See? Told you it wouldn't be a long wait! Haha xD Hope you all enjoy and don't forget to leave a review!
-Two Months Later-
Asami's brows were furrowed in intense concentration as she stared intently at the page in front of her, tapping the pen on the desk's surface. Despite having finished her homework many days before the deadline, Asami was never one to turn down the option of additional work. At that current moment she was focused on the task at hand, so focused in fact that she didn't even notice the figure approaching her until a loud noise broke her concentration.
'Thwap!'
Aside from being startled, Asami found herself trying not to sneeze as a cloud of glitter wafted about her. The reason for her sudden interruption was of course, Korra. She was standing in front of Asami's desk with a broad smile on her face, gesturing eagerly to the item she had ever so enthusiastically slapped onto the desktop.
Asami picked up what appeared to be a card absolutely smothered in glitter, so much so it cascaded off of the surface the minute she tilted it towards her. "What's this?" She asked as she looked up at the grinning blue-eyed girl in front of her.
"It's an invite!" Exclaimed Korra as she clapped her hands together "come on, read it! I made it just for you!"
Eyeing her with amusement Asami gingerly opened the card, trying to minimize the amount of glitter fallout as best she could. Inside it, written wonkily in bright blue felt tip were the words 'To Asami. You are invited to my birthday party!' In the corner there was an additional scribble 'p.s. I'm turning 9!'
She flicked her green eyes back up to meet Korra's blue ones; the girl in question was once again practically bouncing up and down on the spot. "Well?" Came the eager question, to which Asami gave a nervous smile. "A birthday party?"
"Well duh! That's what it says doesn't it?" Responded Korra teasingly as she stuck out her tongue "here I thought you were smart 'Sami"
Asami couldn't help but playfully roll her eyes, she really had walked right into that one. "I was just double checking" she said as she raised an eyebrow and chuckled. She had mainly asked due to the fact that she was nervous. Yes her confidence had grown significantly during her friendship with Korra and Opal, but that didn't change the fact that she still felt uneasy in large crowds. Korra, despite being fiercely loyal to her two closest friends, was always outgoing and was very popular amongst her classmates. Popularity meant knowing lots of people, and knowing lots of people meant the possibility of a very large birthday party. Just the idea of being amongst a large group of people she didn't know well made Asami's nerves kick in, but when she looked up at Korra once more she saw the excitement in her eyes and felt instantly guilty for even thinking of rejecting her offer.
"I'd love to" she finally replied, causing Korra to let out a squeak and pull Asami into a hug
"Awesome! I can't wait!" She exclaimed, completely unaware of the glitter that had attached itself to Asami's cardigan, as it was now spread across her own polo shirt. Pulling away she clapped her hands together, beaming "the party's at 3 til 6, at my house, on Saturday. Oh! You haven't been to my house yet have you? I'll get you the address at lunch so you'll know where to go, see ya!" With that she sped off across the classroom, a trail of glitter in her wake.
Asami watched her as she went about the classroom, her thoughts turning back to the invite in her hands as Opal slid into the seat beside her. She heard a chuckle from the short-haired girl as she turned to greet her. "So, Korra give you an invite huh?" Opal said with a grin, to which Asami nodded. She hoped she didn't look too nervous, but Opal was very quick to pick up on her body language. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know.." Came Asami's quiet response "It's not that I don't want to go it's just that.. Well, you know how I feel about crowds." Opal nodded. She'd seen how quickly Asami could go from outgoing to insular the minute they were among a throng of other students. She didn't understand why, as Asami always seemed to know what to say in most scenarios… But regardless she could feel sympathetic. Just because she couldn't wrap her head around it didn't mean she couldn't accept it. Realizing that she had been silent for a moment and that Asami was watching her, she finally spoke up. "You know, you're the only one who got her invite delivered in person, well, except me" She grinned, to which Asami blinked in surprise.
"Wait, really?"
"Well yeah! Did you see her giving out any other invitations?"
