the end of her shift, Tahno approached Sato by the blenders. "All right," he sneered, crossing his arms. He stood tall and stiff, like the pretentious, authoritative snob that he strove to be, but his face kept twitching like he smelled warm, curdling milk.

"All right," she repeated absently, carefully slicing a banana and dropping the pieces into the food processor.

Tahno's nostrils flared, but a deep breath—maybe two—eventually calmed him.

"You were right," he admitted, voice and spine tight. "I have a deal."

Asami glanced up, looking him over curiously. "Oh?" she breathed, setting the knife down on the cutting board. "I thought you didn't have one."

Tahno's face grew taut, and his eyes—

Determined.

.

.

.

.

.

"I want to make one."

.

.

.