The knock at the door was quiet but he was sure he heard one, rising from his bed to open the door. Not bothering to put on a shirt or to check who it was through the peephole, the athlete was so surprised when he opened the door that had he not braced himself on the wall, he might have fainted. "Asami?" He said incredulously.
"Koda?" She repeated in the same tone, "What are you doing here?"
"I live here," he shrugged, "I could ask you the same question."
The realisation was clear in her emerald eyes as Asami subtly nodded her head, "You're Iroh's new roommate."
Koda was not far behind. "And you're Iroh's girlfriend…holy crap." He cursed under his breath stepping aside, "Come in, please, I'm being rude. Again, sorry."
She smiled entering the room, "No, you're fine. This is unexpected, kind of ironic don't you think? Where's Iroh?"
"Yeah, to say the least." He nodded a hand on the back of his neck bringing her attention to the tribal tattoo that circled his bicep, "He's in the shower. I just took one. We pretty much just got back from practice."
"Oh, well that's…cool, I guess." Asami nodded absentmindedly looking around in lieu of letting her eyes linger on his chiselled torso for too long. He's even more ripped than she initially thought. "How was that?
"It was…practice? I mean, drills, and going over various plays, and throwing the ball until my shoulder feels like it's about to fall off, you know, the usual." He shrugged, taking his place back on his bed turning SportsCenter off.
"That explains the ice pack strapped to your shoulder. You're the new superstar quarterback Iroh was talking about. He was absolutely raving about you over the summer. Saying how you were for sure going to change the season, if not the entire program's culture this year."
Koda just chuckled shaking his head, "I don't know about all that, but I'll try my best to make sure we win couple more games than last season, at the very least. Obviously, the goals are both the divisional and sectional championships, but I can't promise that."
"Hey, what are you guys talking about?" Iroh asked, stepping out of the steamy bathroom and putting his towel up before pecking Asami on the lips.
"Football." She answered nonchalantly, giving him a once over, "Is that what you're wearing?"
"Yeah, what's wrong with it?" Looking at his outfit before looking back at her.
"Nothing." She shook her head, "I'm just asking."
"Well, that doesn't sound like nothing." He pressed indignantly.
"There's no problem, I was just asking." She reiterated.
"Then why did you make that face?" He pressed, narrowing his golden eyes.
"That's literally just my face Iroh. It's not that serious, drop it." Asami huffed in annoyance as well as embarrassment. Iroh always did this. He liked to argue about the pettiest, nitpickest things just to get a rise out of her. Especially when he had an audience. She figured he relished in her humiliation; like he was torturing her for his own unknown sadistic reasons. "Anyway," she segued, exasperated, "do you have any plans for tonight, Koda?"
"I was planning on hitting the weight room honestly…get some food, and see what Mako and Bolin are up to, I don't know if you know them," she nodded, "and drag them along with me…but not necessarily in that order."
"You should come with us, I can invite my roommate, we can go on a double date. She's totally cute, I promise." She quickly added, seeing the apprehension on the younger man's face.
"Um…" he trailed looking between both Asami's hopeful face and Iroh's even more confused one, not sure what to do
"Come on, it'll be fun! We're going to Top Golf. Have you ever been before?"
"No." He answered simply.
"Okay then you're definitely coming, I'm calling Opal." She then decided for him, pulling out her cellphone to dial 'Opal', her apparently totally cute roommate.
And that's how he found himself in the back of her car, on his way to Top Golf.
"Ugh, this is so exciting, I've never been to Top Golf before. I've heard about it, but we don't have one in Zaofou, so this is a completely new experience for me." Opal gushed excitedly.
Asami was right, she is cute. He guiltily still thought Asami was hotter, but Opal wasn't bad at all...actually she was. So he could definitely work with her. Koda couldn't help but smile at her words, her excitement was contagious as Asami drove them to the venue. "Yeah, me too. Honestly, I've never even heard of it."
"You've never heard of Top Golf?" The two women repeated incredulously.
"What do you mean, 'you've never even heard of' Top Golf? I thought everyone's heard of Top Golf." Opal elaborated.
"I mean, regular mini golf sure, but what about this place makes it the top one, per se?"
"I think that's just what it's called." Asami chimed in, chuckling. "It's not really mini golf, but its really popular. I can't believe you've never heard of it."
"I don't really get out much…my life has pretty much just been playing sports and training in hopes of the IFL or even the IBA up to this point."
