Morning After
Fanfic by MistressNoriko
Asami's head pounded incessantly at the front of her skull. Her eyelids felt heavy. She didn't want to wake up or get out of bed. She knew she had a meeting in the afternoon but it was still definitely morning – her internal clock rarely let her sleep in past six, even on her days off.
She slowly squinted her eyes open. Once her blurry sleep dissipated from her vision, she saw that the clock on her hotel nightstand read 9:45 AM.
She blinked and looked at the clock a little harder. She couldn't remember the last time she'd slept in this late, but she didn't have anywhere pressing to be until one o'clock. She had plenty of time to start her day by showering and getting something to eat while she reviewed her notes for her afternoon meeting.
Something didn't feel right, though. She was in her hotel room. The problem was she didn't remember coming back to her hotel last night. She had gone out to have a casual drink and remembered meeting someone, someone she had wanted to get away from. But beyond that, her mind felt fuzzy, especially when she tried to recall the details of the person she'd met. After a few moments of thinking, she distinctly recalled the feeling of lips against hers, though.
Her eyes shot fully open as the weight of an arm draped over her stomach registered in her foggy senses.
Asami was lying on her left side and looked back over her shoulder to see another person in her bed sleeping soundly. The comforter covered most of the person's body, but Asami could see dark hair and dark skin of the person nuzzled down into her back and could feel a warm arm wrapped around her waist and one under her pillow.
Her eyes went wide as she feared she'd slept with the person, but then she noticed something else that was strange – she was wearing a hoodie. A hoodie that definitely didn't belong to her as she didn't own any such attire in her entire wardrobe. The last time she'd even worn such a thing she had been in single digits. But she could feel that her legs were bare and felt the distinct feeling of the underwire of her bra pressing against her ribs. She was fully aware that she didn't have to be naked to have had sex with someone – but she hoped she would have at least remembered the act of doing it. Her mind was nauseatingly blank on the events of the night before.
She laid there for a long moment trying harder to recall the events of the day before: She remembered leaving her meeting and having a simple dinner at the hotel restaurant before deciding to go check out a bar that someone had recommended on one of her previous trips down to the Southern Capital. No matter how hard she tried, though, she couldn't recall the events after meeting a man at the bar and having a conversation. She remembered a woman, too. Was that who she'd kissed?
There's no way I drank that much last night, she thought drastically as she moved her hand to pull back the comforter. As she grabbed the edge of the fluffy blanket, something on her hand caught her eye.
"Check your texts" was written in black ink on the back of her hand.
She stayed still for a long moment just blinking at the writing scrawled on her hand. It wasn't her handwriting, but it looked familiar. For some reason, she thought of napkins and secret notes but didn't understand the correlation.
She glanced back at her sleeping partner who was still out cold next to her. Their body was warm but not flush against her. The person moved slightly, rotating their head to face upward instead of into Asami's back and Asami's breath caught. It was a woman.
It had been over a year since she'd been intimate with anyone, and even longer since she'd been intimate with another woman. Her last relationship had been a short-lived flash in the pan with a young rookie cop who couldn't handle her rigorous work habits. She'd had relations with several women during her college years, but they never turned into full-fledged relationships because the other women were just having fun or so they'd told her.
The woman with dark skin in her bed was gorgeous – not in a classically beautiful way like people often associated with herself; this woman had both hard and soft features about her – her pronounced cheekbones and defined jawline, but soft, thin lips and petite nose. Asami's eyes lingered on the woman's thin lips and clearly remembered the taste of peppermint.
The first crystal clear memory from the night before crashed through her foggy brain – this woman had come up to her and Asami had pulled her into a kiss. And not just a simple kiss that she thought appropriate for public displays of affections – no, the kiss had been passionate, thorough, and lasted much longer than she'd typically allow for PDA's. The kiss had made her knees weak and her head spin. The woman, despite being shorter, had held her in strong arms and returned the kiss with a ferocity that had made Asami's core ache for something more. And her breathless declaration of holy fuck when the kiss finally ended had made her want to pull the woman away and see what else she could have done to her to get similar responses.
