Sunday, February 22nd
Kuvira blew out a long breath and leaned back on her palms as she and Korra sat on the steps outside the main building of Air Temple Island. Opal was meditating with Tenzin that morning, and Bataar and Asami had gotten up extra early to finish the work they hadn't completed the day before. Korra and Kuvira had tried to play video games, then went from Pai Sho to cards, but everything turned into a playful competition between them. The pair had decided to go to Air Temple Island on a whim, knowing that Opal had wanted to go to the train station with them early that afternoon to see Bataar and Kuvira off.
"Your eyebrows are so important to me," Korra told Kuvira, looking at her with a playful grin when Kuvira huffed.
"What?" one of her eyebrows shot up as she spoke.
"They are," Korra nodded, "They make you look dignified, like a world leader or something. Very authoritative."
"Thanks, I think," Kuvira laughed, elbowing Korra roughly.
"You're welcome," Korra smirked, "Did you call Su last night?"
"Bataar did, yeah."
"How are the airbenders?" There was a crease that appeared between Korra's brows when she mentioned them.
"They're fine," Kuvira assured her, "The kids miss you. Meelo? He follows me around during the day when Pema lets him."
"I miss them," Korra sighed, "The kids especially. Tenzin and I worry about them constantly."
"They're alright. Zaofu is safe."
"I know, but still."
"I understand. We worry about Opal when she's away too. Even though Suyin knows you wouldn't let anything happen to her."
Korra sighed again, almost forcefully, and Kuvira put one arm around Korra's shoulders, shaking her a little.
"Anyone ever tell you that you worry too much?" Kuvira was smiling.
"I'm going to punch you in the throat," Korra grumbled, "I just…What if something happens to me? All these people I care about, I feel like I'm the only one who can keep them safe. I know that's not the way things are, but some days that's all I can think about."
"Korra," Kuvira's smile faded and she looked earnestly at her, "If something happens to you, I'll tell Opal to call me. I will drop everything and be on the next train here. I'll keep your friends and family safe when you can't."
"Why?"
"Because I know you'd do the same for me. That's what friends do."
"What about being captain of the guard, what about Suy—."
"It's not a permanent position. Some things are more important, right? I'm serious."
"Kuvira," Korra sighed, "We haven't even known each other that long."
"Does that matter?" Kuvira frowned, "You're still my friend. I know you'd risk your life to save me if it came down to it. Let me do this."
Kuvira extended one hand to Korra and Korra grasped it firmly, pulling her into a hug. Kuvira squeezed her tightly and patted her on the shoulder a few times before they parted, and when they did, Kuvira was grinning.
"What?" Korra raised one eyebrow, "Don't look at me like that, you look sneaky."
"There's one condition," Kuvira's grin widened.
"Ugh. What's that? I can't let zombies eat you anymore?"
"You have to ask Asami out on a date." Kuvira narrowed her eyes slyly.
"What?" Korra's eyes went wide and a blush rose to her cheeks, "Why would I—."
"You like Asami, right? In that way."
"Well yeah," Korra stammered, her face hot, "But wh-."
"No buts," Kuvira shrugged, "You like her. She definitely likes you. Ask her out."
"I hate you," Korra covered her face with her hands and groaned.
"You don't."
"What do I even say?"
"Just ask her for a date?" Kuvira shrugged again, "It's really not that hard."
"Fine." Korra dragged her hands down her face and huffed, "I'll do it."
"When?"
"I don't know!" She threw her hands up wildly, "I literally just agreed to this! I'm not exactly an expert on how to ask people out."
"I'll just remind you every day from now on until you do it."
"Do not."
"Consider it your motivation."
"Motivation to get you to shut up?" Korra snorted.
"If that's what it takes." Kuvira nodded once, "And don't think too much about doing it. Because then you'll work yourself up too much and it'll never happen. You just gotta do it."
Korra took a deep breath and nodded.
"Ok."
"You know, I think I'm going to miss you," Kuvira narrowed her eyes a little and grinned.
"What, miss tormenting me? You can do that in Zaofu." Korra rolled her eyes and laughed, "But I'll miss you too."
Tuesday, February 24th
"So have you asked her yet?"
"Kuvira I swear I am going to kick your ass. No." Korra hit send harder than she meant to.
"Ugh."
"Ugh yourself. I'm doing my best here."
"Where is she?"
"In class. I'm waiting for her and Opal to get out. I'm going with Opal to meditate while Asami goes to work."
"I'll ask her for you myself if you don't hurry up."
"You wouldn't dare."
"Last resort. Bataar does have her number you know."
"I hate you."
"You don't. Where are you?"
"Holy shit Kuvira you really are my girlfiriend."
"Answer the question, avatar."
"I'm at the florist."
"Flowers? Why? You don't strike me as a flower person."
"They're not for me."
"Haha! Good idea."
"You don't even know what I'm doing."
"Yes I do."
Korra rolled her eyes and shoved her phone back into her pocket. She didn't have the energy to keep going back and forth with Kuvira. She was nervous enough as it was.
"Back again?" The florist smiled at Korra when Korra finally walked inside.