Asami glanced out across the classroom to find Opal was right. Korra had a bundle of invites under her arm, but she was pushing them all into the bags and jacket pockets of the other students hanging on hooks; not one other student was holding one in their hands. She didn't know why, but the fact that Korra had made that little bit of extra effort to give her an invite made her stomach do a little flip. Korra seemed to have that effect on her.
Noticing Asami's mood change, Opal smiled and decided to press forward "Oh, and by the way, keep this between us, but the party doesn't really finish at 6. Korra said the plan is to have a big party to begin with for all the kids in class that finishes around 6. That's when everyone else goes home… except us." She grinned as Asami's eyebrows shot up "Basically, she wants a party that's just for her closest friends, which is of course us." She giggled "but keep that to yourself, yeah? It's a secret" She tapped the side of her nose and gave Asami a cheerful look.
This made Asami relax significantly. A party for just the three of them? That sounded perfect. She loved spending time with her two best friends and was so glad to know she'd have some time to relax with them without being overwhelmed by other students. As soon as she relaxed her mind almost instantly went back into overdrive. What was she going to get her as a gift? Most of the time when they all played together it was imaginary games, and aside from her bike, she had no idea what physical items Korra enjoyed… Well, except food, that was an obvious one.
Once again Opal was quick to cut into her thoughts and stop the spiral of stress she could see her friend getting into. "If you're thinking about what to get her, speaking from experience I can honestly say that she's the least picky person I know. If anything the fact that you're going to be there is enough for her… But if all else fails, she likes anything fluffy. Take it from me." She grinned when she saw Asami eye her in confusion "Since you haven't been her her house you wouldn't know about her huge collection of stuffed animals. It's like a mountain of fluff and she loves every one of them. So yeah, anything she can cuddle is a good shout. Or food… but there's going to be lots of that at the party."
"Right, thank you" Asami replied, giving her companion a relieved smile as she mae a mental note. She was thankful that Opal was there to act as a go between herself and Korra at a time like this; as much as she adored Korra she was so hyperactive and intense at times that she would find it hard to keep up, both physically and mentally. Opal gave her a pat on her shoulder "you're welcome" she replied, retracting her hand and wrinkling her nose as she eyed her palm "...Just a heads up, you might want to give yourself a bit of a brush down in the loos before lessons start. You're covered in glitter." Asami looked down at herself to find that Opal was in deed right. A fine layer of the glitzy substance coated the front of her cardigan and had even made its way into her hair. She gave Opal a quick murmur of thanks before carefully getting up out of her seat and heading to the bathroom.
Throughout the rest of the day, Asami became very much aware of the fact that not only does glitter get everywhere, it is practically impossible to remove all of it at once. When it came to lunchtime she was picking tiny flakes off of her sandwiches and snacks and it irritated her to no end. However whenever she would make eye contact with Korra her irritation would fade, finding the cheerfulness in Korra's blue eyes almost contagious. The girl in question would occasionally lean over and pluck another particle out of Asami's long dark hair, causing her to shy away and feel almost embarrassed. She wasn't sure why. Korra just seemed to have that
effect on her.
The rest of the week, this time, seemed to drag on more than usual for Asami. Her ideal system to pass the time was to bury her nose in a book for hours on end, but this week her train of thought was constantly interrupted by a nagging worry about the party on saturday. Following Opal's advice she had been able to pick out a gift which she had neatly wrapped, complete with card, as well as a nice little outfit to wear to the party, but that didn't change the stress of the situation.
Her mother had told her time and time again that there was nothing to worry about, and she was feeling somewhat better about it, but she was prone to anxious behaviour which she knew would not go away completely no matter how hard she tried.
So, when Saturday rolled around and she began to get everything ready, she did what she could to keep her mind occupied. Her mother had said that she would take her to Korra's house. Well, she wasn't going to be taking her there perse, since their driver Rusho was under strict instructions to do all the driving; but Yasuko knew that her company in the car would help to calm Asami's nerves.
