Korra shook the hand offered to her. "Kuvira, right, yeah—we're actually in the same, uh, math class," Korra stumbled out. She rubbed the back of her neck uncomfortably after letting go of the handshake, but Kuvira didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah, you're right! You're the new girl—Korra."

"Yeah, that's me." Korra didn't know quite how to feel about the way Kuvira seemed to be studying her, appraising her value. But, she was an earthbender, so they had something in common, at least. "I earthbend, too, by the way. And firebend," she tacked on, snapping a flame into existence.

Kuvira's eyes went wide, which put Korra on edge even more. "Oh, my God," Kuvira breathed, and now she was the one stumbling over her words. "Are you—you're telling me that—you're—you're the Avatar?"

Korra really didn't like where this was going.


Asami was worried when Korra never showed up to math class. Bolin seemed concerned, as well—he kept sending her questioning glances, to which she could only respond with a shrug and an attempt to seem like Korra's disappearance wasn't the only thing preoccupying her mind now.

After the bell rang, Asami couldn't help but sulk a bit as she exited the classroom behind Bolin. She glanced around the hallway, worriedly looking for Korra. She was so busy looking around her that she wasn't paying attention to what was in front of her—Bolin suddenly stopped mid-step, causing her stomach to crash into his bookbag. Pabu peered up at her through the opening in the bag, head tilted as if he was waiting for an apology. Asami mouthed one out to him as Bolin called out his reason for stopping.

"There's Korra!" he said excitedly. He waved in front of him, and Asami peered around his body to see the aforementioned girl exiting the bathroom with… Kuvira Beifong?

Asami suddenly felt hot, as if she was blushing with her whole body. Kuvira was known around the school for being one of the few "out" students, even if she claimed that she "didn't like labels." And the way they were smiling and laughing with each other made Asami's chest fill with the urge to walk up to Korra, link their arms together, and stalk off as far away from Kuvira as they possibly could.

Then Korra looked up, when Bolin had called her name, and when their eyes met, Asami swore everything else melted from existence—just for a second, though, because then Korra was walking over with Kuvira, each step bringing that feeling back stronger and stronger within her chest. Asami felt exhausted, as if Korra were giving her whiplash with all the differing emotions she caused.

"Hey, guys!" Korra said cheerfully. "Sorry I missed math—kinda lost track of time. Kuvira and I have a, uh—a lot in common." She said this a bit questioningly, with a strange glance over towards the other girl that unsettled Asami even more.

Kuvira only smiled though. "Yeah, you could say that." Her grin highlighted the mole under her right eye, causing it to move up and down with her cheeks. Even though there was no other girl at RCH that dressed as boyish as she did, Kuvira was still considered one of the most attractive girls in the school. Asami yearned to reach for Korra again.

The transfer student was only grinning back at Kuvira, though, until her eyebrows furrowed and she turned towards Asami. "Isn't your class in the other direction, 'Sami?"

The warning bell rang just then as another reminder to Asami that she was about to be late; it also served to distract Asami from the fluttering that the nickname caused in her chest. "Oh, uh, yeah. I'll—see you guys at lunch?" She turned around and started speed walking away without waiting for a response, hating the feeling of losing control over her emotions. She took deep breaths as she walked, trying to force everything regarding Korra out of her mind—at least, for a little while.


Korra stayed quiet about Kuvira during her Spanish class with Bolin. Since he had never mentioned Kuvira before, Korra assumed that he didn't know Kuvira was an earthbender. She was nearly bouncing out of her seat with excitement up until lunch, wanting desperately to ramble about her newfound friend, but also knowing that she needed to make sure Kuvira would be okay with anyone else knowing.

When the bell rang, Korra nearly bolted from the room; the only thing that kept her from doing so was Bolin's whining about how he hadn't had his lunch, yet, so he didn't have the energy to run. She dragged him along behind her, searching through the crowd of people in the cafeteria until she spotted the girl in question. Kuvira was just leaving the line with her tray of food, and her eyes met Korra's as soon as she looked up from putting in her lunch number.

Korra turned her head towards Bolin as she spoke, but she didn't take her eyes off of Kuvira, lest she walk off. "Go ahead and get in line—I'm gonna ask Kuvira if she wants to sit with us, if that's cool?"

Bolin had just started to form the word "sure" when Korra was already jogging across the cafeteria.

"Hey!" Korra greeted with a grin. "I had a couple things to ask you!"

Kuvira gave her a crooked smile, taking a couple of steps out of the way of the students behind her. "Go for it, Avatar."