Asami frowned. The memory was so vivid, vivid enough for a dull ache to throb between her legs. Despite the vividness and her body's physical reaction to the memory, however, she couldn't recall how she'd met the woman before that kiss or how she'd gotten home. And if the kiss had been that sexually charged, then why hadn't they had sex? Were they too drunk when they'd gotten back to the hotel? Had one of them withdrawn their consent for sex for the evening and settled for making out? Or had they and Asami just couldn't remember it? But if that was the case, it didn't explain why she was wearing a hoodie and little else…
Her body didn't feel like she'd had sex. Not at all. Usually, her body would feel slightly sore but relaxed the morning after a passionate night in. She still felt the tension in her shoulders from all the stress she'd been carrying around about her business dealings in the Southern Capital. A good romp in the sheets would have lessened that at least a little. Unless the sex had been bad? She frowned again. Based on the kiss she remembered, she doubted that the hypothetical sex with this stranger would have been lackluster or unsatisfying. If they'd had sex – she had a feeling her body would feel sore for a few days. But sore in the best possible way.
She remembered the note on her hand to check her texts and then looked to her nightstand. She was surprised to see that her phone was plugged in and charging, along with a glass of water and a packet of aspirin. Despite her initial anxiety of having someone in her bed, there was something about the feeling of this person next to her that started to put her at ease. But that was crazy. She was a complete stranger. A stranger that she was almost positive she hadn't had sex with but otherwise had no idea what all they'd gotten up to together. How could her simple sleeping presence make her feel better when she couldn't recall any other detail about her aside from how amazing her lips had felt?
Was she still drunk and that's why she felt at ease next to the slumbering woman?
She frowned again. She didn't feel drunk. Hungover, maybe, as her head continued to pound. But definitely not drunk.
She grabbed her phone, trying to move slowly as to not wake the person next to her. She knew she needed to wake her at some point, but she wanted to get as much information that her texts could provide before mounting the awkward conversation of who are you and what all did we do last night and time for you to leave.
Her phone unlocked, showing 100% battery life. Whatever they'd done last night, it was over with enough time to have the cognitive thought to plug her phone in and to let it charge fully. Or perhaps she'd plugged it in before they'd started anything? Asami was always the pragmatic one. But she doubted that if they had continued the kissing that she'd remembered from the bar once they got back to the hotel room that she would have thought about something as trivial as her phone.
She pulled open her text messages and found a new text conversation from a number that wasn't programmed into her phone. It had an area code from the Southern Capital, and she'd received it at 1:14 AM. She tapped the message, and a long series of messages opened:
Hi. So. This is a first for me. My name is Korra – I'm the person in bed with you. Or I'm the person who was in your bed with you before you got up? I have no idea where you're going to be when you read this. Or if you'll actually read it before I wake up or not.
ANYWAY
Let me start over.
Hi. I'm Korra. Please don't panic that I'm in your hotel room. You asked me to stay last night after everything that happened at Benders. You recorded a video on your phone explaining what happened and that might be a good place to start.
Oh, one more thing – if you want me to leave please don't hesitate to tell me (or wake me up and ask me to leave. I'm probably still asleep. I sleep hard. But that's not the point here…) I just don't want to make you uncomfortable or anything. So if you want me gone, don't feel bad about giving me the boot.
Oh and one more thing. Last thing – I promise. Nothing happened between us last night in your hotel, so please don't panic thinking you've had a one-night-stand or anything. You're sleeping as I'm texting this, so there's no chance of something happening after this awkward string of messages from me.
Oh, spirits I just re-read all of this. I sound like a mess. I'm going to go to sleep now. I hope I don't scare you or anything in the morning. Sweet dreams.
Sleep well. Dumb autocorrect.
But you're reading this in the morning after sleeping.
Well. Good Morning. Sorry, I'm an awkward fool. For reals, I'm going to sleep now.
Asami couldn't stop the smile that was spreading over her face and brought a hand up to her lips to try and muffle a small giggle that escaped her throat while she read the stream-of-consciousness that this Korra girl had texted to her. Korra seemed like a nervous ball of energy if her texting was any indication. More than that, she seemed incredibly sweet and kind-hearted. Something she'd never really had in a partner before.
