Korra watched as a car pulled up under a nearby street lamp and the door opened and Asami stepped out. She smiled and quickly typed out, See you. Followed by several waving emoji. She had only recently learned how to use emojis and found herself rather enamored with them even if she didn't quite understand how to use them properly. Asami looked at her phone before looking up and locking eyes with Korra.
She smiled, jogging over before coming to a stop in front of her, "Hey."
Korra couldn't help but smile back as pushed herself up off the wall. "Hey. You got here pretty fast." Asami let out a nervous chuckle and Korra scratched at the back of her head, jerked her thumb at the door and said, "Wanna head inside?"
Asami nodded, "Yeah, lets." Korra moved, opening the door and letting Asami enter first. Korra found herself strangely nervous as she made her way over to her both and couldn't quiet place why. Maybe it was because Asami seemed to be rather nervous and it was affecting how she felt herself. Korra pushed the growing ball of nervous energy down as she slid into the booth watching as Asami did the same.
Opal bounced looking between the two women and quirking a questioning eyebrow at Korra who made a point of avoiding eye contact. Opal sighed and turned her full attention to Asami, "What can I get for you?"
"Uh, can I have a Chai Latte?" She looked up at Opal who gave Asami a sweet smile.
"One Chai Latte coming up." Opal said before heading back around the counter, giving Korra a comically wide-eyed look and mouthing, 'Who is she?' as she did so. Korra rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to Asami who raised a perfect eyebrow at her in question.
"Your friend seems nice," Asami said and there was an uneasiness in her voice that Korra couldn't quite place the source of.
"Yeah. She is. She also happens to make the best coffee in Republic City." Asmai let out an over exaggerated indignant gasp, a smile pulling slightly at her lips.
"Blasphemy. We all know that Coffee Joe's has the best coffee in the city." Korra scoffed at the proclamation. Coffee Joe's was okay but was in no way the best coffee in Republic City.
"Joe's isn't the best coffee. It barely qualifies as good coffee." It was Asami's turn to scoff as she leaned forward a smirk playing on her lips. Any trace of her former unease gone. It was easy to fall into the familiar back and forth of the teasing argument. Neither of them were seriously invested in the topic at hand and you could tell by the smiles on their lips and the way their eyes danced with amusement.
"You're being unneededly harsh. Sure, Joe's isn't the best but its still good coffee and cheap to boot."
"Yeah, and they're open 24/7 which is just great." This conversation had taken an odd sarcastic turn but Korra wasn't bothered that much by it. "I mean, how else am I gonna get a cup of semi-decent coffee at three in the morning."
"Exactly!" Asami said slamming her hands against the table and suddenly they were both laughing. Because really just how quickly this conversation had devolved into a snark-fest was hilarious.
"And here I thought you didn't have a sense of humor," Opal said as she set cups down in front of the two women. Korra just rolled her eyes as she wrapped her hands around her cup and watched Asami did the same. Opal slid into the seat next to Korra and nudged her shoulder, "So, are gonna introduce me to your friend or not?"
"Opal this is Asami. Asami is this Opal." Opal reached out and shook hands with Asami who smiled.
"It's nice to know that Korra has other friends beside me." This caused Opal to let out a small laugh.
"Yeah. I was worried that she didn't know how to make friends." They both laughed and Korra just took a drink from her cup letting out a satisfied hum.
"So, how did you two meet anyway?" Opal asked as Asami took a sip from her own cup.
She smiled slightly as she set her own cup back down, "We meet at a Charity Gala I host every year."
"Tenzin made me go and auction myself off as a Waterbending Master," Korra said and Opal laughed.
"Like anyone can make you do anything." Korra snorted, nearly choking on the hot beverage at the comment. "I mean you're the textbook definition of a stubborn ass."
Asami let out an undignified snort and reached up covering her mouth with her hand. "Fine. So, I went willingly but only because Tenzin begged. It was pitiful." It was Opal who laughed this time.
"Tenzin begging. Now that's something I want to see." Silence fell over the group for a few moments as both Korra and Asami sipped their drinks while Opal messaged somebody on her phone. "Well, Bolin is being stupid and I have to go keep him from doing something regrettable."
She slid out of the booth and as she stood up Korra leaned back, "Are you gonna lock us in here?"
"I'll leave the back door open just lock it when you leave," Opal said as she hung her apron up and grabbed her jacket from behind the counter.
"Key?" Opal tossed a small key at Korra who caught it. She watched as she pulled on her jacket as she practically flew out the door, leaving both of them alone for the first time since Asami had arrived. The silence that settled over them was thick with an awkward tension that Korra couldn't quite place the origin of.
Suddenly, Asami started laughing, "This is like a really awkward first date."
Korra nervous laugh in response, rubbing the back of her neck, "But not like a date-date, right?"
"What!? No! No." Asami quickly corrected, "It just feels that way. I don't know why. Maybe because this is the first time we've hung out outside of our normal routine."
