Disclaimer: I do hereby disclaim all rights and responsibilities for the characters in this collection. Kudos to Bryke, indeed.
Pairing(s): Tahno/Korra, Mako/Korra, one-sided Bolin/Korra
Genre: Romance/Friendship/Drama
Word Count: 8,431 Rating: PG-13/T
Summary: The life and love of running, autumn, and high school cross-country. — Tahno/Korra, Mako/Korra. AU.
Author's Notes: 1/23/13. For the record: I love Korra's awkwardness. I love Bolin's awkwardness. I love Mako's awkwardness. In fact, I think the only people in this story who aren't awkward are Tahno and Asami, which just makes everything all the more fun. I love torturing these characters with high school drama. You have been warned.

Also, this chapter was getting too long, so expect a 3.95 before 4.0 RACE DAY. And a line or two was taken from an original Legend of Korra episode, The Aftermath.

Musical Inspiration: "I Don't Wanna Be in Love" by Good Charlotte. I used to love this song during the old days of cross-country. Besides, it only seemed appropriate. ;)

3.9

From: T (D:)
I wasn't kidding about catching a cold, you know. If tomorrow I end up contracting anything besides a scholarship, you'll be paying. Tenfold. In blood.
Received: Friday, Oct 19 7:02am

Korra laughed into her pillowcase, setting her phone back down on the nightstand with a heavy hand. She took a moment to breathe in the scent of cotton, feeling the weight of the morning lift from her limbs. Still cocooned beneath the down comforter, Korra's fingers gave an experimental twitch, and soon the rest of her body gradually began to wake. A messy ponytail flopped to the side as she slowly pushed herself upright; Korra had expected to feel the movement deep within the muscles of her arms, so she was pleasantly surprised to find that instead of soreness, she only found a warm, tingling awareness.

Shaking off the remaining lethargy of sleep, Korra went about preparing for the day. Her morning routine was fairly simple, but she found herself approaching the daily tasks with a new sense of energy. She watched herself in the mirror as she brushed her teeth, thinking about nothing in particular, but feeling strangely… good. Showered, dressed, and with school supplies packed, she brushed and pulled back her hair. Occasionally, Korra glanced at her phone. It wasn't until she was about to head downstairs that she texted back.

Oh, no! she typed sarcastically, only half paying attention to the familiar path down the stairs. A deathly case of the sniffles. Do you think you'll survive? Should I call for an ambulance?

A quarter of the way through her second bowl of cereal, she read: Hey, you're at just as much risk as I am, Miss I Refuse to Listen to Good Advice. I've been living here all my life, so if either of us is better equipped to handle a little NE dampness, it'd be me. And a moment later: But my threat still stands, regardless.

Korra nearly spit out her Cheerios. As she typed, chopped up banana pieces and flax seeds floated in the milk below, just as her eating plan recommended. Don't worry, she replied immediately, barely noticing as Meelo snuck a piece of her toast off her small plate; his munching sent crumbs flying everywhere, but she hardly cared. I think a few years of camping on snow-capped mountains might have prepped me for a little New England rain. Still, when Pema handed her a couple of chewy gummy vitamins after breakfast—See how they look like gummy bears, Korra? Aren't they cute, Korra? These are my most favorite-est vitamins, ever and ever and ever of all time! You see, they look like candy, but they're really not, which is why I like to bite their little heads off first—she took them without protest. Whether her unnaturally strong immune system was due to genetics or decades of trampling through wild terrain, she couldn't be sure, but she wasn't going to test her luck. Besides, truth be told, the strange intensity that'd been floating around all these runners this past week was actually starting to get her worked up about the meet. It's not like she'd say that out loud though.

As if on cue, Tahno sent another text her way as she was hurriedly chugging down her orange juice. Don't say I didn't warn you. Still, if you have any hope of sucking less than usual at tomorrow's race, then you should probably make an effort to not be so careless today.

You know, If I didn't know any better, I'd say you sounded concerned, she teased, once she was warm in the car. Ikki and Meelo were fighting over something in the backseat, and Jinora was determinedly trying to ignore them, but Tenzin had had enough. Who knows, perhaps you're just projecting, she texted again, not bothering to wait for a reply. You're not afraid that a little cold might slow you down, are you? Despite Pema's harried concerns, all three kids and the teenager were dropped off at their respective locations with time to spare. Korra offered Tenzin a grateful parting nod as he left her at the corner of the main street, and she paused for a moment to watch him zoom down the busy lane off to work. She laughed aloud as he practically ran a red light.

It was going to be a good day, she decided. The race was tomorrow and she was feeling… alert. Ready. Not necessarily prepared, but… ready. It was beginning to occur to her that the morning on the morrow was going to be big, and that it could really mean big things for her team. And for the Wolverines' captain.

She was finally going to see what these Northside Brothers were all about—Bolin hadn't been able to stop talking about them all practice yesterday—plus, she was going to get another chance to make Varsity and, almost definitely, she was going to see Tahno again. Though neither of them had said anything further on whether or not she'd be taking him up on his Saturday night offer, she'd thought about it all night. She wasn't exactly a planner—more of a go-with-the-flow kind of person—but the not knowing what he had in mind was eating away at her curiosity. What did people her age normally do on dates? She only had limited reference material to go off of, of course, and she didn't know how reliable she could consider made-for-television original Disney movies to be in teaching the ways of human interaction, especially when more often than not one of the protagonists ended up being a merman or a leprechaun or—

Wait a minute. Date?

