Chapter 36: 'Something White'
Author Notes:
This was requested most as my next one shot! Enjoy
Today was the day.
Asami yawned loudly as she stretched out her aching muscles and adjusted her maroon vest. The early Republic City sun crept through the blinds and illuminated the wooden flooring of the bedroom. Mercifully that made the idea of getting out of bed at all slightly more appealing. The air would at least be warm as it always was in the early summer of the United Republic.
Sleep had been a challenge over the evening. Asami had possibly slept no longer that 30 minutes each time she'd actually drifted away. Nerves had been the overriding reason for her restlessness, but the fact that her bed was so empty when she'd grown very used to another occupant over the past year was also a contributing factor. Screw that tradition...
After mindlessly pulling on her pale blue bed robe and rubbing her sleep deprived eyes for a solid minute in front of the mirror, Asami stumbled into the living room/kitchen area and boiled up three mugs of coffee she came very close to scalding herself with.
"Asami...what – what time is it?" a voice grumbled from the nearby sofa. A few seconds later and Mako's ruffled hair rose above the back of the couch followed by an equally gruff looking expression. Maybe that late night drink to calm nerves hadn't been such a good idea, though it had been nice to properly talk to Mako, on his own, for the first time in months.
"Morning, you need to get up," Asami ordered with another yawn as she moved towards the guest bedroom door.
"Morning to you. And I'm up, see? My eyes are open," Mako greeted sleepily before he slumped back down onto the sofa and pulled at the water tribe blanket Senna had given Asami for her birthday a while back.
Asami wrenched it from his grip and wrapped it around her shoulders. "I meant up off the sofa. You need to get ready, I need to get ready, there's no way I'm rushing today. I'm tense enough as it is," the engineer ordered as she knocked on the guest bedroom door loudly. "Coffee on the counter, suits hanging on the back of the door. Drink and get dressed please."
Mako grumbled something that resembled agreement. "Don't worry, we'll be on time. 12 o'clock. We've got plenty of time. Besides, Korra would probably find it hilarious that for once, you were the one with poor time keeping skills."
"I'm really not in the mood to test Korra's patience today," Asami replied sharply as she switched to knocking with her integrated hand. That was significantly louder. "Opal! Opal! Get your ass out here right now or I'm breaking the door down!"
"Alright...jeez, hold up! I'm just coming!" an even more sour voice replied from inside the guest bedroom. A few seconds later and the young air bending master emerged with some fairly amusing bed hair. "I should've know you'd be in CEO mode today..."
"If I wasn't in 'CEO mode' you two would still be asleep till the damn ceremony was over," Asami spat as she shoved the 3rd mug of coffee into Opal's tattooed hands.
"I think you're forgetting that Bolin and Jinora are in charge of Korra's getting ready. She'll be lucky she makes it out the door of her bedroom without using the Avatar State those two will be fretting so much," Mako interjected as he gently pulled his suit from the back of the door and hobbled into the bathroom.
Opal nodded her agreement as she gave her friend a reassuring tap on the back. "Thanks for the coffee. And don't worry, today will go fine. Better than fine, it'll be the best day of your life!"
"That'd be the theory anyway," Asami grimaced as she rubbed her forehead. "I think I might actually be more nervous for this than when we first went to the Spirit World. Hell, facing Koh the freakin face stealer wasn't making me this uptight. Seems like you and sleeping Mako are making me more emotional than that creepy bug ever managed, and he's had thousands of years to refine his technique."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Opal winked.
Half an hour later and the three of them had at least managed to get clothes on, probably the fanciest clothes they'd ever wear actually. And for Asami, that really was an occasion considering the general cost of the garments in her wardrobe. Outdoing any of those outfits was an impressive feet of fashion. If today really was going to be the best day of Asami's life, then she'd have to look her absolute best. No doubt Korra was doing the same.
Even after her mother's death, her father often spoke about how beautiful Yasuko Sato had been on the day they were married. Those were some of Asami's fondest memories of Hiroshi, on those rare occasions where speaking about Yasuko didn't make his face grimace with anguish but grin with happiness. And that was one point her dad had made that Asami could never argue with. Her mother had looked absolutely stunning in their wedding pictures, though it was her content smile, rather than her elegant white dress, that always stood out to Asami in those old pictures she had salvaged from the Sato mansion after Amon. She was happy. They'd both been so happy.
"Asami, hey, do you want me to help with your hair?" a voice questioned as Asami stared at the picture of her mother and father in its frame. She reached out cautiously and held it tightly in her shaking grip. The engineer's green eyes panned down to the other two photographs that sat atop the bedside drawer.