She blinked hard at that thought.
They weren't dating. She didn't even remember the entire evening with this woman. Why the hell was she thinking about traits she had or hadn't had in previous partners? It's not like she was going to date this woman or anything for a multitude of reasons. Mainly – there's no way she knew the woman well enough after one drunken night at a bar together. Secondly – she wasn't keen on starting a long distance relationship, especially with all the things happening for her company right now. She was simply too busy to have another priority in her life. It wouldn't be fair to whoever she was dating.
She pushed the thoughts of dating far out of her mind and focused on finding the video file that Korra had mentioned in her texts. Once she located the video she almost pressed play but stopped herself; she didn't want to wake Korra with the sound of the video. She still wanted to know more about the previous night before rousing the woman and mounting any kind of conversation.
She moved the comforter back with the thought to go and listen to the video in the bathroom while she brushed her teeth and took some of the aspirin that had been so graciously prepared for her. As she moved to slide her legs out of bed, though, the arm around her waist tightened and pulled her back. Korra made a small noise of displeasure and moved her head again, moving more on her side and nuzzling her face into the back of Asami's neck and into her hair. As Korra's exhale hit the base of Asami's neck, a wave of shivers cascaded down her spine and pooled low in her core. Her neck was incredibly sensitive and often a spot her partners overlooked. The feeling caused a high pitched moan to catch in Asami's throat.
Korra was incredibly warm and her body felt intoxicating to be next to – firm muscles of her arms that held her close while maintaining a gentle touch on her waist, the soft compression of her breasts against Asami's back, and the tickling of her breath on her neck – the combination made Asami almost give in to her most base of urges and roll over and kiss the woman awake. But she knew that that would be wholly inappropriate despite how much her body wanted to feel more of the woman next to her.
Asami desperately wanted to get out of bed. She wasn't sure how long she could handle being next to Korra, whose warmth was quickly reminding her of a furnace now that their bodies were flush together. Especially with a steadily growing heat between her legs that had nothing to do with Korra's radiating body temperature.
She tried again to move out of the bed, using a hand in an attempt to move Korra's arm but it only made Korra hold her tighter and move her other arm from under Asami's pillow to under her shoulders.
This woman wasn't going to let her out of bed in the state that she was in. Asami bit her lip. She wasn't ready to have a conversation with her yet. She needed more information. She never went into a meeting without knowing all the facts. That's why she was so successful in business meetings – she knew things. Everything about her company and everything that she was legally allowed to know about the companies that she dealt with and her competitors. She was thorough. She didn't do well with unknowns. Unless it was an engine. She could tinker with unknowns on an engine for hours and be happy. But people were more complex than the gears and springs of machinery.
Thankfully, as her eyes darted around the room thinking of how to get out of Korra's grasp, she noticed that her Bluetooth earpiece was on her nightstand. She glanced over her shoulder at Korra and waited for the strong woman to relax enough for her to move to grab it. As it was, she wasn't going to be able to reach it, and if she flailed her arm too much at it, she was bound to wake the woman up.
After a few minutes of listening to Korra breathe, her grip around her waist loosened to the point that Asami was sure she'd be able to grab the earpiece. She moved quickly, her fingers grasping the earpiece just as Korra's grip re-tightened around her waist.
Wow is she clingy, Asami thought as she turned the device on and put it snugly in her ear. The device beeped in her ear, indicating that it was registered and ready for use. She hit the play button of the video on her phone.
The video started and Asami was surprised to see how close the video was on her face. She was sitting on the hotel bed, smiling at whoever was holding her phone. She was wearing the hoodie that she'd woken up in and could see that she was holding someone else's hand – presumably, Korra's, as the skin was darker in contrast to her paler skin. Asami fingers were laced with Korra's, but their hands kept moving as Asami's drunk-self kept bringing the hand up to her mouth, almost kissing it, then bringing it away.
The video was a little unsteady as the phone moved in Korra's hand and the focus went in and out a few times before it finally focused on her own face. Asami watched her inebriated-self look past the phone at Korra. It was strange to see her expression – but she looked happy and flirtatious and more than comfortable with the stranger in her hotel room.
