A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed thus far. Oddly enough, this fic has apparently become quite the powerhouse, despite what I thought of it. Honestly, I'm kind of embarrassed by all the praise. There are far better writers for this pairing, after all. Haha!

Ch. 11: Wake-up Call

Korra woke up to the sound of birds on the balcony. The sun was just rising higher in the sky, warming the air as the scent of steaming meat buns filled the streets. Under the window, Satomobiles honked as they motored past and boat horns blared in the bay. If Korra had to field a guess, it was probably a little past nine-thirty. However, that was not the first thing she noticed when she woke up.

No, the first thing she noticed was that she wasn't alone.

Korra woke with a start, eyes wide as she lay on her side. Terror seized her; the urge to scream rose in her throat only to freeze inside her as she snatched her limbs back as if scalded, retracting so quickly she thought she heard them snap like the wire coil Lin wore on her back. Immediately, her mind kicked into overdrive because she never kept bedmates and someone was in her bed and—oh god, who was it and how would she explain this to Tenzin? How would she explain this to her parents?

There was a shift in the bed and Korra watched in mute horror as her company moved towards her in their sleep. Back ramrod straight, she scooted towards the wall, bristling as she felt his soft exhale skate the top of her head. As she lay there frozen, she was conscious of the barrier of empty space she made sure to keep between their bodies and watched with a sigh of relief as he shifted away from her naturally in his sleep. She could only guess the kind of picture she made—hair mussed, chest heaving, eyes frozen in a paranoid gaze—but luckily her actions went unnoticed and she was glad to find out that Tahno was a heavy sleeper.

Only why was she sleeping next to him in the first place?

The answer came back to her slowly, the bits and pieces of memory washing onto the shores of her mind. Closing her eyes, she saw fragmented images of waking up, arguing with Mako, leaving the temple, Tahno's apartment, arguing with Tahno—crying—A lot of crying, actually—Hazily, she remembered being tucked into bed with him at her side as he murmured reassurances that Amon wouldn't touch her and that everything would eventually be fine.

As it turned out, Tahno was right. Amon had not come in the night and for the first time in a while, she had slept soundly through the night. She was the most rested and the most awake she remembered being in a while, but as she checked her lids—still puffy, damn it—it was probably just because she had exhausted herself crying.

The panic abating in her system, she let herself relax into the bed and drink in the silence of the room, letting her eyes wander about.

They danced aimlessly around the room; at the ceiling, over the bedroom door, off the vase of orchids. The even bounced off the window near her head before movement caught her eye and she found herself homing in on Tahno's collarbone.

For a while, Korra stared at it, perplexed. It wasn't as if she hadn't seen the male body before—she had often healed the White Lotus guards when she was learning healing arts from Katara—but it had always been in a clinical setting. In fact, she could only recall one instance where she had seen a male body outside of that. She had been twelve and went back to visit her home village during the summer months. A couple of the village boys were jumping into an ice hole for fun, and while not uncommon, the memory stuck out to her because there was one boy who she remembered in particular. He was a bit older than the other boys, maybe a few years older than she had been. She couldn't remember his face exactly, but she remembered he was very handsome and had a very charming smile. Her eyes followed him wherever he went on the glacier and her stomach fluttered with butterflies, she remembered.

That same fluttering feeling was making itself home again in her stomach as she looked at Tahno's collarbone. The last time she had been this close to a half-naked guy, she was fixing a collarbone she had broken during an earthbending spar, and in the early morning with little else on her mind, she was curious. Did it feel any different to touch a guy when you weren't healing him? Did all guys feel different? Would Tahno feel different from Mako?

Cautiously, she raised a hand between them and softly pressed her finger over the crest of the bone.

A murmur. It was an unintelligible string of words pressed into the pillow and she felt her spine lock up as she waited with baited breath. When he didn't wake up, she gently traced the path of the wing towards the hollow under his throat, inwardly marveling at how soft the skin was there. It was nothing like she expected, and she wondered how it would feel against her lips.

