Confidants
It's always good to have someone to talk to, even if they don't always believe you
"You're sure you don't mind?" I had to shake my head at Korra asking again if she could really keep the clothes.
"Yes, I'm sure, stop worrying so much." I smirked as I took in the lovely view of my girlfriend in red, the somewhat tight shirt in particular and all it showed off; I did so enjoy that sight. "Besides, I think they look better on you." Korra smiled and blushed again with her eyes looking elsewhere; I don't think she caught on to why I thought that.
"Thanks." as she turned to leave atop Naga I realised that I'd forgotten something.
"Korra!" she turned her head back to me, "I'll have Arika pick you up in the car later for dinner, okay?" Korra gave her trademark nervous chuckle and bluish.
"Right, sure, for our date." Korra seemed to swallow for a moment, "Looking forward to it, see ya tonight." and with a final wave she left atop Naga.
I still wasn't sure if this shirt looked good on me, it felt too tight. I still liked it though, it was a gift from my girlfriend after all. I giggled at that.
Asami was my girlfriend. Those words made me feel giddy and I couldn't help but get butterflies in my stomach. Not in a bad way, it was like things just seemed better with Asami in the mix. I can't remember ever feeling like this before, if I had then the memory must have faded. I was so wrapped up in feeling content that I didn't even notice a certain familiar voice come from Naga's side.
"Avatar Korra." I snapped out of my little daze to notice the light brown hair and blue eyes of Arika Yumemiya "You are returning to the air temple?" she raised an eyebrow, looking up at me on Naga's back, I guess she wasn't sure.
"Yeah." I think I sounded a bit awkward, still not sure how to act around a maid.
"In Ms. Sato's clothes?" She mentioned towards the red shirt and trousers.
"Oh yeah, I did a little training and my clothes got all sweaty, so Asami lent me these." she still had an eyebrow raised and now a small smile, for some reason...
"Well then, Avatar Korra," she gave a small respectful bow, as best as she could with her arms full of groceries. "I shall take my leave." That was very formal, as always.
"Okay, bye." and so she turned and left, it seemed pretty official now; I'd never get used to being around a maid.
I have a date with Korra, I breathed deep for a moment to savour that wonderful fact; the little break I'd been given from the universe. I headed back inside towards the gym to pick up the paper I'd forgotten to read, sure I'd gotten distracted by having my secret object of my affections come round to confess her feelings to me; Arika always brought me the paper and it'd be rude to leave them unread. Besides, I should check to see how the gala went down in the eyes of the city.
I checked to see what was in the society pages, and I thought that nothing could improve my mood further.
"Avatar's Ex-boyfriend Jailed !" I couldn't help cry out in amusement, mostly from the hilarious list of charges, it was apparently a follow up article to something in the paper yesterday; which I'd also forgotten to read. I raced back to my office to check and found that yesterday's paper's article on Korra dumping Mako at the gala to just as fun to drink in and savour; it might have been cruel to laugh at his misfortune, but considering how poorly he treated Korra, he deserved this.
"Asami?" I looked to the door to see Arika with an arm full of groceries bags.
"Oh hey Arika, you need help with those?" I put aside the paper, moving towards her to help.
"Oh no, I'm fine." Arika started to look over the room before continuing "Which room needs special cleaning? Gym? Bedroom?" Huh? What did she mean?.
"None of them," Arika raised an eyebrow at that, "Why would one of the rooms need special cleaning?"and why mention the gym and or the bedroom.
"I ran into Korra a few minutes ago..." Arika trailed off for a moment, she seemed to thinking over what to say, "...and she was wearing some of your clothes, and you've changed your clothes... and you had a big smile when I came in here..." What conclusion could she draw from- Oh.
"Wait." Did she really think that me and Korra- before even a first date? "I think you've got the wrong idea here." Arika just smirked and rolled her eyes.
"Right..." I guessing she didn't believe me. "You know you don't have to worry about me judging." Arika had a coy smirk as she turned towards the door to leave with a final comment as she walked out the door, "I guess I'll just have to find out later where you two-"
"Arika! I'm telling you nothing like that happened," I hopped off the desk and headed after her, determined to set her straight.
"Korra!" I'd half expected to run into Ikki, and be bombarded by questions, seeing Jinora flying down on her glider was a welcome change of pace. Nothing against Ikki, but she could really bet kind of nosey.
"Oh, hi Jinora." I gave her a little wave as she touched down, only to suddenly raise an eyebrow whilst looking me up and down.
"New clothes?"
"Yeah, Asami gave them to me, she said they look good on me, but I'm not sure." the shirt still felt tight. "I'd better go get changed, still got training to do." I started to jog off towards my room with a wave as I left.
"Okay, see ya later." Jinora called as I made my way towards the dormitories. It didn't take me long to reach my room, the door was open? Was someone in my room? I swear if Mako was snooping in my room again, I was was going to beat him to a pulp; I was pretty surprised to find to find- "Pema?"
"Oh, welcome back Korra, just putting away some laundry." and so she was, till she raised an eyebrow; so that was where Jinora got it. "New clothes?"
"Yeah, Asami gave them to me." Pema seemed to avert her eyes at the mention.
"So, things went well this morning I take it?" I couldn't help but smile and blush; a thought occurred to me. I quickly stuck my head out of the door, looked up and down the corridor, coast was clear. I closed the door, went to the window and repeated the process. "Korra?" I took a deep breath and swallowed hard before turning to Pema and confiding in her.
"We kissed." Pema seemed completely shocked for a moment, gave another look to my new clothes, and let out a snort of amusement and started smirking wider than I'd seen her do before whilst going right back to folding the remaining laundry.
"And more I imagine." huh?
"Like what?" Pema just gave me a sideways look with a smirk, what exactly was she thinking?
