Korra didn't speak but Asami knew her mind was racing. She led her through the catacombs of the hotel, swift as though she'd memorised the layout; twenty steps, turn left, thirty more, right.
Asami might have panicked at the disarming silence of it all, but something about the way Korra's fingers stayed entwined with hers soothed her as they moved. More than that, it was the fact that after everything she stayed with her when she could have bolted; it was a value in her that Asami had always cherished.
Her mind was thoroughly in these moments, which was refreshing after so many patches of disassociation. The devious part of it wanted Korra, in every sense of the word and she felt the motherboard of it calculating in the back of her head. But Korra was no business deposition to be drawn and quartered, she wasn't an engine taken apart only to be improved in the repair, she was a relationship a lifetime in the making, and she knew every move had to be the right one.
Korra let her go when they reached the door, and fumbled with the key. Asami reached tentatively for her hand to steady it.
It was then Korra turned to her, and Asami stepped into her space, one hand tracing her jaw, the other turning the hand that held the key in the door.
"Before we go in," Korra started, "I have to know what you're thinking." Korra felt her thumb soothing her cheek and tried desperately to keep her head straight.
"I want this." Asami told her, conviction strong under Korra's gaze, "and everything that follows."
Korra couldn't help but question her dreams coming true. By this point Life had made a pretty harsh point of having danger, disappointment and disillusionment tucked around each and every corner, and her body and mind was already coiling ready to spring.
Still she felt every cell of Asami's skin beaming electricity into her body, her kisses, the gently ones the hard ones, tingling fiercely on her lips and aching to the point of agony to return them. Invisible scarring was left where her mouth and hand had touched her, scorched into the flesh as though licked by liquid sunshine, nourishing, ethereal, magical, but permanent and untenable all the same.
As quickly as it had all happened, the claws of this were deep into her flesh, deliciously so, she knew it could be ripped away just as fast and chunks of her would inevitably be taken with it if it went.
She also knew she could leave this island, bleeding, lost and utterly alone and still have lived her best life possible. She was high from it, having fallen from the pedestal she kept herself on, hours later she was in free fall.
But she had to know the truth, she had to know the end of it, if she was about to hit the bottom and be decimated, or if Asami could catch her before she did.
No pretending.
"You said you weren't connected to what you wanted before you came here," Korra picked her words carefully, already Asami was receding from her.
"So what are you saying? That what I'm feeling now is invalid?"
Doors opened and closed in the corridor behind them and Asami flinched. Korra's eyes softened, her heart gripped tight in this vice of her own making. She shoved the door of their room and stepped forward, taking Asami by the wrist and leading her inside.
The room was dark and still seemingly empty. A single beam of twilight lit the carpet before the beds, not quite meeting its mark. The two of them huddled in the doorway, barely touching and unwilling to move.
Korra had something to prove, she had to know that they were safe, else plan and attack the sea of problems, but right then she just felt so weak.
"Kissing you was everything to me," she breathed, eyes watering as she smiled at the memory of it, "I can't lose you, and I've been so used to the idea that I might…don't you see I have to fight for this?"
"What would make this easier for you?" She looked down at the ground, and away from Korra, "That we met some other way, that we kissed, years ago?"
Korra snatched back her hand and held it tight.
"I regret not telling you. Every day I wish I'd told you, but having you in my life was always more important than losing you because of a crush."
Asami swiped at her escaping tears, cupping her cheeks, consoling her with her eyes and hands and voice, Korra felt her resolve melt even more.
"Sure we wish things were different," Asami urged her, "people wake up with a list a mile long for the way their day should go, but it doesn't matter what we want, in the end we know that we could only be happy with the things we need."
Korra regarded her, and her earnest reply silently in the moments that followed, before taking a breath, and asking quietly, in a husk of a voice, full of hope.
"What do you need to be happy?"
"You."
Asami guided her mouth instantly over Korra's, cupping her chin and pressing her into the door, closing it. Korra reciprocated, carding her fingers through Asami's silk locks after dropping their possessions on the ground.
