Fair Play

Korra glanced down at her cards and gulped. Not again. She had no idea how Asami was doing it, but the other woman had to be cheating. There was just no way someone could be playing fair and still be that good at poker.

"So…" Asami drawled. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to call." Korra's eyes narrowed. "Let's see what you've got."

It turned out that what Asami had was a lot better than what Korra had. Asami smirked and started shuffling the deck again. Really, that should have been the first warning sign. Anyone who could shuffle a deck that fancily had to be a card shark.

"Well?" Asami nodded at Korra's scarf. "Take it off."

"Just hold on a second!" Korra shot to her feet and glared across the table. Unlike Asami, who was still fully clothed, Korra was down to just her underclothes and a scarf. "How do I know you're not cheating?"

"Do you want to shuffle the deck?" The smile on Asami's face was positively wicked. "You're more than welcome to. It won't change the fact that your poker face sucks and that I can count cards."

"Gah!" Korra threw her hands up in the air. "Fine! I'll shuffle the deck! And my poker face does not suck!"

Five minutes later…

Korra drooped and stared at her cards in utter disbelief. Junk. Absolute junk. In a vain bid to hide her dismay, she schooled her expression into what she hoped was a look of Avatar-like confidence before glancing across the table at Asami. The other woman merely smirked and gestured at Korra's bra. Damn it. She was so doomed.

Wait… maybe Asami was messing with her. Yes. That had to be it! Korra had shuffled the deck herself. There was no way that Asami could have cheated. And all those comments had been Asami trying to get into her head. She grinned. Well, it wasn't going to work. Korra was going to win.

"Let's go!" Korra cried. "Show me what you've got!"

A few seconds later, Korra was no longer wearing her bra.

"Gaaaahhhh!" Korra grabbed her head. "There has to be some way to beat you. I mean come on! I'm the Avatar!"

Asami took a long, languid look at Korra's chest. It was a very nice chest, and it was also attached to someone she happened to love very much, which only made it nicer. She planned to get up close and personal with it later too. "Korra, I don't think being the Avatar gives you magical poker powers."

"It should." Korra huffed and started shuffling the deck again. "It really should."

X X X

Later, after Korra had been thoroughly defeated and Asami had gotten to enjoy the fruits of her victory, the two of them were curled up together in bed.

"I still can't believe you beat me that badly at poker," Korra grumbled. She yawned and settled her head against Asami's shoulder. "You're really lucky that you're really good at sex. Otherwise, I'd never put up with your poker tyranny."

Asami gave a throaty chuckle and ran her hand down Korra's back. "Actually," she whispered. "I cheated."

"What?" Korra screeched as she sat up so quickly that she almost fell off the bed. "But… but you let me shuffle the deck, and… and… what?"

Asami grinned. "Korra, no matter how good someone is at counting cards, there is no way that they should be able to win every single time." She shrugged. "I may have hidden a few cards in the pockets of my jacket."

"…" Korra blinked. "You damn cheater…" She growled. "You evil, evil cheater! But how does that even work? I counted the cards before I shuffled them. I would have noticed if you'd added any!"

"Did you ever notice that even though I let you shuffle the cards, I was always the one to gather them up and hand them to you." Asami snickered. "You were so busy grumbling about losing that you never noticed."

"Hmph." Korra pouted. "I am not happy with you. Where did you even learn how to do that anyway?"

"I spent a lot of time hanging out with my company's engineers when I was younger. They cheat – a lot – so I learned how to cheat as well." Asami's eyes twinkled. "Are you mad?"

"Of course, I'm mad! I –" Korra trailed off. It was kind of hard to get mad considering how the evening had turned out. Asami must have noticed what she was thinking because she was trying very hard not to laugh. "Oh, stop that. You are so lucky that I love you."

"Well, if it's any consolation, I promise not to cheat next time we play strip poker."

"There won't be a next time."

One week later…

"Gah!" Korra screamed in frustration. "How can I possibly be so unlucky?"

Asami tilted her head to one side. She really wasn't cheating, and Korra was still losing every hand they played. Oh well, she thought, her lips curving up into a smile as Korra took off her top, she wasn't about to complain.

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.

You can tell that the Korra in this chapter is basically the canon version of Korra. The Korra from my AU in which Azula trained her would never lose so easily at poker. In fact, you could make an argument that she'd be the one cheating her way to victory and getting Asami naked. But that brings up an interesting question. If Asami and Azula played poker, who wins? My money is on the firebender.

As always, I appreciate feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.