The name threw her off—she hadn't heard that word out loud until Kuvira came along. She shook her head slightly and continued, "Okay, first off, do you wanna come sit with me and Bolin and Asami? And second, is…." Korra trailed off with the sudden realization that she was just about to tell Kuvira that Bolin is an earthbender without granting him the same courtesy she was trying to grant Kuvira. "Um, actually, just the one question. Wanna sit with us? Bolin said it was okay, and I… really think you would hit it off with him."

"Oh." Kuvira raised an eyebrow, and her smile had dropped a little bit. "Are you sure Asami would be okay with it?"

Korra furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "I'm pretty sure. She's super sweet. Why wouldn't she want you to be there?"

The second eyebrow joined the first, high up on Kuvira's forehead as her gaze momentarily dropped. "No reason in particular." She lifted her eyes back to Korra's and smiled wider. "I'd love to sit with you. Thanks."

Korra grinned brightly. After telling Kuvira she could just sit at their normal table, she ran back to the end of the line, about ten people now between her and Bolin.

When Asami got to the cafeteria, a little later than usual, she was greeted with the sight of Kuvira, Mako and Bolin sitting together at their table. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, until she looked up and saw Korra exiting the line with her tray, large smile on her face and eyes locked onto their visitor.

The jealousy flared up again, and Asami forced herself to keep moving with the crowd to join one of the lines. As she was walking, she tried to just look straight ahead, but Korra called to her with, "Hey, 'Sami!" and she couldn't resist. That glowing smile drew her gaze once more, and she couldn't help but to smile back.

"Hurry up," Korra continued. "I miss you!"

Asami quickly turned away at that, but only to hide her blush. She cursed to herself. Stop letting her get to you.

Korra, meanwhile, had been caught off-guard by Mako's sudden appearance at the lunch table. The emotions she'd been having right before she met Kuvira washed back over her for a second, and she suddenly got the urge to call out to Asami. So, she did.

And then she sat down next to Kuvira, across from Mako and Bolin, and took a deep breath. "Okay, you guys. There's something you all have in common, and this is the fairest way for me to let you know." Even though Mako hadn't originally been part of the plan, Korra could include him with no issues. She just had to make sure they understood before Asami came out of the line. She looked around at the puzzled gazes she was receiving and said, "I want you all to think about something big that you have in common with me—and don't say it out loud, just think about it."

Kuvira glanced nervously between Korra and the boys; Mako did the same. Bolin just looked confused. Korra sighed. "That thing you're all thinking of? You have it in common with each other, too."

Kuvira and Mako's eyes widened after a beat, followed by the smiles on their faces. "Dude," Kuvira breathed, leaning in closer. "Earth?"

Mako shook his head and responded just as giddily. "For Bolin, yeah, but I do fire. And Korra, she—"

"—does everything, yeah, I know." Kuvira looked over to her with such excitement in her eyes that Korra couldn't keep her own smile tampered down.

"…Wait, what?" Bolin said suddenly, seemingly just now catching on. His eyes widened comically as he put his palms flat on the table. "Holy crap. Holy crap." He dropped his voice to a stage-whisper, "You're an earthbender?"

"Apparently, you are, too," Kuvira replied. "Man, this is the craziest day. We have to, like, hang out after school, show each other what we got." She grinned over at Korra. "I'm curious to see all of the Avatar's potential."

Korra lightly smacked her on the shoulder. "I'm not 'The Avatar.' Stop saying that."

"No, wait," Mako interrupted, his brow now furrowed. "Why does that sound familiar? 'Avatar'…."

"You guys don't know the legend?" Kuvira asked incredulously.

"The legend of what?" Asami said, suddenly appearing behind the boys.

Bolin was subtly waving his hand in front of his neck to keep Kuvira quiet, so Korra jumped in. "The legend of how the girls' bathroom upstairs is haunted."

Asami rolled her eyes and sat down next to Mako, across from Korra. "That's not a thing." Her eyes met Kuvira's, who smirked over at her.

"You're right. I just made it up to try and scare them. You caught me."

Asami fought to keep her eyes from rolling again, instead simply turning to look at Korra again. Of course, this only reminded her that she needed to not be looking at Korra, because that smile, that laugh… she was going to end up melting her into a puddle of sin. Asami turned to look beside her, at Mako, but that only made her feel guilty for wishing she was next to Korra, instead.

Asami sighed quietly. It was going to be a long lunch.


I'm sorry this one took me so long, guys! Things picked up at work, and I didn't have as much energy for it as I started out with. I'm hoping that I can keep continuing this for you guys, though, and that y'all stay interested and entertained! Let me know what you think :)