Every doubt in her mind was quashed with a kiss, every question forgotten at the sensation of Asami's fingers titillating her bare skin. Korra's leg came up to brace herself against the wall, and Asami had the instinct to bring her knee up into the space laid bare between them. Korra moaned, and felt her eyes roll back as Asami angled her kiss on her throat, biting, raising her leg ever so slightly.
"I-" Korra jolted. Asami pulled back immediately, only to have her hands intercepted by the ice sculptor.
"Too much?" Asami bit her lip, feeling her heart beat thrum wildly in her chest.
"Just, too soon, maybe." Korra breathed, she braved eye contact, but only after a moment, "I liked it," she assured her squeezing her hand and bouncing her eyes once again, "I liked it too much," she corrected.
All of Asami's blood and warmth rushed up into her head. She was utterly out of balance in this moment, and truly it was exquisite. It had literally been decades since Asami had felt a blush, nerves, a crush even. She laughed in a wet wad, transported by it, before she had turned her feelings off - she was a teenager, and being around Korra like this had allowed her to pick up where she left off.
Her feelings were live and living, and all signs pointed to the woman in front of her as being the source of it all.
"You can have boundaries Korra it's okay."
"All these lines are blurring," Korra blurted, "I had all these rules for myself," she looked down at their hands, playing with the fingers between her own, "You're tearing them all down for me."
"I'm sorry-"
"Don't be it's hot." she felt her face heat up, Korra felt emboldened enough to let their entangled fingers wander, tracing the silhouette of Asami's hips, "I want you."
Asami watched Korra's smile bloom and instantly wanted to kiss it, but as she got close she continued, "but I also want to shower…"
Korra melted as the heiress found her laugh again, instead of kissing her, she slipped her arms around her shoulders and buried her nose into her neck.
"Of course you do," she chuckled. She could taste the salt from the sea in every kiss, and up until now it had been a part of the back ground, it's not the same as the salt I want to lick off her- She felt her own ears heat up at the thought and leapt back, pursing her lips.
"You ok Asami?"
"Mmhm!" she squealed, subtly crossing her legs as she leaned against an armoire, "Go shower!"
Ask to join her!
"You've gone all red." Korra cajoled, barely containing her excitement.
"I'll tell you about it after." Asami whispered assuredly, nervously tucking hair behind her ear as her green eyes held her, drifting down and then back up, lips pursing as she did so.
Korra took a moment to imagine what Asami was thinking, what her expression meant. She took these thoughts behind the closed door of the bathroom, working hard to steady her heart beat as she slipped under the stream. All the glitter from the cavern drifted down her skin and swirled away into the drain, leaving behind only memories. Water in her hair once more she relived it, the way Asami's leg curled around hers, the way her fingers dug deep into her skin and carded through her hair.
She realised now there were noises the heiress had made she hadn't picked up on, her memory floated the sounds of her keening when Korra bit her lip into her periphery and the ice sculptor suddenly wondered why she ever left her in the next room.
It was when she had the towel wrapped tight around her chest she felt the nerves once more, she opened the door to find Asami shoving her suitcase under the bed. When she turned to saw her a flash of guilt passed over her eyes, but as Asami watched her gaze wandered and drank her in.
Korra breathed a sigh of relief to know that her attraction to her wasn't severed at the closing of a door.
Asami made a point to step close to her as she walked past, almost colliding with her before peeling away into the waiting warm shower, hesitating for just too long before closing the door behind her. Korra felt like she was understanding her actions on skype; after a five second delay.
She moved to dress, mind reeling, until a clump of red lace under Asami's bed caught her eye. She couldn't help herself, she bent to look. Poking from the poorly shut suitcase was a fine collection of silk and lace. Asami must've stockpiled before the wedding, never one to do anything half way. Korra couldn't bring herself to check for a whip and hand cuffs. Snatching shorts and t-shirt from her own case she dressed, furiously towel drying her hair.
Asami packed those things for Iroh. It seemed Korra couldn't have a moment without being reminded that he got there first, that his was the shadow she was suddenly living in. That, had he not stepped down, she may never have had her shot.
"What is it?"