"Is it recording?" her video-self asked. Her speech was slow and slightly slurred.
"Yup," presumably Korra said from behind the phone. Asami's heart fluttered when she heard her voice. She wasn't prepared for the warm muscular woman next to her to have a voice like that.
"Shouldn't you say action or something?" she asked, using a free hand to toss her long hair over her shoulder.
"It's not like we're making a film. But, I could say it if you'd like." The woman behind the camera laughed nervously.
Asami saw herself shrug coyly before smiling wide. "I'll just dive right in. Okay, morning me. Last night, you were – Wait. Do I really need to repeat this? This seems silly."
"I mean, yeah?" Korra said. "You might not remember anything in the morning."
"I doubt I could forget you," Asami said after a long pause. Her tone was beyond flirtatious. It was downright suggestive. Her video self even bit her own lip, looking up and down past the phone.
There was another nervous laugh from behind the phone. "But you might."
"Fiiine," Asami said and playfully rolled her eyes before winking past the phone. She then cleared her throat and looked directly at the camera. "I was out drinking last night at Benders. You know, the bar that Juichi kept talking about? Well, I went, and some sexual predator slipped something in my drink and Korra – Korra, you should wave or something."
Asami paused the video with her thumb and brought her free hand over her mouth to cover it.
I was drugged?! Asami thought dramatically. Why in the spirit world was I be flirting with this woman if I knew I was drugged?! I should've been upset! I should have gone to the hospital or called the police!
Her eyebrows furrowed and she took in a deep breath. The time on the video said there were seventy-five seconds left to watch. Maybe they had called the police. The video had to have more answers on it.
She began chewing on the inside of her cheek as she pressed the play button with her thumb again.
The video moved in a blur as the camera moved off of Asami until it was slightly out of focus on Korra's face, extremely close as she smiled and then moved the phone back to point at Asami, whose smile had grown wider.
"So Korra swooped in and saved the night by pretending to by my girlfriend to get the guy to leave me alone. Only after we shared an earth-shattering kiss did I start to feel the effects of whatever he'd put in my drink," Asami listened to herself say. There was a lilt of fear in her recorded voice, and she blinked and looked away from the camera. There were definitely emotions running through her head.
She watched herself blink and then looked down at her hand and smile. She brought her and Korra's hand up and put the back of Korra's hand to her chest and hugged her forearm and smiled warmly again to Korra behind the phone.
"Korra helped me to my hotel room, even carried me when my legs gave out. And it was my idea to have her stay. I asked her to stay the night. And sheeee," Asami said, a playful expression taking over her face as she pointed to Korra. "Put me in a hoodie because apparently sleeping next to someone in her underwear that you don't know is probably a little forward. Especially after the kisses we've exchanged tonight."
"Probably?" Korra coughed, nervousness still painted in her voice.
Asami shrugged and then winked again. "Anyway – the point is you told her to be here and don't freak out that she's in your bed." Asami's video-self looked down at her hand and smiled wider before looking back up to the phone. "And, Korra, what did I tell you to do?"
"To not let go of you," the woman said, her voice quiet.
"Exactly," Asami said before she moved their hands to make a show of them touching each other. "So, when you wake up and wonder who this delightfully strong, stunning woman is in your bed who you have an uncontrollable urge to kiss, don't panic. You asked her to be there."
"Uncontrollable?" Korra asked. Asami could hear the smile on her voice despite not being able to see her face in the video.
Asami smirked. "You have no idea."
She heard the woman behind the phone swallow loudly before clearing her throat. "Erm… well – is there anything else you want to add for your morning self to hear?"
"Only that you're about as red as a tomato and that you're cute and that I really appreciate you and everything you've done for me tonight," Asami said quickly, her eyes playfully watching the woman behind the phone.
"Cute?!" Korra objected. "What happened to liking that I'm strong?"
Asami's smile reached her eyes as she played with her bottom lip with her teeth. "I can still think you're sexy and that you're cute because you're blushing."
The video blurred as the phone was moved. Before the video cut out, Asami could hear Korra make a few noises of protest before laughing nervously and then saying, "I think it's time for bed," and then the video stopped.