"Arika, I'm being serious, nothing like that happened ." I really hoped I could though to her, "I've waited so long for something like this and I don't want to frighten Korra away." I also didn't want in to devolve in to just something about physical pleasure, not that I said that part.
"How would she be frightened away?" Arika turned to me from putting away the groceries she'd bought whilst out, she seemed to be genuinely confused judging from the look on her face."I know that Republic city isn't exactly open minded but I thought that that was just Republic city."
"I wish," I let out a long sigh at that, "I'm not exactly an expert on water tribe culture, northern or southern, " I should probably remedy that soon ",but she seemed pretty terrified about her parent's earlier."
"This isn't right!" Arika suddenly shrieked her opinion of the situation, "No one should tell someone who they can and can't love." I always liked how Arika was such a pure spirit, she didn't have a single shred of malicious intent in her. "You and Korra should be able to do whatever you want together!" I couldn't help but chuckle a little at Arika's bout of pure hearted righteous indignation and gave her pat on the shoulder in appreciation, hoping to cheer her up a little.
"Oh, you're so sweet Arika." paying her the little complement hadn't really had an effect, so I tried a different tactic, "So, what ideas for the special dinner tonight?" a distraction. Judging from the way her entire body perked it seemed to have worked; that and the beaming smile when she turned to look at me.
"Oh, I have so many great ideas," she trailed off for a moment as she plunged an arm back into a grocery bag, pulling something out, "I went by the library and checked out this great book," as she pulled it out of the bag I wondered if 'great' referred to its size; how'd she manage to lug that thing around along with all the groceries? "all about water tribe food, I should be able to whip up a authentic water tribe dinner!" and just like that, Arika was once again her cheerful bubbly self, grinning as she flicked though the pages wondering what to make for the dinner tonight. "I may need to spend awhile practising to make sure I can get them perfect."
"Good to see you're so enthusiastic about this." I chuckled a bit at how this dinner date seemed to be just as important to Arika as it was to me. "I'll be in my study, finishing up some work, if anything comes up," no answer "Arika?"
"Huh? Oh okay Asami, "Arika gave me a quick smile and nod before turning back to the open cook book and mumbling to herself, "Arctic hen, Five-flavour soup, sea prune stew..." I walked off, shaking my head a bit at just how dedicated that girl was to her work.
"Seriously Pema, what?" I had no idea what she thought I'd been doing with Asami. She checked out the new clothes I'd gotten from Asami, did she think we went shopping for something? "I think you've got the wrong idea." Pema just kept smirking.
"Really?"
"Yeah, she already had these in her house, we didn't need to go shopping or anything." I gave a small shrug, unsure if that's what she was hinting at but I couldn't really think of anything else. I seemed to have guessed wrong, since Pema was now snickering unaccountably under her breath. "What's so funny?" I honestly had no idea what was making Pema so hysterical.
"N-nothing," she seemed to finally regain her composure, still wish I knew what was so funny. "Not important right now. So, I take it you enjoyed the kiss then?" I let out a content sigh, recalling the taste of Asami's lips.
"Yeah... she's so, amazing." I snorted a bit at the crazy awesome day so far, "Turns out, she's had feelings for me for awhile but didn't think I'd be interested."
"Really? Well that's a pleasant surprise for once." It really was; most recent surprises had been Mako hiding the gala invitation, Mako trying to propose in front of my parents (with a ring of all things), realising I had a crush on another girl. Having my feelings returned and having people in my life to confide in was great.
"I know, I'm still kind of shocked and scared..." I paused for a moment as I sat down on my bed, "I remember what you said yesterday, about having a sort of safe haven here on the island, but I'm still..." I wasn't sure what it was I was trying to say, luckily Pema was better at figuring out my ramblings than I was.
"You're still scared of what'll happen if your relationship gets out." Pema finished my sentence as she moved to sit down next to me. "About what your parents will think?" that terror inducing thought was still in the back of my mind.
"Yeah I am and I'm scared for Asami too, " "I asked her if she wanted to risk her company and she was so confident, I have far less to lose and I'm completely terrified... I... I don't want to see her hurt." I could still remember the look on her face whenever her father was brought up.
"Then I think the best you can do is, just be careful and hope for the best." I pouted at that; I was hoping for some more profound advice beyond 'hope for the best'. "Besides, you said she's had feelings for you for awhile, after you're together for awhile I'm sure you'll feel as confidant." Now that was more like it; Pema seemed to have a knack for putting this perspective.
"Thanks again Pema, how'd you get to good at the advice game?"
"Just experience I guess." Pema answered with a shrug and a smirk which we both chuckled at before Pema rose to leave. "Well, I have things to do, I should see you at dinner tonight." Oh right that reminds me.
"Oh, before I forget, I'm having dinner at Asami's place tonight, " I wonder if there'll be meat? I hope there'll be meat.
"A date?" Pema asked with cocked eyebrow and a smirk, I just gave a shrug as I blushed and smiled.
"I guess, I'm still pretty nervous about this whole thing, I'll clear my head a little with some training." I got up to dig some training clothes out of the wardrobe as Pema left a wave and a farewell. I still had to do my fire and earth bending katas for today.
I was just about to take off my shirt when saw how it kind of hugged and showed off my- Wait a minute; my eyes bugged out as it dawned on me why Asami had said this short looked good me, it was very tight.
Korra: What the hell took so-
Rottenwraith: A whole mess of crap happened and let's leave it that, including almost nobody reviewing the prequel, which I worked pretty damn hard on.
Asami: Okay, maybe now that you've mentioned it people will go over there, read and review.
Korra: I hope it doesn't take this long to update next time
Rottenwraith: Same here. I also hope I get some freaking reviews.