Hold up, Korra.

She didn't even know if she liked this kid, in any sense of the word, and she was already jumping to conclusions about dating him? And okay, so maybe that wasn't entirely true, what she'd said about not knowing if she even liked him—after all, she'd finally called him her friend just yesterday, hadn't she?—but he was so not the kind of guy that she usually found herself, well... liking.

And it's not exactly like she'd had any sort of experience with either rejection or reciprocation to base her speculations off of, per se, but she knew the type of guy she usually fell for and cocky, arrogant, sleazy slimeball just didn't seem to fit the bill. One-time inappropriate crush on her father's colleague aside—who could forget Hot Order of the White Lotus? Her mother certainly wouldn't ever let her live it down—this definitely stretched the farthest limits. It's not like she really even expected to like Mako, but at least he made more sense; strong leadership skills, a steady sense of responsibility, an appreciation for the outdoors, a commitment to physical fitness, an incredibly gorgeous face—okay, that one's just a bonus, but hey, I'll take it.

Though… she was supposed to be trying to ignore all that, wasn't she?

Ugh. This would be so much easier if I could just hate Asami. Or Mako. Or just forget about both of them. Arggghhh.

The halls inside the school were especially hectic that morning, so Korra had to push and shove her way through the mounds of students on her way to her locker. There was some sort of buzz floating through the air, one that made the clusters especially chatty; everyone seemed to be especially determined not to go to class until the last possible minute. Maybe it had to do with the big meet tomorrow? Nah, Korra dismissed the idea. Tahno said that high school runners don't usually get that kind of love. Maybe our football team is really good or something? But even if they were good by American standards, she doubted they'd hold a candle to any of the twelve-year-olds she saw running around the fields of Argentina.

Korra did her best to remain patient for Tahno's text as she sat in her first period class, restlessly bouncing her foot against the steel leg of her desk, but the bell was going to ring at any moment. Hell if he thinks I'm going to try reading his messages in class now, just because we had some weird bonding session or something yesterday. I'm not about to get my phone confiscated. Him and his stupid senioritis.

It came just as the bell sang through the intercom, and though it wasn't exactly the most interesting text she'd ever received from him, it would at least hold her over for the eighty-minute block.

From: T (D:)
You wish, new girl.
Received: Friday, Oct 19 7:46am

"Um," Korra said, somewhere between third period and hell.

"Sorry, you probably don't even know what that is, do you?" Bolin laughed, and although she hadn't thought it possible, Korra's stomach dropped even farther as she caught the nervous timbre of his voice. Oh god. Korra, stop this now, stop it before it can go any further—

She couldn't.

"Well, you see, Homecoming is this thing that we have to celebrate the kick-off of the sports seasons, and—well, I mean, it's not just a thing, it's more of a week-long thing, really—but every school has one, including ours, although we're a little later than most, because I'm pretty sure Amon Prep had theirs the first week of October and even White Falls had theirs last Saturday, so—"

"Wait," she stiffened. "What?"

"Ah!" he exclaimed. "Sorry, I'm rambling now, aren't I? Yeah, anyway, at the end of it all, there's this dance after the football game, and—"

"Bolin—"

"I mean, I think we've really been having a lot of fun together—"

"Bolin—"

"And I'd like to ask you to go," he finished, glancing up at Korra's stricken face. "Together. With me."

Korra swallowed. "As… friends?"

"Actually," Bolin fidgeted. "I was thinking more like, you know… as a date. With me."

Once, twice, Korra blinked, but nothing changed. Bolin was still standing there in front of her, looking hopeful and terrified and expecting an answer, and people were still moving all around her, making white noise and whooshing past in blurs of colors. Her hand felt clammy where it clung to the metal ridge of her locker door.

"Bolin," she managed, swallowing hard and then clearing her throat. "I'm… not sure… that's such a good idea."

He blinked, and suddenly Korra felt something inside her switch, as if the shock had just decided to melt away. She jerked slightly, coughing a little as everything came into sharper focus—the hunch to his shoulders, the shuffling of his feet, the slight nod of his downward tilted head… his avoidant gaze.

"Well," he laughed under his breath, then immediately bounced back up. His fake smile tore at her heart. "All right. I, uh… I guess I can't say I was one hundred percent confident that you'd say yes, but I gotta say I'm, uh… I'm still a little surprised by your answer."

"I just don't think it's wise to date a teammate," she blurted out, panicking because she was a coward, coward, coward!

"Ah."

"You know?" she asked quickly, practically begging for him not to be upset with her. She didn't know what she would do with herself if she lost Bolin's friendship; she'd been so distracted by adjusting to her new life—Mako—and making Varsity—Tahno—over the last few weeks that she hadn't fully realized just how much she counted on him until now, not until losing him became a very real possibility. Stupid, stupid, stupid. "Especially with the big meet tomorrow and regional's coming up and everything. It—it could be a distraction, you know?"