She had been lost in her own thoughts she hadn't noticed Asami emerge, she'd taken her pyjamas in with her Korra noticed, a red slip and shorts, stunning. She stood in front of her and placed nimble hands on tense shoulders.
"Nothing," Korra lied, So soon? She berated herself. "Long day," she forced a smile, and wondered if Asami bought it before the heiress bent to her eye level and pressed a gentle kiss over lips.
Korra was sitting on the bed, and Asami placed a knee beside her, testing the waters. Korra put her hand over the crook of her thigh but didn't pull.
"I think we should sleep separately." she really needed to learn how to not blurt things out.
Asami schooled her features, but only after Korra had seen the hurt flash over her.
"Okay," she whispered.
"It's just I don't want to rush into things. I feel like if I'm pressed against you again I might rush." Korra justified this horrible, horrible idea in a stream of consciousness debate, only to be confused when Asami smiled at her.
"Are you saying you want to go steady Korra?"
Just the sound of Asami saying her name sent the hair on the back of her neck standing up.
"I'm saying I want everything with you, not just your body against mine, saying dirty things and being the sexy gorgeous goddess that you are," Korra surprised herself as she clapped back, tucking Asami's silk locks behind her hair as her green eyes widened, equally stunned, "I'm all about going slow. Trust me,"
Asami tried not to audibly gulp as Korra shuffled back onto her own bed. It felt like an eternity before the heiress realised those words had just come out of Korra's mouth, and how they had had entirely the opposite effect Korra had meant for.
"Good night Asami," Korra rolled over facing away from her, and Asami, disoriented and enthralled just about managed to slip in between her own cold sheets.
Korra always appreciated her ability to, in moments of high stress, completely shut down and sleep at the closing of her eyes. Asami, while looking after her all those years ago, had told her she was jealous of it. Perhaps this was why Korra dreamed of that time.
Asami would sit on her bed at her parent's place, stroking her hair, reading, and Korra would let the painkillers take her while her friend played with her hair absentmindedly. In the dream Korra looked up from the pillow, at Asami, her long neck, with a necklace Korra often dreamed of given her affixed to her throat, reading a book which had letters made out of hieroglyphs Korra couldn't understand.
The heiress never looked away from this as she whispered.
"You'll lose me." she told her matter of factly.
It was then Korra remembered how futile she felt back then, immobile and passive, trapped in a body she hated.
"This'll never happen." Asami assured her gently, combing her fingers numbly through Korra's long locks.
Korra tried to move her mouth, to form the words she wanted.
It already has. She wanted to scream it, but her eyes could only widen as she panicked, and the Asami of the dream didn't look her way. Asami no.
"Prove it."
She couldn't be sure she heard it then. She jolted awake, clutching a pillow and sweating just a little, briefly kidding herself that it was the climate and not her fears coming to the fore.
"Are you mad at me?" Asami's voice floated her way, raspy and quiet. The difference was marked from anything she had said to her before, Korra had never heard her sound so tender.
Korra turned, and it was clear from how Asami had been lying, her expression and her hair still perfect, that she hadn't slept. The ice sculptor didn't answer.
"You said, it already has, and then, Asami no." she went on, green eyes never faltering, and utterly vulnerable then.
"I…" Korra trailed off, unable to begin to explain how she dreamed of her.
"You still sleep-talk." Asami told her simply. "You used to do it all the time when I took care of you."
Korra felt warmth bloom in her heart at the confession.
"I saw your lingerie…what you would've worn for…him. I guess it freaked me out."
Asami studied her, a mile away in the bed across from her.
"You can't do this every time you're reminded of him." Asami told her, "I wont have you comparing yourself to him."
Korra didn't have anything to say to that. It felt like a ground rule she had to respect, but as of late it had become such a knee jerk reaction to her. It was a standoff that almost became an impasse, as the old friends stared at each other with a wealth of emotions passing from their eyes alone.
It was something heavy in Korra's chest that yanked her from her bed then. Asami pushed her head up from the pillow and scooted back, and soon enough Korra was back where she belonged and landing mouth first onto the corner of Asami's lips.
The heiress took control, turning her so her ankles locked with her own and chest came pressed against hers.
