"I can't believe this place has authentic water tribe spices!" Korra raved over her bowl of spicy seaweed noodles, slurping up an entire mouthful joyfully.

"Would I ever let you down?" Bolin said around his own noodles.

"Oh please," Opal said with a wave of her hand, "I totally discovered this place first don't even try it."

"Yeah but I told Korra about it first." Bolin said with a click of his chopsticks.

"It sure tastes like home though." Korra said appreciatively, "Even my dad wouldn't be able to complain about these being 'commercial' or whatever." They all took a moment to eat, Korra enjoying her little taste of the south pole more than the others even if it did give her a little ache of homesickness.

"Sooooo Korra," Opal said, resting her head on her fist, "Heard you've recently acquired a new lifestyle?" Korra tilted her head in confusion, mind still wrapped up in the ecstasy of delicious spices tingling in her mouth.

"How's Asami?" Opal prodded again. Korra inhaled a noodle when she gasped, coughing and spluttering loud enough to draw a few annoyed glances from other diners.

"How did you-?" She started but then shot the most menacing glare at Bolin who tried to hide behind his bowl. "Bolin!"

"I'm sorry!" he cried, "But you came home with your face covered in lipstick it was too juicy!"

"Oh my spirits it true then!" Opal said, astonished, "Korra is seeing a stripper!" A few more heads turned at Opal's outburst which made Korra want to melt into the booth seat.

"It's not like that." Korra tried to explain, "Its like- she's just- we're-" She dove her chopsticks into her bowl and filled her mouth with noodles, trying to find some sort of rational expression that didn't invite merciless teasing. Of course there was none.

"It's not the stripper part that holds a problem," Opal said, "It's the people that own the strip club."

"How so?" Bolin asked.

"They're very protective of their girls are they not?" Opal said, looking at Korra for answers.

"Yeah they are." Korra sighed, "One slip of the hand and they just might cut it off."

"That's worrying," Opal said with a grimace, "What if they catch you?"

"They won't," Korra said confidently, "They think I'm giving Asami big bills like every night so they sorta consider me VIP."

"Kinda weird though," Bolin piped in, "How are you guys supposed to go on a regular date?"

"We're not dating," Korra said, "I don't really know what it is to be honest."

"Do you get jealous when you see her grinding on other dudes?" Opal said with a smirk. Korra blushed and forced more noodles into her mouth. She didn't want to admit that she's honestly never seen Asami offer anyone else a dance. At least while she was there. She quickly changed the subject to Opal's classes and thankfully the attention was shifted away from Asami. It's not that Korra didn't like to talk about her elusive, sort-of dating, stripper friend but it was too confusing to try to put into words. Some relationships are just strange like that.

/

"My friends are super interested in you." Korra mumbled into Asami's neck as they sat together on the red couch, a half empty bottle between their thighs.

"How so?" Asami asked with a chuckle, running her fingers through Korra's hair absentmindedly.

"They think you're a devious businessman trying to seduce me." Korra said, taking a sip from their bottle of alcohol.

"Well they got one part of it right," Asami said mischievously, crawling into Korra's lap, "My goal is to seduce you." Their lips met sluggishly due to the high amount of alcohol coursing through their bloodstream. Korra's head began to spin as Asami's hands wandered around Korra's body in the all best ways like always.

"It made me think," Korra said against Asami's lips, "I don't know anything about you." Asami pulled back and stared at Korra, an unreadable expression crossing her face. She bit her lip, apparently deep in thought, and sat back in Korra's lap.

"Well what do you want to know?" She said finally.

"Uh okay," Korra said, not expecting such a straightforward answer, "Is Asami your real name?"

"Oh my spirits Korra." Asami leaned into Korra's shoulder, shaking with laughter, "Yes Asami is my real name." Korra flushed, realizing how stupid her question was.

"I'm sorry, my friends kept saying that dancers never give their real name." She muttered.

"Remind me to send a copy of my birth certificate then. Next question?"