Bolin nodded, but he wasn't looking at her again. "Yeah, I guess," he conceded dully. "But Mako and Asami seem to be doing just fine, so I mean… Personally, I don't really see the problem, but… yeah, I guess." And then: "Did somebody else already ask you?"

"What?" Korra's addled brain slurred out, mortified that a vision of Mako's face had automatically popped into her line of vision. For a split second, she wondered if that's whom Bolin had been thinking of too—but that'd be ridiculous, completely ridiculous… gah! "No," she said immediately, firmly, just as a picture of Tahno flashed before her eyes. "No, nobody else has asked me. And you know what," she shrugged, feeling herself roll over and down a proverbial cliff, fast. "I don't really think I'm gonna go at all."

Korra bit her lip, desperately reigning in all urges to blurt out anything else that would get her into even more trouble—Hey, maybe next time! or Don't worry, slugger, there's plenty of fish in the sea! With great, great difficulty, Korra held those thoughts at bay.

"I'm sorry, Bolin," is all she could say instead. And really… she was.

He waved a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it," he smiled easily, so much so that she was sure he would have convinced nobody, but then he said, "Walk you to Biology?" and Korra almost relaxed.

But there was just a little too much pep in his step as they walked down the hall, and his jokes about Yakone secretly being a warlord in some underground high school sports gambling ring went on for just a little too long, and Korra knew just enough about people—Korra knew just enough about Bolin—to not misunderstand.

As she sat at the single desk in farthest back corner of the room, staring blankly at the notes on the board, listening to Yakone's deep, raspy voice—not even bothering to muster the energy to check her phone—Korra vaguely wondered at what point she'd become such a coward.

To: Mako
Meet me in the library during study hall. We have a problem.
Sent: Friday, Oct 19 12:13pm

"How could this happen," his muffled voice dragged through his fingertips, sounding just as confused and frustrated and miserable as Korra felt. "How could he ask you to the dance?"

She ignored the sharp stab at her gut. "Gee, thanks," she mumbled, holding her crossed arms more tightly around her. Great, is all she thought. This is just... great.

"Ugh, that's not—you know that's not what I mean," he tried to clarify, and under normal circumstances, maybe Korra would have found his contorted expression a little comical. Maybe. Instead, his light, chagrined blush only fueled her embarrassment. When Korra didn't say anything in return, Mako ran an agitated hand through his hair—now wild and disheveled from all his frantic movements—and he let out a loud, gusty sigh. "God. This is going to go straight to his head, and then he's gonna lose it. Why didn't he just wait until after the meet?"

"Well, he didn't, and now we need you to get his head back on his shoulders," she said, terse and business-like. "I did what little damage control I could, but now it's up to you."

"Wait," Mako placed a hand on a shoulder to interrupt her escape. She turned, but she didn't relax. "Wait, we need to figure this out. What did you tell him, exactly?" Korra's expression fell open, agape with annoyance and disbelief.

"Are you kidding? You want me to relive the whole awkward conversation? Would you like a transcript?"

"I need to know what we're dealing with," Mako argued, keeping his voice low. "If there's something I can say that's gonna fix this before the meet tomorrow…"

Korra considered him, wondering if he was just being nosy; she got the feeling that he was interested in their painful dialogue for more than just his brother's sake, which meant that she was over-thinking things, and she didn't like it, but what else do I got to lose?

"I tried to give him an escape route," she nodded slowly, stifling a sigh. "You know... the 'just friends' card. He didn't take it. Then I… I told him that I didn't think it'd be a good idea, because we're teammates. I couldn't bring myself to tell him that I just don't feel the same way," she looked up at Mako, and against her will, her eyes pleaded for understanding. Maybe she'd be able to have at least someone recognize that she wasn't the cold-hearted coward she felt herself to be. "Not yet."

"That's probably… probably for the best," Mako nodded, speaking softly as he looked down into her torn face. Somehow, seeing the sympathy in his eyes only made her feel worse. She averted her eyes, missing Mako's deepening frown.

"He asked me if I was planning to go with anyone else… so I told him that I wasn't actually going to go. That I was just gonna skip it altogether."

Mako blinked in surprise. "Is that what you'd planned to do?"

Korra shrugged. Had she even thought about the dance recently? She hadn't really even considered it since… Well. "Not really," Korra confessed, eyeing one of the dusty bookshelves. She ran a finger along the gray, wiping a clean line from the worn woodwork. "I might have still gone, well, before... but I don't mind."

Mako didn't seem to believe her. "You can still go, you know," he said. "You don't have to give up on going to the dance just because you feel—obligated to, or something. Bolin will understand. You should… You should go."

And for a second, Korra wanted to believe him. But then reality set in and she thought, who would I go with? My teammates? Where would I sit? Who would I dance with?

She missed Bolin already.

"Yeah," she lied. "Maybe."

Mako was just as suspicious as ever, but their collective sigh seemed to deflate him. They stood in silence for a minute then, with him sagging against the heater under the shaded window and her leaning against the end of a tall bookshelf, with everything and nothing to say.