Korra hadn't meant to even kiss her, she wanted to give her the comfort Asami had given her time and again, but she was wound so tightly merely touching Asami in the most innocent of ways had her tilting headlong into the fray everything that was new and exciting between them.
It just happened, in the arms slipping around silk and fingers touching skin that was just too accessible and Asami's lips were just so ready and encompassing. Her hands were insistent, fingers twisting into her short hair and gripping the back of her neck.
Korra had wanted to say she didn't need lingerie impress, or lure or arouse her, but she couldn't even begin to attempt as Asami fed her hand into her shirt, veering between them, nails scoring gently over her abdomen.
Korra flinched, Asami had touched nerves for her and pleasure shot down between her legs that had her pupils blown wide and her lips give pause. There was a tense moment as they lay side by side, face to face, hips to hips, and lips spongey, on the cusp of something new and daring. Asami's nails traced up, up up, stopping only at the curve of no return. Korra's hand met hers through the shirt, not dismissive, but comforting.
Korra's breath fell out of her in pieces, ocean blue eyes meeting emerald green in earnest, before inclining her head once more and pressing a closed lipped kiss on her lips. Her hand freezing as Asami's moved up, cupping her breast, thumb tracing circle over a hardening nipple.
Asami watched her face change, her eyes roll back and flutter as she teased and plucked with only a thumb and forefinger. Marvelling that there was so much power in just two digits.
When Korra opened her eyes, she was someone else entirely, relaxed, at peace, in control. Korra gripped her hands suddenly and had them pinned on the pillow either side of her head, when one hand comes down, fingers pressing on her pulse point down until she's met with the red lace at the top of Asami's slip. She skilfully pushes it down, and suddenly her lips are burning on her skin and tongue teasing the peak.
"Ah!" Asami arches her back involuntarily at the move, left hand pinned by Korra's, right clawing at her shirt. She pushes her so she sits, and wordlessly has her peeling it off. Asami drinks her in, framed in this light, in her nudité, does she notice just how hard Korra's body is, allowed to finally appreciate it she lets her fingers wander over the expanses of skin that are new to her.
Korra kisses her, hands framing her face in her distraction before teasing the hem of her slip, and dragging it up. When Asami is free of it she takes her turn, caresses the exquisite inches of skin she'd never seen before, before laying her back against the pillows. Her hand stopping over her collar bone before guiding her mouth under hers. We were friends once, she thinks as Asami's blunt nails scratch against her shoulder, now look at us.
The idea of it fills her with euphoria, emboldened and drunk from the last minute or so, she finds her fingers teeming into Asami's shorts, pressing them down gently. Asami presses her forehead against hers at the sensation of it, her eyes flashing a plethora of emotions that heretofore had been silent, nervous, lustful, and something else, something Korra even then couldn't bring herself to believe.
She didn't have time to voice her questions however; Asami had pulled the shorts away and flicked them from her ankles with a graceful kick.
Korra's heart beat heavy in her head, she was sure her whole body was moving with it as her hand moved down, following a path from Asami's throat, between her breasts, the line of her stomach, teasing a thatch of black before skipping straight to a milky thigh. Korra watched her carefully, and Asami did the same, her brows arching, biting her lip, cheeks flush as she held her breath and waited, patiently, for Korra to move her hand just an inch or so to the right.
She whimpered gently as Korra's lips ran over the soft blade of hers, and Asami's hand formed an urging claw within the knot she had claimed already. Her arms, her stomach, her legs, though parted, were all riddled with tension as Korra's index fingers ran tiny circles over her skin. Asami felt like she had breached the top of an encompassing wave, the moment Korra's middle ran the length of her soaked cunt, taking a deep breath before pressing her mouth eagerly against the lips of her saviour.
Korra dipped her finger into the beginning of her entrance, just enough to take the slick moisture there and spread it lovingly over her clit on which her thumb found home, rubbing gentle circles. Breathless, Asami absorbed Korra's skill with just two fingers, lips forming an 'o' and eyes slamming shut and she gently started to rock her hips encouragingly. She moaned when she realised Korra was holding back, and when she opened her eyes she realised she had been waiting to look into them, before angling her wrist, two fingers slipping easily into her centre.