The first was a picture of Team Avatar in some impromptu photograph Bolin had decided they must take with his new camera Varrick had given him. It was taken not long after the whole Haruana business, the burns on Asami's neck a clear indication, but the five of them all looked so happy, and Republic City was wonderfully silhouetted in the background. It was a beautiful picture by all accounts and filled the engineer with a warmth that could only come from the feeling of unity and loyalty that radiated from the frame.
The second was of herself and Korra at some opening of a new building near the spirit portal, the event hadn't been of particular note, but the picture was. Korra was actually smiling normally in a photograph, a skill the Avatar really struggled with no matter how much Asami tried to coach her or assure her. As it turned out, the only way to get Korra to smile like a normal human being and not some creeper was to give the Avatar a little drink beforehand. The results of that drink afterwards were quite fruitful for Asami.
"Earth to Asami?"
What if that's how we end up? Me staring at that picture and haunted by how happy we were? I mean Korra's the Avatar. She knows how quickly things could go wrong, she warned me herself, what if-
"Asami!" Opal shouted this time as she crouched in front of the engineer. "Put the picture down. Today isn't about old memories, it's about making new ones. Your mother and father had their day, today belongs to you and Korra. Enjoy it for all it's worth."
Asami placed the frame down gently. "You Beifongs and your bluntness..."
"It's why you love us," Opal mused as she adjusted the straps on the back of Asami's dress and then stood back as those admiring her creation with wide eyes. "Oh god...Asami, you'll be lucky Korra doesn't rip this off you."
"She better not," Mako mumbled across the room as he tightened his red tie. "That's way too nice a dress to rip. Zula pointed you to that old dress maker in the Fire Nation and had to pull a few strings just to get him to come out of retirement."
"Really not the sort of thing the President of the United Republic should be doing," Opal teased. "Alright. I think we're all good to go. Let's get down to the car."
"Still trust me to drive your blue baby?" Mako asked as he held open the bedroom door.
"I only trust me to drive it, but I guess today I'll have to make an exception," Asami winked as Mako wrapped his arm around hers.
"And you're still totally onboard with me giving you away?" Mako continued with considerably more gravity than his previous question.
Asami had nearly burst into tears when Mako had offered in place of Hiroshi. They'd come so far together since they'd first met as crushing teenagers. Now, Asami valued her relationship with Mako almost as much as with Korra. She trusted the detective implicitly with all of her problems and worries. He'd always have a place in her life.
"There's no one better," Asami smiled warmly as she pulled Mako in for a quick embrace. The look of pure contentment and belonging on the amber eyed man's face nearly did bring Asami to tears, but she restrained herself in fear of ruining all of her make up.
"Good thing Korra's not here, she'd be very jealous," Opal commented playfully as she walked past them, Air Nation coloured dress billowing up elegantly as she walked. The new Air Nation. Alive and well. Opal had been taking on more and more of a joint leadership role between herself and Jinora over the past year.
"Mako! You were pushing her too hard!" Asami shouted from the back seat of her sato mobile.
"Oh yeh! And you never do!" Mako retorted as he clambered out of the driver seat and round to the smoking bonnet at the front.
They were going to be late. They were going to be late. What did Mako know about fixing cars anyway? And the entire situation was made far more awkward by the fact the car had stalled in the middle of one of the busiest roads in the city. Other motors tooted their horns at them loudly as they drove around the stranded vehicle. A group of reporters stood nearby just to add to the misery. Oh wait... They were stuck outside the office of the 'Republic City Star', the city's trashiest newspaper.
As soon as the reporters spotted Asami in the car they began flashing their cameras.
Before Asami could even say anything Opal had jumped out of the back seat and was charging towards them, all rage and fury as her dress fluttered in the breeze. She was a bridesmaid possessed.
"Get back into your damn office!" Opal called as she blasted the reporters over with some light air bending.
"I'll be reporting this to Chief Beifong!" one of the camera people called as she pulled herself up from the ground and examined one of the damaged cameras.
"Good luck with that! She happens to be my aunt!" Opal shouted furiously as she shooed the reporters back into the building and began marching back towards the broken car.
Smoke continued to rise from the front of the sato mobile and Asami could no longer stay seated, climbing out and striding with purpose to stand beside Mako. She raised a hand to her mouth immediately when the smoke from the engine was starting to make her throat burn. It smelled awful. What the hell did Mako do? People need to learn to drive properly!
"What're you-"
"Fixing this," Asami interrupted sharply as she pulled the bonnet open and looked inside.
The problem was immediately obvious. The container of water which normally cooled the engine was totally empty and that had caused the engine to overheat significantly. The damage caused to the engine could only be repaired in a workshop. The engineer closed the engine over again and groaned in frustration. They were definitely going to be late now, and they'd have to go by taxi. Really not classy...
"But Asami!"