"You know," Mako laughed suddenly. "Of all the girls he could have fallen for, you are definitely the most inconvenient."

And that statement should have offended her, she should have felt upset, but the way he said it, the way he looked at her—

Was she really over-thinking things?

Or am I thinking just right?

"I have no idea how I even got myself into this," she quietly confessed. "I scare guys away, okay? That's what I do. That's what I'm good at. They take one look at me and I challenge them at arm-wrestling and bam, that's it—I don't inadvertently invite them to ask me on dates to dances. I'm still not sure I even know what a date is," she muttered as an afterthought, and it sounded a little too self-depreciative for her liking, but she was too frustrated to care.

"Well, I can say that it's probably still a good thing you didn't try that here, though for different reasons," he smiled. "Now, we at least have a chance of getting Bolin's heart and head back in shape; if you'd tried out a little stunt like that and won, it'd have been all over for him."

Korra scoffed, feeling the bitter irony wash over her. "So you're saying he has an appreciation for strong women, is that it?"

Mako shrugged. "He has good taste."

She looked at him then, surprised, and Mako cleared his throat, uncomfortable. "Look, I've got to get to lunch, but I'll text you later and fill you in, okay?"

"Okay," she said softly, still a little winded. "Yeah. Thanks." He threw her one more parting smile—a small, apologetic thing—and rounded the corner, deftly disappearing from sight.

To: T (D:)
Hey, sorry. I got caught up in something and didn't see your texts. I'll talk to you after practice, okay?
Sent: Friday, Oct 19 1:49pm

Pre-meet practices were at least three times shorter than normal, but this one just didn't seem to want to end.

At first, it seemed like Bolin was going to feign casual and collected, but after one too many awkward silences, self-preservation won out, and Korra was left to run alone as Bolin jogged up ahead to chat with some of his other friends. Korra watched his back move along with the group and tried not to feel too bitter. Or lonely.

Korra had been avoiding Mako at practices all week, but after the weird connection with him during his pep talk yesterday, and especially after their little rendezvous in the library this afternoon, Korra was realizing just how futile it'd been; in 'avoiding' him, she'd only ended up paying him way more attention than before, thus noticing much more than she'd ever intended to. There was something up between him and Asami, but they were very good at hiding it in front of the team. She wondered if she'd ever be that good at not wearing her heart on her sleeve.

One of the other things she'd noticed was that Mako had gotten into the habit of taking Toza's car to school and using it to drive him and Bolin home after practice. A little indulgently, Korra wondered if that had more to do with the fact that he was anticipating an argument with Asami… or because he wanted another chance to drive her home.

Anyway, after the rousing speech that Mako had given yesterday, there was really no comparing the sudden stiffness of the team today. In a matter of a mere two miles—two easy, flat miles—it was as if the fun and games had been sucked right out of her teammates and replaced with a quiet, rippling intensity. Bolin was still rather lively by comparison, but even his strides seemed to hold a new, underlying sense of urgency. It all left Korra feeling antsy and on edge.

Which is probably why she nearly slapped herself in the face when Asami asked if she could drive her home.

"Thanks," Korra tried to be polite, when really all she wanted to do was run away. "But I already have a ride."

"It would really mean a lot to me," Asami insisted. "I feel like we really haven't had much of a chance to talk, and I've felt so bad about that. Really, I've been meaning to ask you a lot sooner. Just let me buy you a cup of tea—please?"

A readily formed thanks, but sorry, no thanks was already on her tongue… until she noticed Tenzin stealthily slipping away into the front seat of his car. Her eyes narrowed as he sent her a hurried wave and a meaningful look as he slammed the door shut. Subtle, Korra thought dryly as he started the engine. Real subtle.

"Korra?"

She blinked. "Uh. Yeah? That'd be… that'd be great. Thanks."

Like Mako, Asami had this thing about waiting until most of the team had already left, just in case. Ironically, Mako and Bolin ended up going home right after their short practice—gee, I can only imagine why—with Bolin now avoiding her completely and Mako attempting to shoot stealthy, furtive glances her way whenever Asami wasn't looking. Korra watched them pull away with something like lead in her stomach and with Asami's presence radiating warmth at her side.

This is gonna suck.

It was a little coffee shop off Main Street with a relatively young crowd and plenty of open booths. The girl at the register had hot pink hair and thick, dark tattoos swirling over her collarbone, and in spite of herself, Korra was surprised to see Asami so familiar with her. The tea wasn't as great as Great Uncle Zuko's, but she should have known better than to compare; you just couldn't beat that kind of secret family recipe, even if Zuko never was the one to brew it—only Great Aunt Katara had been patient enough to earn the privilege.

It was awkward at first, at least on Korra's part. Asami didn't seem to mind that Korra had the conversational capacity of a goldfish, but Korra felt it in every impatient tap of her toes against the floorboards. Still, Asami was persistent and smiley, and they talked cross-country and running for a while, and eventually a lot more about Korra's experiences in South America, which is how she found out that Asami was pretty outdoorsy. Interestingly enough, her dad was some automobile engineer who'd worked on everything from go-carts to developing some of the most important pieces incorporated into the original designs for the hybrid. And apparently, Asami had not one car, but four; without meaning to, Korra thought back to the comment Mako had made about her dad being overprotective and lonely. She wondered if all the flashy cars might not be a bit of an insurance policy of his own.