"It is, isn't?" Korra hadn't realized that this was the first time they'd hung out without a Pai Sho board between them. "I think Opal has a board somewhere in the back if you wanna play."
"I'd like that."
Korra smiled sliding out of her seat and disappearing into the back room in search of the Pai Sho board that she knew Opal kept in the back. The back room was meticulously organized which made it incredibly easy to find whatever you might be looking for including the Pai Sho board. She found the board tucked between a box and the end of the shelf and pulled it out. She was about head back out when a thought struck her. Asami had seemed really nervous and Korra got the feeling it might have something to do with their current setting. She bit her lip as she looked down at the board and then back at the door she had just come from. She thought for a short while longer before coming to the conclusion that maybe, just maybe, Asami would be more comfortable in a different setting. Was telling a little white lie really that bad? Not if it helped her feel more at ease. So why did she feel guilty as she slowly slid the board back into the shelf and turned on her heel making her way out of the room? "Well, that was a bust." Korra closed the door behind her and moved around the counter as she shrugged, "I couldn't find the board."
"Oh..." Asami said, her shoulders slumping as she looked down at her cup. Korra cleared her throat and scratched the back of her head.
"But, If you still wanna play a game I think I know a place."
Asami leaned forward slightly and spoke her tone not betraying her feelings, "Oh, do you?"
"Yeah. Republic City Park has Pai Sho boards." Korra found that she couldn't really read the expression on Asami's face and found a niggling sense of guilt begin to build in the back of her mind. Why did she feel guilty over something so insignificant? "It's only a couple blocks away so we could walk and talk."
"You know I have a car, right?" Asami laughed and Korra felt a little more at ease but still slightly guilty as she laughed as well.
"Yeah. You do, don't you." Korra watched as Asami slid out of the seat, standing up and started heading toward the front of the room. "Wait, where are you going?"
"To my car. We can take it to the park."
"The front door is locked, remember?"
Asami paused and pursed her lips before heading toward the back. "Come on, Korra." Korra quickly grabbed the key that was still sitting on the table and followed Asami out the back door while pushing the growing sense of guilty further down.
Asami watched Korra out of the corner of her eye and was suddenly very unsure of just what she was doing. She knew what she was doing but why was another thing altogether. Going to the park in the middle of the night to play Pai Sho wasn't something that Asami had thought she would be doing when she woke up this morning. As she continued to drive she noticed how increasingly uneasy Korra was looking. To others, she might have just seemed disinterested but Asami liked to think she could tell the difference between Korra when she was disinterested and when something was actually bothering her.
As she came to a stop at a red light she turned to look at Korra and noticed just how uncomfortable she looked. She was slumped in the seat, looking out the window while biting her lip. Asami took a deep breath and smiled, "Are you okay, Korra?"
Korra's head jerked up and she looked up at Asami and forced a smile, "Yeah. I'm fine." She looked like she wanted to launch herself from her car.
Asami pressed down on the gas causing the car to lurch back into motion, "If you're fine then why do you look like you wanna throw yourself from the car?" Korra looked away, worrying her lip as her eyes scanned the road. "If you don't want to talk then that's fine I just-"
"I lied!" Korra suddenly yelled and Asami turned to look at her in shock before quickly returning her eyes to the road. "I lied about not being about to find the Pai Sho board. I just thought you seemed nervous and that maybe you'd be less so if we changed location but now I just feel really bad about lying to you about something so stupidly insignificant."
It took Asami a full five seconds before she fully comprehend what Korra had said and she immediately burst out laughing. She had been worried for nothing. Asami pulled up along the side of the road, putting her car into park before she looked at Korra. "That's it?"
"Yes?" Korra looked so unsure of herself as she spoke. "I lied to you."
"Its fine. Your heart was in the right place." Asami undid her buckle and opened her door as she spoke, "Come on. I wanna play Pai Sho in the park at-" She checked the time on the car's dash, "12:15 at night." Asami turned her car off and stepped out into the birsk night air. She watched as Korra did the same before locking her car before shoving her keys into her pocket as she headed toward the park entrance. Korra feel in step beside her as they turned into the park only to find the entrance blocked off with a gate and a keep out sign attached to it. 'Well shit.' Asami looked to Korra opening her mouth to propose an alternative only for the words to die on her tongue when she saw that Korra had already started climbing the gate with one leg on either side as she straddled it. The moment they locked eyes Korra gave her a sheepish smile and swung her leg over the side hopping off the gate onto the park side of the gate.
Korra turned around and smirked at her, her hand on her hips, "Your turn."
"Are you seriously encouraging me to trespass?"
"Oh come on. It's not trespassing if it's a public park."
"Technically it's a city park and we could get fined for trespassing."
"Then we better not get caught."
Asami shook her head, "We better not. I have a reputation to uphold."
"Alright then miss CEO. Think you can handle jumping the gate?"
Asami let out a light-hearted scoff as she began climbing the gate. "I'll have you know that I did plenty of this kind of stuff in my youth."