"What do you do besides...this?" Korra ran her hands over the front of Asami's uniform as if that clarified her question any further.

"I'm in school for engineering." Asami hummed in thought, "So I go to class and then dance in my underwear pretty much 24/7."

"I knew you were a smart cookie." Korra laughed, "An engineer wow so you're something of a math wiz?"

"If by math wiz you mean I can immediately tell when I'm being cheated on tips, then yes." They both laughed, alcohol clouding up their brains and making the good vibes flow freely with the music. Korra pulled Asami back to her lips, all other questions melting on her tongue which was now running over Asami's bottom lip. They leaned back on the couch with Asami still straddling Korra's lap. Her hands ran down Korra's hoodie and pulled the zipper down slowly, exposing her red sports team t-shirt underneath.

"Mmm you're a Fire Ferrets fan?" Asami purred, running her hands across Korra's stomach under the shirt.

"My best friend plays for them." Korra groaned as Asami's hands traveled higher, "I'd rather not think of him while your hands are stroking me like that."

"Good call," She said, "How about you focus on my hands to get him off your mind."

"Spirits yes," Korra said with an embarrassing squeak as Asami's popped the waistband of her jeans.

"Do you want me to keep going?" Asami asked tentatively, her hand pausing on Korra's zipper. Every time they were together like this, Korra always found an excuse to keep their clothes on. She wasn't afraid of going all the way with Asami, in fact it was very strenuous to lift Asami's fingers away from her skin. She hadn't quite figured out what was stopping her but it nagged at the back of her head relentlessly whenever they started to push boundaries. It was time to tell that voice to piss off. After a pause, Korra nodded eagerly as Asami yanked down the zipper and pulled Korra's jeans down off her legs. She sensed hesitation and looked up at Asami who had her hand pressed against her lips as if struggling to stifle a laugh. Korra gave her a quizzical look.

"Matching today are we?" Asami snickered, pointing at Korra's Fire Ferrets boxers.

"Shit." Korra smacked her face, trying to hide behind her hands. Of course she would be wearing her dorkiest pair of underwear when the world's most beautiful woman finally got into her pants. Asami kissed Korra's hands away from her face.

"I just learned something new about you." Asami said matter of factly.

"And what's that?"

"You're a huge dork." She tugged at the boxer's elastic waistband, "I love it."

/

Korra unlocked the front door as quietly as she could which was difficult considering how rusty the lock was. She winced with every squeaky floorboard that cried out as she slipped over the hardwood flooring. Dropping her keys on the couch, Korra crept past the kitchen and towards her room, feeling relieved that Bolin was asleep and wouldn't question her about coming home so late.

"You're not a very good ninja,"

Korra bolted a million feet into the air before whirling around to see Bolin leaning against the doorframe of his room. There was that goddamn shit-eating grin again.

"What are you doing up?" Korra growled, annoyed that she hadn't gotten off scott free.

"Just waiting up for you." He said casually, "Even though it's four in the morning." Bolin took a sip from the steaming coffee mug in his hands, intentionally slurping it obnoxiously.

"I got caught up it's not a big deal." Korra said crossly, kicking open her door and throwing her jacket on the unmade bed.

"I know you were with Asami." Bolin said childishly, brandishing a huge grin.

"What about it?" Korra asked tiredly, wanting nothing more than to sleep the entire day away. She tugged off her T-shirt and tossed it into the overflowing hamper in the corner.

"Why don't you start with those hickeys on your back?" Bolin remarked, grinning even wider when Korra sucked in a huge breath. Her mind raced for half a second but decided she was still too tired to even muster up some kind of half-hearted lie. She blew the air back out of her mouth.

"I got laid Bolin." She said simply, throwing on a sort-of clean tank top, "What do you want from me?" Bolin blushed at her openness, obviously thrown off guard.

"Uh nothing," He cleared his throat awkwardly, "I just wanted to make sure you got home safe is all." Korra grinned internally at finally getting the upper hand over her best friend for once.