Although Korra was too tired to be paranoid about Asami possibly having any suspicions and honestly a little too cocky to feel much threatened, she was still pleasantly surprised; as it turned out, Asami had really only wanted to see how she was doing, and openly expressed how she wished that she could have checked in with her sooner. She was attentive and talkative, sweet and funny, and—worst, worst, worst of all—Korra genuinely liked spending time with her.

Now. If only she could figure out a way to stop wanting her boyfriend.

"I gotta admit," Korra fiddled with the handle of her teacup. "I had you pegged wrong. I thought you were kind of..."

"Prissy?"

"Eh? No, well—actually yeah, you're right, I'm sorry, that's totally what I'd been thinking."

Asami smiled knowingly, and carefully set down her mug. "It's all right. People usually take one look at me and think 'oh, look, there goes another brainless pageant contestant,' at least... until they see just what I can do with a javelin."

Not gonna lie, this girl's intensity is a little freaky. Especially with the way her eyes peered at Korra over the rim of her teacup.

"It sounds like our captain has a bit of a violent streak," Korra smirked, taking a swig from her cooling tea. She hated to admit it, but Asami was really starting to grow on her.

"I can handle myself," she quipped. "I may like to wear a tiara just as much as the next pageant girl, but don't get me wrong; I'm not as soft as people think."

Korra bit the inside of her cheek, debating. "I seem to have the opposite problem," Korra revealed, staring into her swirling tea. "Most people tend to forget that I'm not as hard as I look."

Asami smiled at her then, and for the first time, Korra felt like smiling back.

Whatever deep-dwelling insecurities Korra might have had about her captain only taking her out for tea due to 'new team member' protocol quickly diminished after the third round of Biscottis. She didn't think she'd ever laughed this hard in her life. Asami was so witty and clever and they kept each other's sides in stitches with Beifong impersonations and Yakone roasts—really, this girl is brutal... respectful, but brutal—and most importantly, she had flaws too, which Korra had finally begun to see. She finally felt like running might not be the only thing they had in common.

As the light began to fade from beyond the coffee shop windows, Korra desperately wanted to ask Asami for advice about Bolin, but decided that it was too soon. She'd only just really begun to know her—she didn't want to ruin the moment by unloading all of her boy trouble onto her. Besides, it was obvious that Asami was pretty familiar with everyone on their team, and especially close to Bolin... she didn't want to start building up new boundaries already, did she? She'd only just started to pick them apart.

But... the good thing, Korra realized, was that maybe one day soon, it would be possible.

"Hey," Asami laughed, waving over the barista. "We should do this again. I could get used to spending my Friday afternoons like this." Korra felt like a sap, but the girl's words sent warmth flooding through her.

Slightly embarrassed by the new attention, Korra distracted herself by picking up one of the stray Biscotti crumbs from her plate. "I think we should warn your friend to pre-order a mass shipment of these cookies before next time though," she told her seriously, before they both burst out into laughter.

"We must have eaten a box, at least," Asami smirked deviously as she whipped out her debit card. Korra tried to pull out some cash to offer up—it really was a lot of Biscottis—but Asami firmly shook her head. "Take next time, and we'll alternate." And, abruptly, Korra was hit with—

Is this what's it like to have a girlfriend? Like the ones I used to watch in those teen movies?

She crunched on a few crumbs to cover her goofy smile. "All right," she nodded. "I can work with that. As long as you promise not to tell anyone about how incredibly rebellious we're being with the recommended eating plan right now."

"Oh, shoot," Asami laughed, covering her eyes with her fingers. "I forgot all about that stupid thing. Honestly, I don't know what's gotten into him lately," she laughed, but it quickly morphed into a sigh. Suddenly, Korra didn't feel much like eating cookie-biscuits anymore.

"Hey," Korra quickly cut in with a smile, pointing her biscuit stick for emphasis. "If anyone's going to take the blame, it's gonna be me, the newbie."

"Not if he doesn't find out," Asami said slyly. "I won't tell Mako, if you don't."

Okay, so that diversion didn't really work. Korra, already wading in the waters of guilt and denial, was quickly falling over the edge into deceit and omission. And just straight-up uncomfortable. "No problem there," she muttered to the table.

"I'm sorry," Asami sighed. "I shouldn't be ragging on him like this, especially since you've only just met us. Geez, with the way I've been talking this afternoon, you must think I'm pretty awful, ha. What an impression, right?"

"Prissy No-Fail Goody-Two-Shoes becomes Sassy Tell-It-Like-It-Is Beauty Queen with a Thirst for Blood?" Korra held up her near empty cup in cheers. "I think we'll get along just fine."

"Man," Asami shook her head, munching on another stick as she smiled across the table. Korra was delighted to see that they also shared a terrible habit of talking with their mouths full. "I don't even know what the hell I was doing before I met you, Korra."

And yet somehow, her words only made Korra want to crawl under the table more than ever.