Asami stared at her phone screen until it went blank as her head reeled. There was a lot to process from the short video but still not enough information for her liking. But it did help her understand why the Korra girl felt so good next to her. She'd apparently trusted her the night before and for a good reason. She'd been the reason she'd gotten home safe from whatever might have happened from the sexual predator who slipped something in her drink. It was strange to watch herself watch someone – but she couldn't deny the look on her recorded face. She'd seen a range of emotion from the attraction, to fear when recalling the moment of feeling the effect of the drugs kick in in her system, to flirtation of relishing in making the poor woman behind the camera blush by her remarks.
She still didn't know why she hadn't called the police or gone to the hospital. But knowing herself, she probably hadn't wanted to make a scene and jeopardize any of her business dealings. That's just what she needed – headlines about a potential sexual assault tied to Future Industries. She hated that that was probably her reasoning last night for not going through with any formal kind of report. Her success as a businesswoman shouldn't be tarnished because she reported a sexual predator – but she knew how the media handled these things. They were bound to blow it out of proportion and somehow have it turned on her in a negative light.
It made her stomach churn at the thought of the man she couldn't recall from last night getting away with what he'd done and possibly done to another woman or women. She frowned and then let out a sigh and unlocked her phone again. She opened her calendar and made an appointment for 6pm to go back to Benders and see if they had any kind of video surveillance. She had one of the best lawyers in Republic City and an excellent public relations team that she'd built after her father was sent to jail and his long, drawn-out public trial. If her company could handle its founder being put in prison, it could handle Asami fighting against a sexual predator. She owed it to herself and the other women he potentially had hurt.
Writing out her notes of what she needed to do next were made slightly more manageable by the sheer presence of the woman next to her. The stranger felt safe. Reassuring. And most of all, protective with how she held onto her in her sleep.
She pulled the earpiece out of her ear and put the device and her phone on the edge of the bed and then slowly turned in Korra's loose arms to face her. The woman was still fast asleep, her mouth just barely open as she slumbered away. But as she slept, her arms tightened around Asami again, pulling her slightly closer.
Asami found herself smiling at the sleeping woman. She'd apparently asked her last night to not let go of her, and here she was, hours later, still holding her, actively pulling her closer whenever it felt like she was moving away. She wasn't clingy. She was diligent. Even in her sleep she actively kept the promise she'd made to an emotionally fragile stranger the night before.
Before she realized what she was doing, she moved her hand up and tucked a displaced piece of hair behind Korra's ear and then let her hand linger on the woman's cheek. When it registered that she was touching the woman somewhat intimately, she almost pulled her hand away, but there was something about the slumbering woman that made her keep her hand where it was. Korra was so easy to touch, and her skin felt inviting under her fingertips. The weight of her arm over her waist, the warmth radiating off of her body as she held her, her quiet breathing noises coming from her barely open mouth – all of it put Asami's mind at ease and erased the building stress about what all she needed to do later today to see justice served. For a split second, she thought she could conquer anything with this woman near her.
How had she been so lucky to happen upon a stranger like her last night? Asami was always skeptical of others and was reluctant to trust people. Her history of her father's shady business dealings that had landed him in jail, with people trying to use her as a pawn in their own business schemes, or trying to steamroll her in an attempt to take over her company. Everyone always wanted something from her. But this sleeping woman had apparently helped her out of the goodness of her heart and hadn't done anything that Asami hadn't asked for.
Asami's thumb moved, caressing the bottom lip of the slumbering woman. Her lip was soft, and Asami resisted the urge to lean forward and kiss her. Everything about how they were situated was comfortable. Korra's strong arms wrapped around her, the feeling of her warm leg muscles pressed against Asami's thigh, and the curve of her body that fit effortlessly next to her own.
How could another person feel so inviting?
She felt herself beginning to lean in towards Korra's lips and froze. But just as she stopped, Korra furrowed her eyebrows and scrunched her nose and stretched her arms out. She looked quite cat-like as she stretched forward, her back arching out and her arms reaching forward. As she relaxed from the stretch, her arms wrapped tightly around Asami's waist before she rolled onto her back, pulling Asami with her. Asami let out a startled yelp as her body was moved. When Korra settle in bed, she'd forcefully pulled Asami directly on top of her, pinning her arms between their chests.