Before she knew it, she was called down to the front door to await Rusho's arrival. "You look lovely"
Yasuko cooed as she fixed a few strands of hair that had managed to break free from the long french braid she had painstakingly created upon Asami's request; it was fastened at the base with a small red scrunchie that matched perfectly with the deep red dress that finished just below Asami's knees (she knew Korra would probably tease her about the fact that she was yet again wearing red, but last time she had pointed out how much blue Korra wore on a day to day basis and that seemed to keep her quiet. For now anyway)
"Ready to go love?" Yasuko said with a smile as she opened the front door and glanced back at her daughter. Asami nodded, holding the perfectly wrapped present and card tightly in her arms before following her mother outside. Rusho gave them both his usual polite greeting and opened the door for them despite Yasuko insisting they were more than capable of doing it themselves (once again he informed her he was just 'following orders' to which she would give her usual reluctant sigh). It was only going to be a short journey, about 20 minutes or so, so Asami wouldn't have too long to sit and worry. Also her mother kept making small talk with her in order to offer her some kind of distraction and keep her focused on the positives. She admittedly was excited to see what Korra's house was like as they'd only ever spent time at her own house. She'd asked Korra before but it seemed the other girl was embarrassed to talk about it too much, mentioning that it was nowhere near as large and impressive as Asami's house. Asami didn't care though, she'd always wanted to live somewhere a bit smaller anyway, it would be much less intimidating.
"We're here" came Rusho's voice, prompting Asami to sit up in her seat and gaze curiously out of the window. Korra's house was just as she'd imagined it: small, with (surprise) a pale blue door and window frames. Two well stocked borders adorned each side of the doorway, which was still full of colour despite most of the flowers having gone to seed and many leaves turning various shades of yellow, red and brown. As she exited the vehicle she noticed that many of the houses in the little cul-de-sac were almost identical apart from the fact that Korra's house was the only one standing alone, the others being semi-detached. There was a real sense of community among the collection of buildings that Asami was unable to experience from living on such a large estate.
After walking up the short cobblestoned path, Yasuko knocked on the door and gave her daughter an encouraging smile. She opened her mouth to give her a few words of reassurance when the door opened swiftly in front of them "and who might you be?" Came a deep, booming voice. Asami turned and looked up to see a large, hulking figure standing over her, arms folded and one eyebrow raised. She quailed slightly under the man's gaze but thankfully Senna appeared behind him. "Tonraq" she chided in a playful manner "don't go scaring our guests like that." The heavily built man, now known as Tonraq, opened his mouth in protest "aww come on, you know I'm only messing!"
"Tonraq..."
"Okay okay, I'll go check on the kids" He let out a sigh and gave the visitors an apologetic smile before heading back inside, leaving Senna shaking her head. "I'm sorry about that" she said with a small smile "my husband forgets just how intimidating he looks sometimes.. Anyway! I'm so glad you came Asami, please come in! Korra's waiting for you" She stepped to one side. Asami looked up at her mum hesitantly before Yasuko gave her an encouraging nod, to which she responded with a smile and slowly headed indoors.
"Will you be staying, Yasuko?" Senna asked politely to which Yasuko smiled and nodded "I'd love to. Asami's been so nervous I just wanted to keep an eye on her, even if it's just for a little while." Senna nodded "That's understandable, she does seem like such the shy girl, bless her." The two of them continued to chat as they headed inside, closing the door behind them.
Meanwhile, Asami walked down the hallway hesitantly, heading towards the sounds of chatter and children playing. There was also an additional sound to the racket, something akin to crashing and banging. It stopped shortly after however when the door ahead of her opened, and before she knew it there was a squeal of excitement and she was almost bowled over. "Asami!" Exclaimed an ecstatic Korra as she hugged her dark haired friend enthusiastically. "Uh.. hi" Responded Asami in a choked tone. Being squeezed so tightly was inhibiting her ability to speak, or even breath for that matter.
When she was finally released she glanced down, thankful that the gift she'd bought wasn't fragile. Korra on the other hand was so excited the thought hadn't even crossed her mind. "I'm so happy you're here! Come on, everyone's in the living room!" She grasped Asami's free hand and dragged her down the short stretch of hallway and into a heavily decorated and very busy room.