It wasn't until Asami was handing over the signed check to the barista that the rest of what Bolin had said that morning finally hit her.

"Hey, Asami," Korra ventured, leaning comfortably into the headrest of the passenger seat. She felt like the only place she ever spent time anymore was in the front seat of a car. Korra almost distracted herself with the implications of front seat vs. back seat, but Asami's quiet singing along to the radio kept her on track. "What can you tell me about the Homecoming dance?"

"Korra!" Asami gasped, lighting up immediately. Crap. "Did somebody ask you?" she asked suggestively. "Is he on the team?"

"I just want to know what it's like," Korra replied, sidestepping her question. "It's not exactly a custom I'm familiar with."

"A custom," Asami laughed quietly after a little pause, nodding as she took in Korra's words. "Wow. I haven't really ever thought about it that way. All right, then. What do you want to know?"

What did she want to know?

"Basically everything," Korra responded honestly. "I've only ever seen high school dances on T.V."

"What?" Asami exclaimed. "Oh, girl, are you in for a treat! The movies only ever make the dances about the couples, but that's so not true. Most of the fun happens before the dance, when you're getting ready with your girls."

"I don't really have any girls."

"Well, you've got one right here," Asami smirked, sending a glance to the side. "Seriously, the best part of the dance for me is a good excuse to wear a cute dress and a killer pair of heels and to spend the night dancing to songs by old boy bands I used to love with a rowdy group of girls who feel the same way. And then going out for pancakes."

Reluctantly, Korra had to admit that it sounded like a pretty good deal. "So it really doesn't have to be a couple thing?"

"Not unless you want it to be."

"What about you?" Korra asked, feeling a little bolder than before. Maybe it was the caffeine. "Do you want it to be?"

Asami sighed. "I don't know," she answered honestly, and Korra's heart spiked all over the place. Ahh, stop being nosy! This information does not concern you! Stop, stop, stop it! "Mako and I haven't been dating for very long, and I'm still not sold on the whole 'dancing with one man the entire night' thing."

Korra swallowed hard as she considered this. There was a lot to that statement, but unfortunately, Asami's choice of words reminded Korra of her original reasoning for bringing Homecoming up in the first place.

"What are the dances at other schools like?" she asked, hoping that she sounded more like an innocent and curious foreigner rather than the sneaky, strategic two-timing team-backstabber that she was. "And do people from different schools attend other schools' dances ever?"

"Oh, they're pretty much all the same around here," Asami waved a dismissive hand. "Though it'll be interesting to see your take on it. To me it's always just been about a bunch of sweaty boys trying to grind on one too many girls and competing to see who can sandwich themselves into the the longest grinding train. I do my fair share, of course—of grinding, that is—but I also usually end up doing more glaring than enjoying the dance itself."

"Huh," Korra bit her cheek thoughtfully. "One day I'd like for you to go to Buenos Aires. You'd find more than enough willing male sacrifices to satisfy your violent streak in the discotecas there."

Asami laughed, loud and bright. "God, please tell me that you're coming next weekend!"

"Hey, you didn't answer my other question," Korra reminded her, once again dancing around the issue. "Does that happen often, students going to other schools' homecoming stuff?"

"For some," Asami shrugged, nodding in thought. "Though it really depends. There aren't very many neighboring school districts around us, so it varies. Amon Preparatory School is too far north for us to ever really see any of them outside of sporting events. I guess I've met a few Capital City Wildcats though, now that I think about it."

"What about... White Falls?"

"Ha!" Asami practically barked, and Korra's stomach sank. "I wish! I have never heard of two schools more determined to despise one another. We're rivals on literally every front, you know that, right? Football, basketball, track, cross-country, everything. Two years ago, we were up against the Wolverines for our homecoming game and we had to station cops around the stadium to guard against vandalism."

"Are they really that badly hated?"

"They have a terrible reputation for poor sportsmanship, but we're not really any better," Asami said softly. "We just get off easier for generally good behavior." Korra frowned.

"And what about... that Tahno guy?" she winced, certain that she was caught for sure.

"Ah," Asami breathed, and Korra grew worried at the tight, thoughtful pursing of her lips. "Tahno, Tahno, Tahno... What most of our team wouldn't give to sneak into the White Falls gymnasium for one dance with him."

"What?" Korra sat up immediately, nearly choking herself on the seatbelt. Stupid safety features! "With that guy? I thought you said we were rivals on every front!"

"Oh, we are," Asami said emphatically, smirking at Korra. "But that doesn't make him any less hot."

This conversation was quickly spiraling out of control and into bizarre. "I'm sorry?"

"Oh, come on, you must have noticed at least a little during one of our meets? He's no gentleman, but that cocky smirk is enough to make any self-respecting girl weak in the knees. He's such an arrogant asshole, but he's so good that you can't help but be impressed in spite of yourself. Have you ever seen him run? I'd kill for concentration like that. Seriously, I doubt there's anything that could make that guy lose his focus."

Asami checked her rearview mirror before switching lanes, but Korra still felt like she was lost in some weird haze. Was this real life? Had she somehow entered some alternate universe? None of this is making any sense.