Asami looked up and down Korra's face and was overcome with ideas of how to wake her from this position. All she had to do was move her legs just so, and she'd be straddling the muscular woman beneath her. She could kiss the woman awake, tease her awake by kissing down her sculpted neck, or let her hands tease their way down the woman's body as she traced the lines of her muscles.
She wriggled her hands out from underneath her weight and moved her hands rest on the mattress, just above the woman's shoulders to alleviate some of her weight off of Korra. Despite how easy it would be to do all those things and how inviting the body underneath her was, she couldn't bring herself to do it. She'd seen the texts and the video and knew they had some sort of connection. Her body very much remembered Korra's body as she was pressed against her. But she didn't remember anything naturally herself. Who knew what type of conversation they'd had. She didn't even know if Korra was actually into women. She could have just been a helpful stranger who was too polite to tell her no when Asami had asked her to stay.
Before she had the opportunity to abandon her conviction of keeping her hands and lips to herself, she leaned down and whispered into Korra's ear.
"Korra?"
The slumbering woman grumbled slightly and moved her head to the side, facing away from Asami's lips. She then moved one of her legs slightly, her thigh coming up between Asami's legs and coming in contact with her center.
Asami swallowed the noise that had been about to escape from her throat and grasped the sheets of the bed. This woman had no right to feel as good as she did. Nor did she have any right to be able to elicit such noises from Asami while she was asleep and not actively trying. It wasn't fair. It made Asami's conviction of keeping her hands to herself that much harder.
Asami saw a hair tie discarded on the sheets to her left – presumably from Korra. Her short brown hair was strewn across the pillow underneath her head as her sleeping face continued to look away from Asami.
She brought one of her hands up and ran her fingers firmly through the woman's hair, making a point of using her nails. She wanted it to feel good but also wanted it to be a noticeable feeling that might wake the woman.
"Ko-orra?" Asami said, dragging out the woman's name at a normal volume instead of whispering this time as her nails reached the back of Korra's head. "Wake up, sleepy head."
The woman made a happy noise as her body started to stir more. After a few more passes of her nails through Korra's hair, Korra's eyes slowly blinked open. She looked Asami over and smiled, her arms moving from wrapped around Asami's waist to her hands gliding down her back to find the hem of the hoodie. Korra moved her head forward as her hands moved underneath the fabric of the hoodie, her eyes closing slightly.
Asami held her breath. She wasn't expecting a kiss to be the result of waking up the woman, but she wasn't about to stop one if Korra initiated it. She also guessed that this answered her query regarding whether or not the woman was into other women.
Just as their noses touched Korra's body went rigid and her eyes wide. Korra then flattened herself on the mattress and firmly held her hands in place on the skin of Asami's lower back. Asami tried not to let her disappointment show that they hadn't kissed, considering the closer Korra had gotten to doing it the more she wanted it, too.
"Uh, hi," Korra said breathlessly.
Asami couldn't help but smile down at her. "Good morning."
Asami hair cascaded over her left shoulder, creating a small curtain for the two women against the sun peeking through the blinds. She could see a rosy hue on Korra's cheeks as her eyes searched Asami's. She could feel the woman breathe underneath her and it felt like her body temperature was rising.
"Um, you can let go of me now. I mean," Asami paused, searching Korra's eyes as she felt her eyebrows give a suggestive arch. "If you want to, that is."
"Shit—I'm sorry!" Korra said as her hands moved immediately from Asami's back and flattened her palms on the mattress.
Asami was sad at the loss of contact on her back from the warm hands of the muscular woman beneath her. But she knew that there was bound to be some awkwardness. It was time to get that over and done with.
"No need to be sorry. I quite like the feeling of your arms around me," Asami let herself admit as she began moving. She moved off of Korra so that she was sitting in the bed next to her. She ran her hand through her thick hair to reposition it out of her face. "I just wasn't sure you wanted me on top of you."
