Korra carried Asami on her back all the way from the restaurant to Avatar Korra Park, where they agreed to enjoy the rest of their night together. There was no particular reason for Korra to carry Asami on her back, but she offered when Asami said she was feeling a tad sluggish after overindulging on her meal.
"Aren't you tired? I really can walk the rest of the way." She peered her head down towards Korra's.
"Don't bother. We're already here."
Indeed, they had arrived at their favorite spot in the park: halfway between Korra's statue and the steps that led to the bridge stretching across the river. Asami jumped down and stepped in front of Korra. Of course, the all mighty Avatar hadn't even broken a sweat.
"I really am jealous of how strong you are." Asami stared admiringly at Korra's crossed, sleeveless arms. "There isn't a day that I don't wish I had your muscles."
Korra couldn't help but scoff. "If you had muscles like mine it just wouldn't be fair. I'm the strong one. You're the pretty one. We balance each other out that way." Korra began settling in the grass, twining her fingers and using her palms as a makeshift pillow as she lay down.
"Oh shut up," Asami retorted. "You're pretty too."
"Yeah, ok Asami," she replied sarcastically, fixing her gaze on the starry sky above.
Asami crossed her arms. "I'm not joking." Her face hardened, feeling a bit put-off by Korra's flippant attitude to her compliment.
Korra sat up and looked up at her girlfriend. Finding it amusing how serious she suddenly became, Korra smiled.
"Look Asami, you don't need to tell me things like that. I'm the Avatar, remember? Master of all four elements? The most powerful person on the planet?" She lay back down, retaking her previous position. "I don't need to be pretty. Besides, you're pretty enough for the both of us." She shot Asami her signature crooked grin.
Asami locked eyes with Korra and all she felt was confusion. All her life, everyone always told her what a cute little girl she was and that she would grow up to become a stunning young woman. People had always assumed she was a delicate, porcelain doll that needed to be locked away and protected at all costs. "You'd better watch out Hiroshi, boys from all walks of life are going to swarm your daughter when she gets older," his friends and family would warn him.
When her father put her in self-defense classes, she began to feel less like a beautiful object and more like a person. When she learned about machinery and how to drive cars and mopeds, she really felt alive, like she was ready to take on the world and build her own future.
Of course, no one ever expected her to build anything on her own. Besides her father, who expected her to do the work necessary to eventually take on Future Industries, all anyone could ever seem to focus on was how beautiful she was. It didn't matter that she could take on virtually anyone who tried to attack her. She was still thought to be spoiled, fragile, helpless, and as Korra put it one time, "prissy".
It wasn't until her father was put in jail that she received any type of treatment that did not revolve around the way she looked. When Future Industries fell to her, people began to recognize how intelligent she was. Rather than simply being admired, she was finally being respected.
As the Avatar, all Korra ever had placed on her were expectations. Master the elements. Bring balance to the world. She's always been expected to become someone strong: physically, mentally, and spiritually. And she's proven too many times to count that she is all of those things.
Korra was the strongest person Asami knew. And to Asami, she was also the most beautiful person she had ever known, for so many reasons.
Without breaking eye contact, Asami knelt down and sat next to where Korra lay on the grass. She fingered the blades while staring down at the one she loved most.
"Why don't you think you're pretty?"
The softness of Asami's voice made Korra's carefree smile waver, as she sensed the mixture of sincere curiosity, concern, and confusion imbedded in the question. She sat up and crossed her legs, facing Asami.
"No one's ever really called me pretty before. Well, my parents have but that doesn't really count, now does it? People tell me all the time, 'Wow! You're so muscular and strong looking!' or 'Oh my god! Your bending is the best I've ever seen!' No one's ever looked at me and told me, 'Wow! You're so pretty!' It's not what people think when they see me." Korra shrugged. "It's never really bothered me. Being pretty isn't something I ever thought was all that important. It was always, 'Be the best goddamn avatar that ever existed.' That's always been my goal. I've trained and trained most of my life to get as strong as physically possible and to perfect my bending. Being pretty wasn't part of Avatar training."
Korra let out a small laugh. "Besides, I never thought twice about the way I looked until I started liking Mako, only to find out he liked you. And you, you're gorgeous. There's no getting around that." She gestured vaguely towards Asami and smiled, then looked down at the ground, slightly embarrassed.
"The first time I was at your estate, I went into your bathroom and tried putting on your make-up. All I managed to do was make a big poof of white dust and give myself a coughing fit."
Asami started laughing, having no idea this had occurred, which made Korra start laughing. "Why did you try putting on my make-up?" Asami asked through her smile.
Again, Korra looked down sheepishly. "I thought if I could make myself look prettier, maybe Mako would like me."
Asami felt a pang in her chest at Korra's confession. She herself didn't know what it was like to not feel pretty, but she was much too familiar with feeling inadequate.
"Make-up takes years to master, young avatar." Asami joked, in an attempt to bring her girlfriend out of her embarrassment. "If you want, I can take you under my wing and make you my pupil. I will teach you everything you need to know to master the difficult art of make-up bending."
That made Korra laugh. Her eyes squeezed shut as she took hold of Asami's hands and allowed her laughter to ring through the park. As her cackles settled to chuckles, Asami leaned closer and brushed some of Korra's hair behind her ear, revealing those incredible blue irises that looked especially dazzling under the dim light of the distant streetlamps. "Not that I think you need it. You're beautiful without it."
Instinctively Korra clicked her tongue and turned her head away but Asami cupped the other side of her face and brought it back so their eyes locked once more. "I mean it, Korra. You're really pretty."
All Korra could do was stare at Asami with wide eyes. Asami smiled as Korra blushed; flattered and embarrassed by the outright compliment she was so unused to hearing. She tried to look anywhere but at her girlfriend, which was difficult since her head was being held firmly in place by said girlfriend. Asami chuckled and pressed a kiss to Korra's lips. After a few seconds she pulled away, still smiling.
"And I'll tell you every day for the rest of your life until you believe it."