"I don't get it," Korra said quickly, trying not to snap. "Most of the school hates him because he continually bests us at every race, or just because he's a Wolverine, and additionally, because he's a sleazy—a sleazy—"

"Manwhore," Asami readily supplied, and something cold crept into Korra's blood. "Like, genuinely, a bona fide manslut, and I'm not the kind of person to use that term lightly. I mean, sure, he's incredibly hot, but in reality, who knows how many of his little groupies have swarmed all over him? He's never been one to hide any of his personal records, that's for sure. Most of our girls have a thing for watching Tahno at races and spreading dirty fantasies in the locker rooms, but you can't trust a guy like that. He's nothing more than a guilty pleasure, you know? Like, our dirty little secret or something."

Korra's head fell forward into a nod, where she let it hang.

"Right."

From: T (D:)
So, did the dictators let you out yet? We've been done for like an hour.
Received: Friday, Oct 19 5:14pm

From: T (D:)
Hey, you can run yourselves into the ground all you like, but no meet-prep practice is going to perform any miracles tomorrow.
Received: Friday, Oct 19 6:27pm

To: T (D:)
Hey. What gives?
Sent: Friday, Oct 19 6:43pm

"Crap," Korra whispered to herself, and nearly tripped over a rock on the front lawn. As she stared down at the flickering little message on the screen—Sent!—she paused. She still felt awful about Bolin, but pretty good overall about Asami—despite some minor issues, you know, like crushing on her boyfriend—and pretty damn confused about Tahno, so Korra went ahead and broke Ikki's cardinal rule of texting—Never, ever, ever do it when you're angry!—and messaged him, anyway.

Hey, she'd typed into her phone, trying to stamp down the full-fledged irritation. What gives? Feeling a little surprised at herself as she stared down into the nearly complete loading bar, Korra muttered to no one in particular, "Yeah, Korra... what gives?"

But the message was already sent and it was too late to rethink it now.

With a determined huff, Korra straightened her shoulders and stormed inside. According to the note attached to the inner door, Tenzin was out at the local sporting goods store, which was all the better because it meant that Korra wouldn't have to put up with any of his needling about how her girl-time bonding with Asami went. Pema and the kids were out at a movie, but according to the hour, they were due back soon. Quickly, Korra discarded her shoes and all but ran up the stairs to the sanctuary of her room, where she could hide before anyone came home and found her. She collapsed onto the bed immediately.

It was the little things like this that made her remember just how little they knew about each other. His outright refusal to own up to his teammates' shenanigans, his usual string of vague double-entendres and half-answers, these random, senseless omissions about things that shouldn't have been so important to begin with. What did she really know about him, other than the fact that he had a thing for eating the same canned goods before a meet? Aside from the gossipy rumors she'd overheard in the girls' locker rooms, and from what Asami had just revealed to her, Korra barely knew what he did inside or outside of school; she just knew that he ran—and that might be most of who he was, but that couldn't be all of it.

And he likes to play games, apparently.

Unsurprisingly, it wasn't long before she received a reply.

From: T (D:)
You sound like you expect me to know what you're talking about. Is this some weird translation mistake or something?
Received: Friday, Oct 19 6:47pm

She gripped the cell phone in her hands and tried to focus on typing the right keys, one letter at a time.

What's up with you failing to mention that White Falls hosted its homecoming dance last weekend? she asked, still holding out for her last hope against all hope that something was going to start making sense again, and—wham! Just like that, the floodgates opened, and it was not long before she found herself in the midst of a full-out texting discussion, with her phone blowing up with messages left and right.

I didn't think it was a point of interest, he began.

We were literally talking about it that same afternoon! You didn't think I'd be interested in knowing something like that?

Actually, no, since you had no idea what it even was until I told you. I'm not an events calendar, you know. What's got you so worked up?

Nothing, she replied immediately. I just don't get why you would deliberately leave out that information in a conversation entirely dedicated to educating me about the thing in the first place.

If you'd take a minute to think about it, you'd also remember that I said, during that conversation specifically, that I'm not a homecoming kind of guy.

But one of the girls on my team said that you were awarded Homecoming Prince.

Homecoming KING, new girl. And yeah, what of it?

I just don't get why you're always so quick to brag about your latest race, but you didn't even so much as mention this homecoming thing.

Being voted the most typical high schooler is not exactly like winning a medal, you know.

But you could have at least mentioned it! It's almost been a whole week.

Again, I don't understand why this is such a thing for you. It's not like you were gonna be there, anyway.

She paused.

Fine, she typed, feeling her coldness seep into the word; anger was such a better alternative to dejection. Sorry I asked.

She slammed her phone down onto the bed, but it merely slid off the side and onto the hardwood with a disheartening thud. Korra tried looking at the ceiling, but couldn't sit still, so picked her phone up off the floor and slammed it down onto the bureau with the vanity mirror, before storming into the adjacent bathroom. As she splashed cool water over her face, again she wondered, What gives, Korra?

She stood there for a long time, holding onto the fake marble countertop with fisted fingers, and stared into the empty branches outside her window; the colorful leaves were almost entirely gone, and most of the ones that remained were a dark, dry, crusty brown. Well. They didn't last very long, now did they?