"Well I'm here," Korra said, gesturing to her room, "Can I get some sleep now? I'm a little exhausted from my late night activities." She tacked on the last part just to see Bolin become even more flustered.

"Of course of course!" He said, backing out of the room, "Now that I see you're safe and sound inside your own bedroom there's no other reason for me to be in here- your room- bothering you. Good night." He scurried back into his own room, shutting the door behind him. Korra flopped down on her bed, nose flooding with the smell of Asami. Her skin tingled and a dorky grin crossed her face when she thought back to mere hours before. Things had gone fairly smooth up until Asami had tried to push Korra back onto the king sized bed that had been so intimidating mere weeks before. Realizing what when on in these rooms, Korra swung her arms and had effectively dodged out of the way of the bed and landed hard on the floor. Asami had cracked up real hard at that, assuring Korra that they never reused sheets and she didn't have to worry about stains. Every moment after that little embarrassing mishap was absolute magic.

Korra's whole body began to tingle again just thinking about it. She rolled over and stared at the ceiling, folding her hands over her stomach almost reverently. She wasn't even sure what was going on between her and Asami. It certainly wasn't a relationship since they only saw each other to drink and, now, hook up. But something had lead up to it right? Asami didn't just select her out of everyone else wandering around in the strip club that night. Or maybe it had worked like that?

"Korra I can practically hear your brain frying." Bolin called from the next room over. Korra sat up as he tentatively opened her door a moment later, holding two steaming cups of coffee. "Do you want to talk about it?" Korra motioned him in with a warm grin, feeling extremely grateful that her best friend knew her so well. Bolin sat on the floor next to Korra's bed. She accepted the cup and wrapped her fingers around the hot middle, mind still racing. They sat in patient silence while Korra gathered her jumbled thoughts enough to form a coherent sentence.

"I don't know what I'm doing," She started, staring down into the black liquid, "I mean, I don't know what we're doing." Korra wasn't sure if that even made any sense.

"I'm going to assume that you guys haven't been talking much...about anything." Bolin said with a slightly awkward cough.

"Correct," Korra said, "It's all drinking and shenanigans. Except-" She paused thinking about the conversation she had last night, "We talked a little last night."

"About-?" Bolin nudged.

"About her," Korra said, "I asked her questions about who she was because I realized, I really don't know anything about her."

"So what did you learn?"

"Well she's really smart," Korra gushed with a wide grin, "Like she reads people really well it's incredible. She pointed out that nervous neck thing I do, and get this Bolin! She's an engineer! Like she's going to school for it and she does all this crazy math." Korra realized she was babbling so she took a sip of her coffee to slow down.

"You sound like a love-struck teenager." Bolin said. Korra was about to glare at him but she decided that he wasn't wrong.

"Yeah, I got a little over-excited." She said instead, "But she's this complex person and people just treat her like a walking sex machine." Korra growled under her breath slightly at the thought of strange men leering at Asami or groping her as she walked by. Of course, she had to pretend to enjoy it or risk getting fired.

"Korra calm down," Bolin said, putting his hand on her shoulder, "You're practically showing fangs." She cleared her throat and grimaced apologetically at Bolin.

"I'm sorry," She muttered, "She just deserves so much better than what she's doing just to get an education."

"I know how you feel," Bolin said, "If Opal was in her place I would be growling under my breath too."

"Speaking of," Korra said, "Was she okay with you going to a strip club? I don't remember us discussing that with her."

"Of course," Bolin said dismissively, "We trust each other. I didn't get into it like you did."

"Oh come on I saw you short circuit after that lap dance." Korra teased.

"If I was short circuiting, it was nothing compared to your face," Bolin shot back, giving Korra a playful knock on the shoulder.

"Thanks for listening." Korra said, feeling her mind easing down at last.

"I'm always here," Bolin shrugged, hopping up from the floor, "Literally I'm right across the hall."

"I think I'll be able to sleep now," Korra yawned, "See you tomorrow Bo."

"Anytime amigo."