Korra just laughed as Asami swung her legs over the side and then pushed herself off gate only for her to stumble as she landed. She really wished she wasn't wearing heels. A pair of hands on her shoulders steadied her and she looked up into a pair of crystal blue eyes. "You okay?"
"Heels aren't exactly the best attire for our current activity of choice." Asami smiled, "But other then my poor choice in footwear I'm fine." Korra started walking away from the gate and Asami quickly followed Korra not wanting to get caught trespassing so late at night.
The walk to where the Pai Sho boards were was spent in silence. Asami worried that if they made to much noise they would get caught. Eventually, they came upon the area of the park they were heading and approached one of the stone tables. Asami walked around it taking in the familiar round table with the Pai Sho board painted into stone. Asami ran her hand over the familiar worn pattern and she bit her lip as she tried not to let her emotions show on her face.
"Well, I guess we're out of luck again," Korra said and Asami couldn't even bring herself to look away from it. "Looks like they put the..." Korra trailed off and was silent before asking, "Are you okay?"
Asami reached up wiping away the unshed tears from her eyes, "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" Korra asked, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. Asami nodded trying to push her emotions back down. She thought that she would be over this by now. That she would be able to see the things that reminded her of her father without breaking down by now.
"No, I'm not." She let out a stuttering breath as the tears she had been trying to push down finally escaped down the sides of her face. "I thought I was past this. I thought I could come here and not do," Asami made a vague gesture with her hand before exclaiming, "this!"
Korra gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, "Do you, uh, wanna talk about it?" Asami shook her head wiping the last of her tears from her eyes.
"No. I'm fine." When Korra raised an eyebrow at her Asami actually managed to laugh, "I am. I just," She let out a sigh and ran a hand through her hair, "I miss my father."
"Oh." Korra removed her hand from her shoulder and shoved it into the pocket of her jacket. "You sure you don't wanna talk about it?"
"Yeah, I am." Asami started walking away from the table, "Can we walk?"
"Sure." Korra said and the pair began to walk through the darkened park in silence. "Do you wanna talk?" Asami shook her head, Korra nodded and they lapsed back into silence.
As they walked Asami felt like someone was following her. She tried to convince herself that she was just being paranoid as she continued to walk along with Korra. Asami tried to push the paranoia down and ignore the feeling of eyes on her neck. Her paranoia eventually got the better of her as she glanced over her shoulder to see a person in a hoodie following a few steps behind them. Her head snapped forward and she quickly wrapped her arm around Korra's who stiffened at the contact.
"Asami what are you-" Korra started to say only to be cut off just as suddenly.
"We're being followed." Asami murmured doing her best to keep her voice low enough that their tail couldn't hear, "Behind us. Look but don't be obvious about it."
Korra cautiously glanced over her shoulder, noticed the hooded figure and proceeded to look forward and quicken their pace. "Come on." Asami tightened her grip on Korra's arm as they moved quickly through the dark park. They suddenly took a sharp turn and began moving toward the fountain near the center of the small courtyard. Korra steered her around the fountain before pulling herself from Asami's grip. The man appeared out of the dark and Korra put herself between Asami and him quickly bent water out of the fountain. She bent the water at the man's feet, freezing it and then grabbing Asami by her arm and pulling her forward. She pulled her through fountain the water sloshing up against her calf as they moved. Asami chanced a glance over her shoulder to see the man crouching on the ground an orange glow lighting up the darkness. They jumped out of the fountain and started booking it back the way they had come. When they came to the gate they stopped chest heaving from their dead sprint across the park.
Asami looked up at Korra who was bent over, hands on her knees with her hair was a mess and Asami's was probably worse. She looked up at Korra, a smile pulling at her lips and a laugh escaped her lips as she collapsed to the ground. She noticed that somewhere along the way she had lost her shoes but she really couldn't be bothered by it. She could always buy more shoes. Their laughter died off and they fell back into silence until Korra spoke up.
"We should probably get going. I dunno how long it'll take to thaw himself out."
Asami responded by pushing herself up to her feet as Korra did the same. Korra quickly jumped back over the gate and turned to wait for Asami, who found it much easier to climb now that she wasn't wearing a pair of 4-inch heels. They walked back to the car and Asami stuck her hand in her jacket pocket in search of her keys only for panic to surge through her when she didn't find them. She checked her other pocket only to find they weren't there either. Panic continued to rush through her as her mind began to rush through all the possibilities. Had the keys fallen out as they ran? Had she dropped then without realizing it? Absentmindedly she checked her front left pocket of her pants and let out a sigh of relief when her fingers touched her keys.
She quickly unlocked the car and both women got inside. Asami had just turned the car on when a thought struck her. Where was she going to take Korra? Was she just going to drop her back off at Opal's or was she going to drop her off at the harbor? Asami took a deep breath and, after gathering all the confidence she could muster, asked, "Hey Korra, do you maybe wanna spend the night at my place?" Asami wished she'd sounded more confident. That she didn't sound so unsure of herself.
She glanced at Korra out of the corner of her eye, who smiled as she quietly said, "I'd like that."