Dinner

Only a few things made Korra feel truly happy. One of those things was not having an eminent threat on everybody's lives. The second thing happened to be food. Both of them combined had so far made for a relaxing evening for her friends. Everybody was sitting crisscross around the dinner table and enjoying themselves.

Korra looked around at their smiling faces and realized another thing that made her happy: her friends and family were safe. Korra smiled as she lifted a bite of food to her mouth. Everyone had their bending back, and no one was scared. The air had been feeling lighter in the temple the past few days and it seemed like everyone's mood was there to match.

She looked at her friends as she chewed. Bolin and Ikki were laughing about Mako dropping food on his shirt. He tried to blot out the sauce with a napkin but it didn't help much. She looked to Pema and Tenzin. They were having a lighthearted conversation, with Jinora interjecting every so often. Korra looked to the right towards Meelo and Asami. The young airbender was feeding Pabu bits of his food. Korra watched as the fireferret preformed a few tricks to earn some crumbs. Pabu had rolled over on his back for half a noodle and Asami laughed at the sight to Meelo's left.

A genuine smile pulled at Asami's lips and the Avatar's chest fluttered. It was nice to see her relaxed for once. They all had a chance to unwind and enjoy each other's company. Asami and herself had been spending a lot more time together too. Sparing with her had quickly become one of Korra's favorite afternoon activities. The way Asami could move amazed her and the engineer turned out to be a lot stronger than she looked.

Korra watched Asami bring her spoon to her mouth. She was eating vegetarian soup and used her napkin to wipe her chin when some spilled. Korra followed her hand as she dragged it under her lip to soak up the stray drops.

Asami put it down and looked up to Korra. The sudden eye contact made the Avatar realize she had been staring so shifted her gaze. Korra went back to eating her meal and listened to Tenzin talk about council business. But she didn't have the desire to listen to politics and instead found her eyes focused on Asami again. She was blowing steam off of her soup now, her lips pursed gently as she exhaled. The dark haired girl breathed out once more before tasting it.

Korra looked away, she had been staring again. She held her eyes across the table for a moment and watched Ikki give Bolin a high five. Korra missed the context of their celebration, but Mako didn't seem amused.

She tried to get more details but temptation won her over and she couldn't help but to take another glance to the right. This time her gaze was meet immediately. Asami was already looking back at her and a smirk spread across her lips before she returned to her soup.

Korra stopped chewing. Did Asami smirk at her? Did she just see that clearly? The Avatar mentally rolled her eyes at herself. Yeah right. There she went again thinking everything Asami did was flirtatious. For the last few days it seemed like the heiress had been trying to get closer to her. Asami would touch her arm when she would come up to her, smile from across the room in her direction, and many other subtle things Korra thought she was picking up on.

I bet if I look at her again she won't even look back at me this time, Korra thought. To prove a point to herself she lifted her eyes.

Asami was running her fingers through her hair. Dark wisps floated down the side of her face as she combed her hand back.

Whoa. Korra felt her chest flutter for the second time.

Asami curled a few fingers behind her ear and sent a wink her way as she secured a loose piece of hair.

Korra swallowed her food in a rough gulp. She just winked. Asami just winked at her. There was no denying it, Asami Sato was without a doubt flirting with her. Korra forced back a blush and scanned around the table. No one had seemed to notice. Korra moved her eyes back to the engineer.

Asami was eating her food again. She had gotten a bowl of pudding and was now digging into it with her spoon. Korra watched as Asami lifted her utensil and turned it upside down. Emerald irises locked with hers and as she slowly pulled the spoon from between her lips.

Korra held her breath.

Asami's eye contact was intense as the smooth metal slid from her mouth.

The Avatar felt her face heat up.

Asami seemed to be enjoying herself. She hid a smug grin by taking another bite of food normally this time.

Spirits. Korra shifted in her seat. Was it getting hot in there? Calm down, she thought to herself, trying not to let anyone else at the table become aware of her fidgeting.

But now Asami was staring at her again and unbuttoning her jacket and-oh Spirits-it was definitely getting hot in there. The engineer's eyes were cutting through her like blades. She was popping her buttons slowly, maniacally, and Korra could feel her throat become horse.

She watched Asami roll her shoulders out of the coat. Korra lifted her cup and sipped on some water, hopping it could hide the reddening of her face. Over her glass she watched Asami look her up and down. The engineer stared at her for a moment, then bit her lip.

Korra inhaled her water. She slammed the cup down on the table as she coughed violently.

"Are you alright?" Tenzin asked with a worried expression. Everyone had gone silent and was now looking at her.

Korra shot a glare at Asami, who was looking at her plate and covering a smirk with her hand. "Yeah," she wheezed, "wrong pipe."

The Avatar excused herself to the bathroom and tried to cough up the last drops of water from her lungs over the sink. Once all of it was out, she splashed cold water on her face to stop the burning in her cheeks and wiped her face with a towel. Korra opened the door to head back to dinner, though found Asami in her path.

The engineer stood in front of the threshold. "Korra, are you okay?" Asami asked, batting her green eyes in the shorter girl's direction.

"I'm gonna get you back for this." Korra stated and jabbed a finger at her.

A sly grin formed on Asami's lips. "Go ahead and try, Avatar."