Aside from the throng of students Asami's eyes alighted on the object that she presumed had been the source of the noises earlier. It the corner was a small drum set, already set up. It was unexpected, but Korra was an overly energetic sort, so a drum kit sort of made sense; she became almost self-conscious of the quality of her own gift at that moment, holding it to her chest. Korra meanwhile was chatting away as she continued to lead her forward, completely unaware of the thoughts whirring through her friend's mind. Eventually Asami found herself seated on the lone, slightly worn grey sofa tucked in the corner. It had clearly been moved to make space for the guests, but Asami didn't mind sitting in the corner, she had said how she preferred solitude after all.
Korra had wandered off somewhere, insisting she'd be back soon, so for now she was left alone. She'd just started to relax when the seat beside her dipped slightly as someone sat beside her.
"Hi" Came a voice she hadn't been expecting. She jumped slightly but turned to find a boy with a shock of bright red hair and bright blue eyes seated beside her. She blinked, caught off guard by the sudden intrusion, but her manners prevailed and she gave him a smile "Um.. hi" she said in a quiet voice. The boy gave her a grin "You're Asami, right? I'm Davis" he said in a tone that was somewhat over enthusiastic. Asami nodded and was about to respond when Davis spoke again. "You know, you're really pretty" he shuffled a little closer to her, causing the nerves in Asami's stomach to come bubbling up again. She coughed slightly "well erm.. Thanks?" She replied as she tried to think of a way to move backwards without being to obvious.
Davis meanwhile was staring almost intently at her, a smile on his face and his cheeks turning a slight pinkish colour. Was he.. Blushing? He ran a hand nervously through his hair and spoke again "you know, I don't see you around a lot at school, but I've heard you're really smart. Would you maybe… like to help me out with my homework sometime?"
With her eyebrows now raised in surprise, Asami took in what he'd said. She wasn't exactly sure how to reply, especially since it was clear on his face that it wasn't homework help that he was interested in. (Plus she was trying to find back a slight laugh at what seemed to be a very awkward attempt at some form of flirtation. She'd watched enough romantic movies with her mum to know enough about that topic. She wasn't usually good at reading people but he clearly wasn't good at keeping his feelings subdued. She could read him like a book.) Just as she was opening her mouth to reply a thankfully familiar voice cut through the awkward silence.
"Asami!" Called Korra as she came scurrying back over, two plates stacked high with various buffet style snacks "sorry I took so long, I just wanted to make sure I got one of everything and-" She stopped mid sentence as her eyes landed on the unexpected intruder. She only had to flick her gaze back and form between them once before she narrowed her eyes at the boy in front of her. "Davis… what are you doing?" She asked, the change in her tone so sudden it caught Asami by surprise. The boy fidgeted before replying "I uh… was just talking to Asami about something, that's all."
"Yeah, okay, but you're in my seat" Davis sat wide-eyed for a moment before gulping and getting up almost hurriedly "oh! Sorry! I'll just uh- I'll just go, yeah." He got up from his seat and stumbled slightly as he hurried out of the way. Korra watched him, her eyes still narrowed in a way Asami hadn't seen before. However amusing that interaction had been, she still felt bad. So when her companion took her seat she spoke up again "you didn't really need to be so mean" she said softly "he wasn't doing anything wrong."
Korra huffed a little as she placed her plate on her lap "yeah maybe, but he was making you uncomfortable, I could tell just from looking at you. Besides-" she continued as she handed Asami her plate "-you're one of my best friends. Don't want anyone to think they can take my place." The last part was said almost in a mutter, but Asami heard it and chuckled slightly. "No one could take your place" she said as she gave Korra's shoulders a gentle shove "like you said, we're best friends. No need to be jealous; no one's going to steal me away" Korra snorted and gave her companion a playful look, her cheeks colouring slightly "I know I know..." The two girls giggled to themselves before tucking in to their overly full plates.