Each time Korra changed their position surprised her, for now she was between her legs keeping absolute pressure behind her hand for Asami to ride upon, that coupled with her chest now pressing into Asami's, and her face being close enough to bite and kiss and lick the column of her neck.
Any worry that Asami wouldn't know how to be with a woman is simply cast away as she cards her fingers through Korra's hair encouragingly, as sweet pleading and keens and promises fall from her lips.
Asami knew a plethora of women had come before her but as she lie there being skillfully, exquisitely and utterly fucked by her best friend she thought selfishly that it had all been training for her. She would have berated herself for being absurd if her orgasm didn't wash over her then, Korra's teeth gently biting her nipple as her body wracked and shook with the weight of it. She hadn't realised she'd been screaming Korra's name until she returned back into her melting body and her voice had become hoarse with it.
Korra was still inside her as she came to, playing, learning as she twitched and fluttered around her fingers. Those stoic blue eyes studying her face to see exactly what was what. Asami didn't have time to be embarrassed about it as she was buffeted by a second exquisite orgasm. The surprise of it had her neck arching back, head charging into the pillow as her brain decidedly forgot which was up and where was down.
"Korra," she whispered it this time, tenderly combing her fingers through that hair as her legs came up and curled around her. It was then the fingers left her, and again Korra waited for her to open her eyes before licking the residue from her fingers. When she was done she whispered.
"You got another one you 'Sami?"
The mere sight of it gave the heiress goosebumps, and it seemed only right to cup her jaw and kiss her fiercely after such a gesture.
It was then Asami remembered her martial arts training, and as bizarre as that sounds, she was grateful for her ability to roll and get the upper hand over Korra right then, kissing her all the while.
Korra's laugh was everything to her then. Spurred on by the joy emanating from her sparring partner, she continued the trail over her throat, her chest.
Korra stopped chuckling and took in a sharp breath when Asami dragged her up and had her thighs balanced over her shoulders.
"Asami-" she began gently, only to be stopped by Asami's intense warning glare. She didn't have to do this, but god did Asami want to.
I've read romance novels, the heiress thought confidently, the rest should be easy.
She pressed nurturing kisses to Korra's thigh and the ice sculptor held her breath. Reaching only to stroke the locks of hair she could reach and twirl around her fingers. Asami reached up with one hand and slotted her fingers between Korra's, a gesture that had Korra's weak heart thrumming with affection, before teasing her fingertips into Korra's slit. She found the entrance and was surprised by how different it all was, and how utterly perfect it felt.
Korra keened and tightened her grip, free hand gripping the bars of the bed above her, as Asami's thumb found her clit, and fingers hooked instinctively to that front wall, fluttering and pressing with increasing pressure. She didn't need to ask if it was good, she could tell by the sound of her moans. It was when her tongue replaced the thumb, that where she was overwhelmed her, she musky taste of Korra, her best friend, shuddering under her touch and tongue and fingers. Korra's hips cantered and it reminded her to focus. Moving her tongue,
"Oh fuck," Korra moaned.
She remembered the shapes encouraged by her studies.
A, B, C D
"O fuck o fuck!" Korra repeated, using her grip on the head of the bed to push down harder onto Asami's fingers and mouth.
E F G-
"Uh! There!"
G -G -G Asami did as she was told, and almost instantly was rewarded for it. Korra's body pulsated above her, her voice pealing into such a sweet sound that Asami knew she had to hear it again.
It was only when Korra let go of the bed and tugged her up by her hand that she stopped. Korra lay her on the bed beside her, a reflection of how she had entered the bed what felt like hours ago. Korra twitched, pressing her lips together and shutting her eyes as Asami was inside her still, playing with her and stroking her just for the love of it alone.
She stopped her ministrations with her hand on her wrist, breathing heavy, skin glistening.
"Asami?" Asami barely heard her, she was eying her sweating collar bones hungrily, deciding which she would lick first.
"Hmm?"
"What did we just do?"