By the time she came back out into her room, Aunt Pema was calling her down for dinner, and she had already received two more messages on her phone.

All right, you gotta explain to me what's going on, because you're not making any sense.

Wait a minute. Are you jealous?

"No," she scoffed, shaking off an involuntary shudder that crept down her spine as she stared into the little screen. "I am not jealous, thank you very much."

But she went down to dinner without her phone, and she didn't bother texting him back.

Hey, said the new message, when Korra returned to her room an hour later. Are you busy?

Korra stared down at the message, not entirely sure how to feel, but then took a second look at the sender—

—and nearly dropped her phone.

We just finished dinner, she responded. Why? What's up?

From: Mako
I know this is going to sound random, but would you mind coming out with me somewhere for a little while? It'll be easier to talk that way.
Received: Friday, Oct 19 8:01pm

The darkness outside her window told her that it was late, and the time on the clock told her that it was getting pretty late for a pre-meet night, but she wanted to see himso badly—

Yeah, sure, she sent back immediately. She was in the middle of typing a second text, Should I meet you somewhere or—

When she received another: Great, thanks. I've got the car, so I'll swing by your uncle's house. Could you be ready in ten?

There was a nervous sort of feeling swimming through her stomach, and when Korra went to type, her fingers were shaking slightly. I'm ready right now, she said.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Okay, she read. I'll be right over.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"Hey," Korra rushed past, slinging her coat over her shoulders as she flew down the stairs like a tornado. Tenzin had to blink twice, just to make sure it wasn't Meelo in disguise.

"You're heading out?" he asked, eyeing her hurried attempts to zip up.

"Mako just asked me to help him out with some stuff for tomorrow, but I'll be back before it gets too late." She was speaking rather quickly, but she seemed sane enough, so Tenzin's inquisitive brow was rather mild by his usual standards.

"The meet is in the early morning," he reminded her, partly as an observation, partly as a question.

"I know," she smiled sheepishly, and in spite of himself, Tenzin was momentarily caught by the light he saw in it; he couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her express anything but frustration so genuinely. "But I won't stay out very late."

"Right," Tenzin intoned, still weighing his options. "Well, make sure you take your phone with you, just in case."

"I hardly need a reminder," she said, but she didn't seem very annoyed, even as she fidgeted with the fabric behind her neck. Her hood was stuck pretty severely in her ponytail, and when he fixed it for her—an unexpected, though not unwelcome gesture—she seemed disarranged, but happy.

The sounds of a car arriving rose to the landing of the vestibule where they stood, and Korra smiled up. "Thanks," she told him.

He merely nodded—as close to a smile as she was probably going to get—and she was out the door before they knew it. Her stomach was a nervous wreck of butterflies as she approached the passenger door, and even though she'd half-feared that maybe she'd find someone else inside—say, an unexpected guest, or partner—the driver was the only person who'd come. God, I am going to hell, aren't I? Korra, you are so messed up. No. No. Nothing was going to happen because she and Asami were friends now and Bolin was still hurting and—have you already forgotten, stupid girl, that he's already turned you down once?

"Hey, thanks," Mako smiled gratefully, looking a little ruffled as he reached over and pulled the handle of the door open for her. "I know this is kind of bad timing, what with the meet in the morning—"

"Don't worry about it," she assured him, sliding into the seat that already seemed so familiar. But then she took a good luck at him—disheveled, tight, and stiff—and her brow creased. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," he nodded quickly, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel while she got settled in. "Yeah, I just—I just needed to go for a drive and..." He halted, struggling to find the words.

"It'll be easier to talk about Bolin on a drive than over the phone?" she ventured. He looked over to her then, and Korra would like to think that the look they shared was one of understanding. That is not disappointment in his eyes. It's not.

Is it?

"Yeah," he agreed, and his smile sent warmth pulsing through her veins. "Right."

He reminded her to buckle up as he pulled out of her driveway, and he'd cranked up the heat before they'd even passed the willow tree, but she wasn't complaining.

As they drove along the highway, they talked about a lot of little things, but Korra couldn't help thinking about the things they didn't talk about; she didn't ask if Bolin knew where he was, or if Asami knew where he was, and he didn't ask if Tenzin had said anything about their little field trip, either.

As they were waiting for a red light to turn while driving down some little commercial road off an exit a few miles down, it occurred to Korra to check her phone. She had a single message waiting in her inbox.

From: T (D:)
This is too hard to type over text. Where are you now? Can you meet me at the park in a half hour?
Received: Friday, Oct 19 8:07pm

But it was already close to eight-thirty, and Mako was pulling into a parking space, and it was too late to rethink it now.

.

.

.

End Note: OH, SNAP. Things are really starting to get messy now, aren't they? And remember: this chapter was getting too long, so expect a 3.95 before 4.0 - RACE DAY. Next up, you'll see how the night ends...

This was another really difficult chapter to upload due to FFNET complications. Please spread the love with a review! After all the time it takes to write this, proofread it, rewrite it, and proofread it again, having to go back through yet another time and re-separate all of the paragraphs back where they belong is such a pain. D:

Thanks!