Throughout the rest of the day Korra barely left Asami's side. Sure she would spend a few moments chatting with some of her fellow classmates and occasionally drag Opal in on the fun, but she was always quick to check Asami was nearby. She knew it probably seemed odd, but she was smart enough to see that her friend was uncomfortable; Asami wouldn't say anything because she didn't want to make Korra worry, but Korra could read her friend much easier than was probably thought. She wanted Asami to enjoy herself there… besides, she didn't want Davis to try anything again. Yes he'd been harmless in his attempts to get Asami's attention, but something in Korra made her feel protective of her friend. Whenever she'd spot the boy in question making his way over (he didn't seem to take the hint) she would shoot him another look and take Asami's hand in hers, as if to emphasise she was unavailable to him. He would gulp and shuffle away awkwardly while making some excuse.
Eventually the party slowly came to an end. A cake was brought out and everyone sang happy birthday before each being given a little gift bag including a slice of cake and various other treats (Asami couldn't really wrap her head around the fact that the guests were getting gifts when it wasn't their birthday) and one by one the kids were collected by their parents and taken home. Before they knew it, Korra, Opal and Asami were the only kids left. Yasuko had ended staying as well, though she had spent most of her time chatting with Senna and staying out of the kid's way; she hadn't wanted to impose too much on the party after all.
Now the time finally came around for Korra to open the remainder of her gifts. Those that she had been given by the other party guests had been opened almost instantly, but the ones from Opal and Asami had been left til last. This was mainly because the two of them knew of the extended party and were more than happy to wait so as to see Korra open their gifts when things were less hectic.
Opal's was first: A box containing an impressive amount of sweets (Senna made sure to comment on the fact that she shouldn't eat them all at once.) each wrapped up individually; Opal knew Korra's favourite treats and it was clear she'd spent a long time accumulating the hoard of sugary items. Asami watched hesitantly as Korra enthusiastically thanked Opal, then she turned to Asami's gift.
Watching as her companion tore into the brightly coloured wrapping paper, Asami couldn't help but feel nervous; she wasn't great at getting gifts, and had only had some sort of idea as to what to get her thanks to Opal's hints. Finally the wrapping was peeled away and Korra let out a squeak of excitement "it's so cute!" She exclaimed, hugging the huge fluffy polar bear plush to her chest before pulling Asami into the hug as well "I love it! Thank you so much Asami! He's so soft and fluffy!"
"Y-you're welcome" Asami replied in a strangled tone as she was yet again crushed in her companion's arms, glancing over at Opal who gave her a grin and a thumbs up. Instantly the fluffy toy was the centre of Korra's attention. She held it under one arm for the rest of the day, parading it around and introducing the fluffy creature to the adults of the house. Selecting a name wasn't even an issue, as upon inspection the bear had a tag on its ear stating 'Hello! My name is Naga!' which Korra said suited it perfectly.
Time whizzed by and sooner than expected the sun had started to set. As much as Asami would have loved to stay longer, her mother had reluctantly informed her that she had called Rusho to collect them and that he would be with them shortly; she knew her daughter wanted to stay but they unfortunately couldn't afford to stretch their driver's schedule out any longer than was necessary. Korra followed Asami to the door when the time came and pulled her into another one of her now signature bone-crushing hugs "thanks for coming" she said softly as she withdrew "I had a lot of fun, wouldn't have been a proper party if you hadn't been there."
Asami felt herself flush a little at than; tucking a strand of her jet black hair behind her ear she gave her friend a shy smile "thank you for inviting me.. I'm not usually good with parties" she replied, giving Korra a tight hug of her own before reluctantly turning as her mother opened the door and followed her out. As she got into the car she turned to see Korra standing in the doorway waving, one arm still wrapped tightly around Naga. She giggled and waved back, continuing to do so until the car drove them out of sight.
As she settled back into her chair she couldn't help but smile to herself; all that stress had been worth it just to see Korra smile like that.
As usual, thanks for reading! Hope you all enjoyed it :)