"Yep." Korra nodded, trying not to seem as nervous as she felt.
"Fire-lilies, right? You like those. Ms. Sato is lucky to have someone as sweet as you sending flowers."
"Heh," Korra rubbed her neck with one hand, her ears warm, "I'm glad she likes them."
"Are you sending a vase or a bouquet today?"
"A vase, I think."
"Are you going to include another card?"
"Yeah." Korra nodded, "Can I write this one?"
"If you want to." The florist smiled, handing her a pen.
"When will they be delivered?"
"This afternoon, if you want."
"That'd be great." Korra was smiling, but her stomach was doing flips.
Asami pulled her laptop out of her backpack and frowned as she put her things on top of her desk. She sat down, and began mentally writing an email to one of the representatives of Cabbage Corp. She didn't like dealing with Cabbage Corp or their shoddy products, but she could handle them better than Hiroshi could.
She heard a rapping on her office door shortly after she began typing, and barely glanced up to see if the door was unlocked, too preoccupied with finishing the first few sentences of the email she was writing.
"It's open, come in," She spoke loudly enough to make sure they could hear her in the hallway.
She kept typing quickly, glancing up again when Hiroshi shuffled into the room and shut the door behind him.
"How was class?" Hiroshi smiled faintly at her and sat down across the desk from her.
"It was good," Asami nodded, rereading what she had already typed, "I'm writing that email to Cabbage Corp that you wanted me to send."
"Good, good," Hiroshi nodded, "I have to go to Ba Sing Se this weekend to a conference. I wanted to know if you would come with me."
"Why?" Asami looked at him and raised her eyebrow.
"You're a shrewd businesswoman," Hiroshi grinned, "These Earth Kingdom types sometimes think I'm a pushover. But you're not. Besides, I'm not going to run the company forever. You'll be doing a lot more once you graduate, so consider it practice."
"When did you want to leave?" Asami felt a smile playing at the corner of her lips.
"Thursday morning. We'd get there that afternoon, and we'd have Friday and Saturday for meetings and come back Sunday. Can you miss those classes on Thursday and Friday?"
"Yeah, that'll be fine. I have people I can get notes from."
"So is that a yes?" Hiroshi's eyes were bright. Asami could tell he really wanted her to go with him.
"Yeah," She finally let herself smile, genuinely, "I'll go."
"Ok," Hiroshi was beaming, "I'll let you finish your emails, I need to go down on the factory floor and take a look at some things."
He got up with a final smile in her direction and left her alone in her office, shutting the door behind him. She looked down at her laptop and let out a low sigh, having forgotten her train of thought in the email. She reread it once more, finally picking up where she left off, her fingers dancing across the keyboard in order to finish the message.
She was rereading it for a final time to check for mistakes when her office phone rang, so she scooped the phone up with one hand as she moved the cursor on her laptop to hit send.
"Yes?"
"Ms. Sato, you have a delivery. Would you like me to bring it to you?"
"Please."
"I'll be right up, Ms. Sato."
Asami hung the phone up and looked at the time. Opal and Korra were probably still meditating. She got up and stretched, already writing the next email in her head as she went over to the office door and propped it open for the secretary.
When the secretary came up a few minutes later and knocked on the doorframe, Asami tried to pretend she hadn't been staring at the doorway waiting on her.
"Here you are, Ms. Sato," The secretary smiled, a vase of fire-lilies in one hand.
"Thank you," Asami didn't think she'd ever get tired of the flowers.
She stood up and took them from the secretary with a smile, thanking her again as the woman left her alone in her office. Asami stepped over and shut the door behind her, then picked the card off the vase with one hand before resting the flowers on her desk. The card was written in a handwriting that was a little crooked and messier than normal, but Asami could recognize it as Korra's anywhere. She had tried very hard to make it legible and as neat as possible.
'Do you want to go on a date this weekend, sunshine?'
A blush rose to Asami's cheeks as she read the card again, her smile threatening to split her face. She sat behind her desk and took a deep breath to try and calm the butterflies in her stomach. She pushed her hair out of her face and looked down at her laptop, then remembered she had just told Hiroshi she would go with him to Ba Sing Se.
"Fuck," Asami muttered under her breath. She would have to let Korra know.
"Korra, will you stop pacing?" Opal huffed, blowing a strand of hair out of her face, "How in the hell am I supposed to meditate with you stomping circles around me?"
"I can't," Korra grumbled, "I'm nervous."
"Why?" Opal raised one eyebrow, "What could possibly be going on?"
"I asked Asami out on a date. Sort of. I wrote it on a card and sent her some flowers. That counts right?"
Both of Opal's eyebrows shot up then, and she looked at Korra with her mouth slightly ajar.
"Is that what this is all about?" Opal started laughing, "You're nervous about that?"
"Yes! Kuvira talked me into this, I'm going to strangle her."
"Did you want to ask Asami out?"
"Well yes, duh!" Korra looked at Opal like she was crazy for even thinking otherwise.
"Then why are you blaming Kuvira?"
