Step 5: Help in any way

It was Thursday and had been nearly two weeks since Korra moved in with her new roommate, and… Asami Sato turned out to be the best roommate one could ever dream of. Seriously. One more reason to try and hate her for… -not that it's ever going to happen-. She even let her paste those glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. Fuck, she even helped! No questions asked, no funny looks, nothing.

Her eyes flickered to her right, watching for a second as the girl in question quickly scrawled on her notebook, her eyes not even lowering to see if what she was writing made sense… and of course it did… her writing was impeccable.

Nerd.

By now, Korra had discovered a few new things about Asami:

She constantly chewed on her lower lip. When she was thinking, when she was drawing, when she was writing, even when she'd look over Korra's shoulder! And she'd caught her looking over her shoulder quite a few times. She'd come to associate that with Asami lost in thought.

Korra turned to look lazily at the raven haired girl sitting next to her, worrying on her bottom lip as she wrote about conversions or something on her notebook. Even now she was chewing her lip. The second thing Korra noted was that she sometimes forgot she wasn't alone and talked to herself, which Korra found quite amusing and more than a little bit adorable to be completely honest with herself. Just last night she'd had a heated debate with herself in soft mumbled words about something related to quantum mechanics, whatever the hell that was, it'd been quite funny to listen to her full fledge monologue.

It'd been even funnier when Asami realized she wasn't alone and blushed to a crimson red that didn't look healthy. A shade darker and she'd probably passed out.

She balanced the pen on her upper lip, not even pretending to pay attention to what professor Bataar was explaining. Korra was sure she wouldn't get it anyway. Beside her Asami diligently took notes, writing every word that she deemed important… which was pretty much everything, it seemed. She was even fucking color coding everything as she wrote, effortlessly switching between blue, red and green pens. She was such a nerd, no wonder she was at the top of their class, fuck even the whole school.

The third thing she'd noticed was that Asami Sato was a perfectionist, she never did anything half assed. And as such, much of her time was spent studying. Korra'd thought for a very long time that Asami simply knew everything and as such did all her work quickly, but as a perfectionist, Asami spent every available second working on things until there was no time left. She once told Korra that she was never done, she just ran out of time. For someone so young that was fucking admirable. Nerd, but admirable nonetheless.

As if feeling Korra's eyes on her, Asami turned her head ever so slightly and gave her a shy smile while professor Bataar paused to catch his breath. She blinked, not realizing she'd been staring at her while she thought of her nerdiness. Seriously, she was out of Mako's league. Out of anyone's league.

"Miss Anik, eyes on the front please. Staring at Miss Sato will not make you spontaneously understand the subject. There's no such thing as learning by osmosis."

Korra felt her cheeks burn but shrugged, pretending to look as dejected as she could "Well, it was worth a shot."

He shot her one last disapproving look before smiling sickeningly sweet at Asami. "Miss Sato, would you be so kind as to solve the first problem on the board? Perhaps Miss Anik here will appreciate a hands on explanation. " Korra scowl at him. Nice, now he was dragging Asami down with her. Fucking douche.

Asami's eyes flicked to Korra's, looking all but flustered. "I- sure" she mumbled, cheeks burning and head downcast as she stood and made her way to the front.

She started writing but professor Bataar interrupted her "Out loud, please Miss Sato. So our fellow waterbender can understand every step." At this a few students sniggered, making Korra's scowl deepen even more.

Fortunately for them the bell rang, signifying the end of a tortuous lesson. Korra grabbed her backpack quickly and fled out of the room, stopping as soon as she turned the corner, waiting for Asami to catch up. They were going to the same class anyway. She didn't have to wait more than ten seconds as the the black haired teen turned the corner. Immediately Korra jogged to her, looking as remorseful as she felt.

"I'm really sorry for what happened in there Asami."

Asami gave her a reassuring smile, patting her forearm in a placating gesture and Korra felt her shoulders dropped in relief. "It's ok Korra. Mr Bataar's not the nicest teacher. It was not your fault."

"I was just thinking about how much of a nerd you were and-" Asami grimaced, staring at the floor with a downcast expression. Congratulations, you've fucking insulted her, Korra. "… I actually meant that as a complement."

Asami perked up slightly, still eyeing her dubiously. "Really?"

"Yeah." She gave her a playful smirk "In your case I don't think being a nerd's such a bad thing. You're inheriting a company, after all. Being a nerd's kind of a requisite. Just don't overdo it." She raised herself on her tippy toes to pat her head affectionately. She still wasn't over the fact that now she was a fucking midget compared to Asami. Seriously, when the fuck did that happened? "You know what they say about all work and no play."

Training was finally over and now Korra could enjoy a nice cold shower, or she could if certain firebender wasn't right in front of her, blocking her way. "Korra, hey" Mako gave her a nervous grin, nearly shoving into her hands a white box of probably cold takeout. "Here, you look hungry. What a workout huh? You were amazing." It smell like seaweed noodles. Man, now she was hungry.