Gathering her courage, she leaned forward and pressed her lips against him experimentally. She felt her lids fall at the touch. The sensation was strange, and she felt the fluttering in her stomach grow stronger; she was tempted to do it again, and her breaths during her indecision fell like soft petals on his skin.

Her thought process screeched with a jarring halt, however, as she felt a kiss pressed into the crown of her head. Her eyes grow to the size of dinner plates. Alarmed, she threw her gaze to his face only to find his lids shut and his breathing even. The Wolfbat was still asleep; the gesture had been unconscious, and she waited tensely for her heartbeat to return to normal.

If she hadn't been awake before, she was now.

A squeak of surprise escaped her lips as the bed dipped again. The arm she had woken up to slung possessively over her hip was pulling her in again to close the gap as his other arm slipped under her head to pull her close. A caustic remark about Tahno being a closet-cuddler echoed in her mind, but the voice was a million miles away in her head. The shock wasn't what had gotten to her.

No, what really got to her was the feeling of content threading through her system. Suddenly, she never wanted to leave here and she wondered if that was how Pema felt when Korra found her still in bed some mornings.

And suddenly, it hit her with the force of moose-lion charge. Pema. The airbender kids. Air Temple Island. They didn't know she left last night. She was supposed to be at practice with them three hours ago.

Her first instinct was to spring out of bed, but that was easier said than done. Even as her mind was planning the quickest route back to the pier, her body had yet to even climb over Tahno and touch the ground. Unlike her bed at the Air temple, the mattress here was softer, only threatening to swallow her as she attempted a sitting position. Her arms, splaying at the sides for purchase, became tangled in the sheets and Tahno's arm, now an oafish, offending weight, still lay slung over her middle and just—just—how did people do this in the morning?

Agitated and desperate, she kicked at the sheets constricting her arms and legs as urgency pressed at her temples. She had to go; there was somewhere she had to be!

Unfortunately, telepathic communication didn't seem to be Tahno's strong suit, and she couldn't help the semi-vicious shove she gave as she tried to palm Tahno's hand away while not waking him—which was a lot harder than she thought it would be, being patient and methodical and all, because she was three hours late and Pema was probably worried and Tenzin would have a fit—not to mention what would happen if Ikki found out where she had been last night and—

"Tahno, wake up. Tahno. Tahno. Tahno, wake up. Wake up. Wake. Up. Tahno, if you don't move your damn hand already, I swear to Kyoshi —Damn it, just let me go! I have to get back home. I didn't tell anyone where I was going and they're probably all worried and—for Yue's sake, wake up already you—Mmph!"

Eyes wide, all fire to her tirade died as she found her mouth sealed by a pair of lips in a burning kiss.

"You fuss too early in the morning," he grumbled sluggishly as he pulled away from her. Under the pillow, his hand shifted, bringing the object closer as his other hand resettled over the curve of her hip. His tone was clear: this argument was over. His face half-sunken into the pillows, eyes shut as his slight frown dared her—dared her to try to wake him up again—only cemented that fact.

On her side of the bed, Korra could only stare blankly at the unconscious figure in bed, eyes blinking owlishly in her head as she tried to comprehend what had just happened to her. Shyly, she raised a hand to touch her lips, the memory of the kiss still lingering there, and though she knew she should have been burning through a million plans to escape, her head felt strangely empty.

As if sensing her misguided desire to leave, his arms swept her even closer, caging her against him, and she couldn't help the surprised squeak that escaped her as she blushed in mortification.

On second thought, maybe she would wait until he woke up to leave.

A/N: Because I have finally gotten inspiration for my old fandom and there's a story I have left unfinished for years that I should really get a move on, the next chapter will be a bit late. On the bright side, now that the angst is done, it's full speed ahead towards fluff (and a little lemony goodness maybe).