Korra propped herself up on her elbows and raised a nervous eyebrow. "Um… why were you on top of me?"
Asami smirked. "I think you took your duties of not letting go of me very seriously," she started. She wanted to reach out and touch Korra again somehow. Her body felt cold without the warmth of Korra directly next to her. But she refrained and continued. "I woke up with your arms still around me. And when you moved onto your back, you pulled me with you."
"Oh. So," Korra started as a smile started to spread over her face as she sat up fully in bed. "You remember last night, then?"
Asami shook her head. "It's a little fuzzy. But I watched the video you had me record."
"Ah." Korra frowned.
Before she could stop herself, Asami reached out and moved a piece of hair out of Korra's face and tucked it behind her ear. The woman was so easy to touch; it was hard to remember that she didn't actually know her.
"What's wrong?" Asami asked as her fingers lingered.
Korra looked from Asami to her hand and blinked a few times. She then let out a sigh and brought her hands together in her lap.
"I was just hoping you'd remember the night," she started as Asami withdrew her hand. She tapped her thumb against the blanket a few times before meeting Asami's gaze again. "But I can't say I'm surprised, given what happened."
"You mean being drugged?" Asami clarified bluntly.
Korra's face winced, and her frown deepened. "Yeah."
Their movement moved the blanket just so to reveal the dark skin of Korra's leg. Asami took a second to look over the woman once more, now that she was in an upright position. She had apparently gone to bed in her underwear, boy shorts by what little she could see, and her tank top. A colorful sports bra peeked out from the straps of the tank and left her relaxed muscles visible. The muscles in her forearm and triceps thrummed as her thumb continued to tap against the blankets.
Asami moved her hand over top Korra's moving one. The warmth from the woman immediately began to radiate into her palm.
"Well, I appreciate you and all of your help, Korra." Asami squeezed Korra's hand and tried to catch her eye again. "What I do remember from last night, you're in all of it. And…well," she paused. She smiled to herself and rethought what she was about to say. Now wasn't the time to tell the woman that she liked her or enjoyed the feeling of her or how much she enjoyed kissing her or how being close to her made her body ache for something more. She felt her cheeks grow hot. "Never mind."
Korra's eyebrow arched as she watched Asami's expression change. "You can tell me, y'know." Her fingers moved, her thumb catching Asami's forefinger and caressing it slightly. "If you want to, of course."
Asami met Korra's blue eyes and smiled. This woman had no right to be this sweet. She wasn't at all prepared for it and liked it more than she thought she would. She'd always had partners and flings with people who were blunt or demanded to know things. This Korra girl was proving to be anything but what she was used to.
"I remember feeling safe with you," Asami said instead of the other things floating around in her head.
"Yeah," Korra said as she smiled and looked down. "You said that a few times last night."
Asami stopped herself from biting her lip while she watched Korra's demeanor shift into something akin to shyness. Instead, she squeezed the woman's hand.
"And I still mean it this morning. After my initial shock of waking up to someone in bed with me… your presence still put me at ease. Especially because I'm not one to go home or take strangers home with me that I meet at bars," Asami added. For some reason, she felt the need to assure the woman that she didn't take just anyone home, even when she had her full wits about her.
"I'm," Korra started as a blush reappeared across the woman's dark cheeks. She smirked, her lips pulling to the side as she brought her free hand up to rub her neck, not quite meeting Asami's gaze. "I'm glad."
Asami watched Korra for a moment. Korra was looking around the blankets, occasionally at their hands that were still touching, and the window, again not meeting Asami's watchful eye. Asami took her slight movements and the fact that she was still blushing and assumed that the muscled woman was beginning to feel awkward.
She couldn't have that. But she also felt a bit selfish and didn't want her interaction with this attractive stranger to end just yet. She moved her hand from on top of Korra's to the warm dark flesh of her thigh.
"What do you say I buy you breakfast?" she offered.
Korra blinked hard and looked briefly at Asami's hand and then up to her face, her cheeks a shade darker. "What? No – you don't have to do that!"
Asami chuckled. "I know I don't. But I want to. It's the least I can do for my knight in shining armor," she said with a wink. "And besides, it'll give us a chance to get to know each other outside of last night. I'm sure I made a terrible first impression."