Korra blinked, forgetting the noodles for a second. Mako was not one for details. Especially spontaneous little gestures. "I uh, thanks?" Why was Mako giving her a box full of her favorite food?

Mako grimaced and took a deep breathe. "I need your help." Of course. Wow, right into business. "With Asami." Of fucking course. Bolin and his big fucking mouth. "Now that you're roommates you can find out what she likes to do and help me figure her out."

No. No no no. Korra shook her head, raising one of her hands. "Look Mako I-"

"I know what you're going to say, girls stick together or something like that, but we've known each other for a long time, almost six months now, and I'm asking you this as a friend please. I don't really know much about Asami and I want her to fall for me quickly."

… What? "What?" Korra blinked, her expression morphing into one of disbelief. "You want her to what?"

"I just thought that you could help me quicken the process. I've tried, but she's just so quiet, sometimes I just don't know what to say and it's… awkward and dull. We've only been to a couple of dates but-"

Without realizing it, Korra had gingerly placed the box on the floor and shoved Mako in the chest. Hard. "What the fuck, Mako! Are you listening to yourself?"

"Korra, please! I just meant that she doesn't talk much! At least not with me and I-" Mako tugged at his hair nervously, something Korra hadn't seen before. "I thought that maybe you could help me out a little bit."

The way his eyes flickered from the floor to her eyes ever so often finally made Korra cave. He really did like Asami… "I-… fine. I'll see what I can do. No promises though."

Mako grinned and stepped forward to embrace Korra in a tight hug. A tight hug that felt strangely bittersweet, had it been if different circumstances Korra would've definitely blushed. Now though, as Mako took a step back she simply pursed her lips in what she hoped didn't look like a constipated grimace.

Asami chugs at least four cups of coffee daily, that's yet another fact she's discovered about her. Right now, as Korra's wearily entering their room she's contently sipping on a cup of coffee, her other hand busy writing conversions on a paper. Her eyes lifted from the paper as she heard the door close and she did a double take as her eyes took in korra's dimmed expression. "What's wrong?"

For a moment Korra was almost tempted to tell Asami so she could just sort it out with Mako without her intervention, but then again she might hurt her feeling telling her that Mako found her a little dull and… non-talkative? Uncommunicative? Reserved? Korra shook her head, there was no need to hurt her feelings with stupid Mako nonsense.

"Nothing, just Mako being-" an annoying piece of shit! "-annoying." She muttered as she opened her bag and took out her chemistry notebook. She might as well distract herself with some good old chemistry. She drag her chair to Asami's desk and slumped into it next to her roommate.

Her nice roommate who was now looking at her while biting her lower lip with a worried expression.

Her beautiful roommate who had oh-so-fucking-easily captivated her crush without even trying.

"Is he bothering you? Because I can have a word with him."

WHY ARE YOU SO FUCKING NICE!?

Korra knew from the beginning that this was a lost battle. "'S ok… nothing I can't handle."

"Hey" Asami gave her a cute conspiratorial grin, leaning closer to her so she could reach for her laptop. "Do you want to ditch our chemistry study session and watch Netflix all evening? I bet that would cheer you up."

"You? You want to what? Who are you and what have you done with Asami?" she narrowed her eyes, eyeing her suspiciously and making Asami burst into an uncontrolled laugh, the skin around her eyes wrinkling as she stocked the papers she'd been writing on neatly on a corner of her desk and stretched over Korra to grab her laptop.

She briefly wondered which of her products made Asami smell so nice and if it would work on her too.

"Priorities Korra. How can I concentrate if you're moping around? Might as well cheer you up and then help you with chemistry. Mood affects productivity."

"You're a very kind person." she mumbled, looking at her feet.

Asami gave a noncommittal shrug, inspecting her nails. The ghost of a smile still lingered on her face. "I do what I can with what I have."

"Wow, such modesty!" Korra said in mock amazement, her lips slowly curved upward. And Mako thought Asami was dull.

That earned her a one-shouldered shrug. "At least I made you smile."

Korra smiled amusedly. "Whatever, Netflix it is."

"Great! I'm going to put my jammies on" Asami exclaimed happily. She turned on her computer and chugged the last of her coffee. She walked to her dresser, unbuttoning her shirt. All in the span of five seconds. This was probably her third cup of coffee then.

And the single most important thing Korra'd learned was-

"What the fuck! Asami! Oh my God! Do you not have any semblance of privacy!?" Korra quickly turned around, her face beet red as she scowled. "Jeez, at least warn me first!"

-Asami had no privacy boundaries. None. She'd walk in her underwear, take showers with the door open. Change in front of Korra. Name it and she'd done it.