"Just if it doesn't work, I'm letting you know it was all Kuvira's fault."
"Sure it is," Opal laughed harder, tipping over to one side and laying on the pavilion floor.
"Opal!" Korra huffed, "This isn't funny."
"It's hysterical," Opal wheezed, "And yet you call me the worrier."
"Oh shut up," Korra stuck her tongue out and pulled her phone out, "I need to text Kuvira. She did this to me."
"Yes, yes," Opal waved her off, still laughing, "This was totally Kuvira. All her. I'm just glad someone managed to talk you into it."
"Ugh." Korra frowned, sitting down and typing her text to Kuvira.
"So I asked her, and now I'm a nervous wreck waiting. You did this to me. Opal thinks it's great."
"So do I! Good job :)."
"I'm going to kick your ass."
"Like to see you try, avatar. Now you'll have a date and I'll shut up about it. You can call me the great uniter if you wish."
"I don't know that! I haven't even heard from her, she's probably still working. And no, your new name is shithead."
"I'll text Opal and tell her to sedate you."
Korra groaned and laid down on the pavilion floor where Opal was still laying wiping the tears from her cheeks.
"If it makes you feel any better," Opal snorted, "I called Asami out a week ago for having feelings for you."
"You do not help," Korra grumbled, covering her face with her hands to hide her blush from Opal, "You hate me. You and Kuvira both hate me."
"You're so dramatic," Opal snickered, sitting up and shoving Korra's shoulder, "You'll survive, I promise."
Opal had given up on meditation by the time Asami got to Air Temple Island. Watching Korra suffer was too entertaining. When Opal saw Asami walking toward the pavilion she started cackling again, before kicking Korra's leg gently enough to get her attention.
"Your girlfriend is here, I'm going to go find Tenzin," Opal smirked, pulling herself to her feet, "Have fun."
Korra groaned and covered her face again.
"Just kill me, Opal."
"Nope, you're just being dramatic. I told you, you'll live. I'll see you in a few." Opal grinned down at her before traipsing out of the pavilion.
"Hey, Asami," Opal laughed, waving as she came up even to Asami, "Korra is dying in the pavilion if you're looking for her."
"Thanks," Asami grinned, "I'll go see if she's ok."
She could hear Opal's laughter getting further away as she walked closer to the pavilion, and she found Korra laying on the floor just like Opal said she would be. Asami smiled and sat down next to her, raising her eyebrows.
"You going to be ok?" Asami chuckled.
"No." Korra muttered into her palm.
Asami grinned and looked down at her, and Korra moved her fingers over enough to look up at Asami and pout.
"Opal is laughing at me."
"I noticed that," Asami giggled, "I can see why."
"Ugh."
"We can't go out this weekend," Asami almost pouted when she saw Korra's deflated expression, "I told dad I would go with him to Ba Sing Se before I got the flowers. Next week sounds great though, if you ask me."
Korra blinked a few times and looked at Asami before a crooked grin broke across her face and she sat up.
"Next week is perfect," Korra told her, leaning over and kissing her on the cheek.
Thursday, February 26th
Asami woke up to her phone ringing on the nightstand, and felt for it blindly, grumbling as she did so.
"Mmm, hello?" she mumbled, putting the phone under her ear.
"Just calling to see if you were awake," Hiroshi told her, "I want to leave within the hour."
"Ok," Asami yawned, "I'll get dressed and meet you at Future Industries."
"Alright, see you soon."
Asami hung up and pulled her phone off the charger and climbed out of the bed. She had already packed her things the night before, so she put her phone in her purse and undressed, pulling out an outfit from the closet. She double checked all her things once she was dressed, and picked both her bags up and walked out into the living room.
Korra was laying on the futon, and Asami was surprised to see that she was awake, and was looking at Asami tiredly when she came in.
"Morning, sunshine," Korra yawned.
"I'm surprised you're awake," Asami raised her eyebrow and smiled.
"Lin called me a few minutes ago, wants me to come help with something later. Are you leaving?"
"Yeah, dad wants to leave soon."
"Come here," Korra stretched, motioning for Asami to come to her with one arm.
Asami obeyed with a laugh, sitting sideways on the edge of the futon's mattress and looking at Korra.
"Yes?"
Korra grumbled and wrapped her arms around Asami's waist and yawned. Asami put one hand on Korra's arm and smiled at her as Korra looked up at her with one eye closed.
"I'm going to miss you, sunshine," Korra muttered tiredly.
"I'll miss you too," Asami told her, brushing Korra's hair out of her face, "Don't let Lin get you into too much trouble."
"Mmm," Korra yawned again, closing her eyes, "When will you be back?"
"Some time Sunday."
"I suppose I should let you go." Korra's mouth moved into a slight frown.
"It'd be nice, dad doesn't want to be late."
"Mmm, ok," Korra released her a moment later, looking slightly cranky, "Be careful."
"I will," Asami promised, leaning down and kissing Korra's temple, "I'll text you. Go back to sleep."
A/N:
For the people who are starting to get bored with this: I'm sorry.
For the people who are still enjoying: Yay, me too :D