Like A Rock
It had been an accident, a horrible, horrible accident.
Korra and Bolin hadn't meant to crack Asami's beloved custom granite bench tops. But Bolin had dropped by for lunch, and he and Korra had gotten into a friendly scuffle while they waited for their lunch to cook. Before they knew it, they'd been flinging some of the little pebbles that Asami kept as paperweights at each other.
It had been fun, especially since it had been a while since Korra had faced an earthbender who wasn't trying to murder her. And then, somehow, things had escalated, and they'd ended up earthbending the granite bench tops at each other. And now… now the bench tops were cracked in several places.
"We are going to die." Bolin had gone utterly pale. "Asami is going to kill us. She's going to grab that gloves of hers – you know the one – and shock us to death. No, that's too easy. She'll tie us to an airship, load it with explosives, and then crash it into a volcano or something."
"She is not going to kill us," Korra cried. "Uh… maybe… no… uh… damn it! She's going to kill us!" Asami had loved those bench tops. She'd practically walked on air for a week after having them put in. Korra grabbed Bolin. "Quick! We have to fix this. Maybe we can bend the bench tops back together."
"That's not how earthbending works, and you know it!" Bolin grabbed Korra's shoulders. "Think, Korra! You're smart, and you're the Avatar. Use your Avatar powers to fix this. You have to fix this, or we're going to die!"
"Me?" Korra grabbed Bolin's wrists. "Why are we talking about me? We both broke them!"
"But Asami totally loves you. She won't murder you – she can't marry you if you're dead. But she will murder me. Please, Korra, take one for the team!" Bolin fell onto his knees and grabbed Korra's leg. "Please! You wouldn't leave Mako without a brother, would you? Plus Opal would be really sad if Asami murdered me, and there's Pabu. What would he do without me?"
Korra dragged Bolin to his feet. "Get up. We have to fix this. Asami will be coming home soon."
X X X
Asami ran one hand through her always-perfect hair and unlocked the door to the apartment that she and Korra shared. They were planning on moving into a house sooner rather than later, but they hadn't been able to find a good block of free time to go looking for the right place that could meet both their requirements.
"Hi, Asami!" Korra was at her side in an instant with a cup of tea. "Here, have some tea. I'm sure that you must be tired."
Tea? Asami frowned faintly. Something was wrong. Korra was never this enthusiastic about serving her tea unless she'd done something wrong. Had Korra set the kitchen on fire by accident again? Perhaps not. She couldn't smell anything, but Korra was the Avatar. A little bit of airbending and firebending could easily take care of the smell.
"How about some delicious noodles?" Bolin cried, appearing at Asami's other side.
And now, she was seriously worried. Bolin was even worse than Korra at hiding things when he'd done something wrong. And, seriously, noodles? Out of nowhere? What exactly had they done? Had they decided to have a lava versus metal fight in the living room or something?
"Uh… right…" Asami wandered through the apartment, and her unease grew as she noticed nothing out of place. Finally, she reached the kitchen. She paused. Something about the granite bench tops was different. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but… wait! Those were cracks. There were cracks in her granite bench tops! She turned, eyes narrowing ominously.
"Who cracked my granite bench tops?"
Korra and Bolin stared at each other. For a moment, she thought they would try to stick together, but then Bolin took a deep breath and pointed at Korra.
"I am so sorry. I tried to stop her but –"
"What?" Korra shrieked. "Don't try to put this on me!"
"But I thought we talked about this." Bolin held his hands up in a vain bid to keep Korra from strangling him. "You can take the fall for it since Asami won't kill you."
"Korra. Bolin. Explain. Now." Asami folded her hands over her chest and tapped one foot on the floor. "Now."
X X X
Mako tilted his head to one side. "Say what?"
"Korra and I have to go grab a few slabs of granite tomorrow to make bench tops." Bolin covered his face with his hands.
"And why aren't you allowed to use bending to make these bench tops?" Mako asked. It seemed like the most sensible way to do it to him.
"So that we can learn the importance of looking after other people's things," Korra replied, looking very bit as dejected as Bolin.
Ah, it made sense now.
"You broke Asami's bench tops, didn't you?" Mako asked.
Korra and Bolin nodded.
"Hey, you'll help us out, won't you, bro? Maybe if you ask Asami to take it easy on us –"
"Oh, no. I am not going anywhere near Asami when she's pissed off." Mako shook his head and laughed. "You two did this to yourselves. Leave me out of it."
X X X
Author's Notes
As always, I do not own Legend of Korra. I am not making any money off of this either.
Never – ever – break Asami's stuff. Ever.
As always, I appreciate feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.