Korra smiled as the shade of red across her cheeks deepened further. She bit her lip before looking away and rubbing her neck again. "I… I mean… I wouldn't say that."
Asami eyed her. Then more fog lifted in her head from the night before; she remembered that the reason she couldn't remember how the two met prior to kissing was because they hadn't. Not really. Korra had held up a napkin that explained how she could help from behind the man she'd been drinking with. His features were still fuzzy in her mind's eye but not the kiss that soon followed after she'd chosen the lover option. Their kiss had been their first encounter. Asami had initiated it and had intended it to only be an over the top display to get away from the fuzzy man in her memory, but she hadn't been prepared for how good Korra would feel. The kiss had gone from a performative greeting to getting utterly lost in the stranger's lips and wanting to leave with her to get to know her. Apparently, she'd gotten part of her wish by leaving the bar with her. Breakfast would allow her to get to know her, fulfilling the rest of her wish.
"Too good of a first impression?" Asami teased after her memory caught up with her.
"Let's just say," Korra said a bit shakily. "I don't think anyone will top it anytime soon."
Asami bit the edge of her lip as she forced herself to not let her mind dive in the rabbit hole of topping Korra or what kind of top Korra would be in the bedroom. Normally she was one who liked to be in control, but part of her felt like she'd be willing to let Korra have the reins.
"I'm okay with that," Asami said as a smile spread across her lips, possibly betraying her thoughts because she watched Korra's eyes look at her lips and back up at her eyes and her blush darken yet more. She imagined that the current shade of red on her cheeks was the same shade she'd been last night when they'd ended recording the video that caused her to compare her to a tomato.
"So, breakfast?" Asami asked.
"S-sure!" Korra stammered, blinking and then nodding, forcing herself to look away from Asami's face.
Asami patted Korra's thigh and then withdrew her hand before she let herself get carried away with more touching, as Korra's skin was so inviting and warm underneath her fingertips. She moved her legs and started to get out of bed.
"Let me get ready real quick. There's a good diner just down the street we can walk to if that's alright with you," Asami offered.
"Sounds perfect."
Asami stood from the bed and was aware of how much of her skin was showing. Granted, it was just her legs, but she was sure that Korra got a view of her panties as she stood up. Then again – it was possible that Korra had been the one to put her in the hoodie she was wearing last night. She'd probably already seen everything.
She smiled to herself as her hands touched the front of the hoodie.
"And you're welcome to stay in here if you'd like," Asami offered as she glanced at Korra over her shoulder. "Or if you'd rather, you're welcome to any part of the hotel suite."
Korra arched an eyebrow, watching Asami move. "Huh?"
Asami upended the hoodie off of her body, deliberately showing off as much as she could. She didn't have muscle definition like Korra, but she had a body that she was proud of. Despite possibly having already seen her last night, Asami wanted to see what seeing her without the large garment on would do to Korra. She wasn't disappointed when she turned around, thankful for her matching panties and bra – dark red and lacey.
If Korra blushed any darker, she was sure steam would start pouring out of her ears. Her eyes looked Asami up and down several times, and Asami could see the woman swallow nervously before she licked at her bottom lip. She then blinked hard and threw the blankets off of herself.
"I-I'll wait in the l-living room," Korra sputtered as she shot out of bed. She went straight for the door, stopped, turned around and grabbed what looked like her jeans off of the floor, and then started walking towards the door again at almost a jog.
Asami couldn't help but laugh silently to herself. This girl was too easily flustered, and she quite enjoyed it. Mainly because it made her dangerously curious about what Korra was thinking or forcing herself not to do.
"Help yourself to the spare toothbrush in the main bathroom," Asami called out after her as she made it through the bedroom door.
"T-thanks!" Korra called back.
Asami smiled and then held the hoodie to her chest, leaning her head down just enough to bury her nose in the fabric of the hood. The hoodie had both of their personal aromas intermingled together, Asami's perfume mixed with a slight hint of lemongrass and eucalyptus. She smiled to herself.
The two smells complimented each other perfectly.