"What?!" Asami called furiously as she rubbed her hand against her forehead and spun to face Mako.
Mako, who looked absolutely, totally horrified. "Asami...your hands...your dress..."
The detective was trembling in place as Asami examined her clothes. Oh god no.
This time Asami actually snarled as she slammed a hand against the car. It was that or Mako's head. Her beautiful, hand crafted, Fire Nation bringing some guy out of retirement, white dress was dotted with really, really black oil.
Opal audibly gasped as she covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh Asami..." was all the air bender was capable of saying.
"Why didn't you stop me?!" Asami shouted as she tried to wipe some of it away, only spreading the black mess further.
"I tried to but you were in full engineer mode!" Mako retorted as more and more pedestrians began to stop and watch the strange site.
"That's not an excuse! My dress is totally ruined, and I'm going to be late!" Asami cried as she flailed her arms in every direction and leaned into his face.
"Well what did you want me to do?! Handcuff you to the car?!" Mako argued as he leaned in with incredibly narrow eyes.
"Maybe! I know your kinks Mako!" Asami shouted much more loudly than any other part of the conversation so far.
Mako seriously looked ready to dig a hole to Ba Sing Se and escape all of the uncomfortable stares he was now getting from driver and pedestrian alike. In fact, Asami had never seen the detective look quite so rattled in all the years she had known him.
"Wow! Guys! Guys! Cool it down!" Opal stood between them before they came to blows.
Asami stood with folded arms whilst Mako stared at the sky, or anywhere not in Asami's direction.
"Here's what we're going to do. We were barely on the road for more than 3 minutes so we're going to go back to Future Industries tower and Asami's going to clean up and put on a new dress-"
Asami raised an arm. "But it has to be white-"
"I really don't think Korra's going to give a damn what color it is! Put on that one you wore for Varrick and Zhu-Li's wedding!" Opal replied as she continued. "Then I'm going call Juicy with my bison whistle and we'll get to Air Temple Island on him!"
On an air bison? On Juicy of all air bison? That was the least classy transport to a wedding Asami had ever heard of...but there was no arguing with the expression on Opal's face right now. The young air bender was channelling the combined fury of Toph and Lin Beifong. Plus Aang had used Appa when his day had come.
"Okay..." Mako and Asami mumbled in defeat as they trundled behind Opal and off the road. Guess we'll pick up the car later...
"Good, now pick up the pace! We are not arriving for this wedding late if it's the last thing I do!" Opal commanded as she marched forward. Asami was insanely glad she'd picked Opal to be her bridesmaid.
"Korra, your guns look like they could take out the United Republic fleet even in that dress!" Bolin beamed enthusiastically as he flexed his bicep muscles. "You just...oh you look so gorgeous I wanna cry..." the earth bender mumbled before he actually did start crying in the Avatar's bedroom.
"Please don't cry, you'll set me off," Korra called desperately as she pulled Bolin's arms away from his face. "Plus you'll ruin your nice suit, and you have to look your absolute best today. You're officiating this, remember?"
Bolin smiled wearily as he wiped away a tear. "Yeh, of course. I'm going to be the best officiator ever! Varrick's wedding was just a practice. Now this, this is the real deal! Marrying my two favourite ladies in the world!"
Jinora coughed in the corner.
"Oh, and Opal of course!" Bolin quickly amended as he leaned into Korra's face. "Don't tell her air bending highness I said that."
"Only if you promise to stop crying, at least until the vows are all done," Korra smiled as she placed a hand on Bolin's shoulder.
Bolin pulled lightly at one of Korra's wolf tails. "I promise. Then I'll cry all I want. Which will be a lot."
Her hair tended to be a blend of the old and the new nowadays. Two wolf tails at the front whilst still maintaining her bob style cut. It was a style Asami seemed to adore and one the Avatar doubted she would change anytime soon. No doubt the engineer's hair would be down for today, that'd be nice. It wouldn't surprise Korra if Asami came looking like the most stunning human who had ever existed in the history of ever. My girlfriend ladies and gentlemen...soon to be wife...
Korra swallowed hard at that thought. She'd hadn't really been nervous until right now. I wonder how Asami is doing?
"As long as it's not all over me that's fine," Korra grinned. "Maybe aim for Mr Mako and President Zula. Take their power couple cred down a little huh?"
Bolin nodded mischievously in response. "You and Asami will be the only true power couple of Republic City after today."
Korra smiled warmly at that before she walked to the bedroom window and looked out across the bay, to Republic City shining beautifully across the water and looking better than it had been when she'd arrived here for the first time all those years ago.
"I sure hope so."
End Notes
Thanks for reading! There will be a part two to this one shot!
Thoughts and feedback would be much appreciated!