"The IFL?" Opal repeated humming in fascination. "Or the IBA?"
"I think you'll make it." Iroh interjected, the conversation finally garnering his attention, "I don't think I've ever played with or against a quarterback as good as you. I'm telling you man, we're going to the Rose Bowl this year. I didn't know you played basketball though."
"Yeah, I do."
"What position you play, point guard?"
"Yeah."
Iroh paused furrowing his eyebrows. "I…I was kidding."
"Well I'm not. My court and field vision are elite. You put the ball in my hands, I'm making a play, simple as that."
Iroh just looked at him for a couple of seconds before turning his head back to face forward. "Okay one, I'm playing basketball this year. And two, we're winning everything. Basketball, football, fuck it. You play baseball too?"
"Uh yeah, but we're only two games into the season, why does everybody keep saying that to me?"
"Because the program hasn't won two games in a row in like thirty years?" Iroh said matter of factly, "Like my guy, you just said it yourself, 'put the ball in your hands you're making a play,' so we're winning. Basketball, football andbaseball, I was being so serious; simple as that."
"Look, all I'm saying is let's play a few more games before we start planning our postseason victory tour. Like come on yo." Koda sighed, shaking his head. "Y'all give me too much credit. I'm nice, but I'm not 'the second coming of Aang.' At the end of the day, I'm only a person. How could you even fathom something like that so early?"
"Says the man who threw eight touchdowns in our first two games? Yeah? You don't give yourself enough credit. You're waay too modest. Like for starters, you literally broke a school record the other night. You were the first person to throw four touchdowns and run one, in a single game. Ever. Not to mention, the run was for like thirty fucking yards! As a tight end, seventy five yards, and two touchdowns, in one game is crazy. That was a career night for me. The only real good thing about the team has been our defense. We needed offense, which you are instant. Thirty five to fourteen and twenty eight to seven? Are you serious? And we're gonna kill Western Air next week, you'll see. All these teams can be beat. Last year, our QB was shitty, and we still won five games. You know Fai, he's ass!"
"Yeah," Koda nodded sheepishly. As mean as it felt to admit, since the older boy was a pretty nice guy, he was not very good at football.
"Now that we have you, and Bo on the left side, we're going to the Rose Bowl, plain and simple. The entire team is officially revamped."
"I mean the O-line is pretty good if you ask me." Koda chuckled, "And our defense is good. They know how to get stops."
"Facts, they're solid. Listen, if Bolin can protect you long enough for you to get me or Mako the ball, we'll be fine. And if we're both covered, just run that shit. All you gotta do is stiff arm the fuck out of them, and they'll fall over. You're even bigger than I am. Just truck them. I'm telling you, this season is ours. You just gotta believe."
"We're here." Asami announced parking the car. "Everyone excited to get their golf on?"
This received a chorus of agreements, the most dejected one coming from Iroh of course. Koda murmured for Opal to wait before scrambling out of the car to open her door for her, taking her hand and pressing a kiss to her knuckles as he helped her out of the car. She giggled at the sudden chivalrous behaviour as he held out an arm for her to take, neither noticing Asami's slightly jealous look or Iroh's disgusted one. And with that, the foursome entered the place with Koda even rushing to hold the door for the women letting Iroh — who paused to tell him to 'cool it with all the gentlemanly shit because it was making him look bad' — and a random couple that came behind him walk through as well. But when Koda finally rejoined the group he mirrored Opal staring in awe of the apparently giant restaurant. There was a seemingly endless amount of booths and televisions all throughout the place, framing the most beautiful view that made the golf range a truly picturesque sight to behold.
"Now I see why you're so excited, this place is cool!" Koda leaned down to yell over the loud music to the much shorter Opal who beamed up at him nodding as the hostess approached the group.
"Good evening! How many are in your party tonight?" She chirped.
"Four." Asami answered, indicating the number with her fingers, subtly finding her companions' reactions amusing.
"And is everyone in the party going to be golfing tonight?"
"Yes." The Sato woman nodded.
"Alright, so is anyone here a member? And if not, would you like to sign up for a one time payment of ten yuans?"
"I am." Asami paused to think, "I'm not sure if I have the card though, it's like a phone thing, right?"
"Yes ma'am! If you log into our app, or go on our website, your membership QR code should appear under account! But in the meantime, you can all follow me!" The hostess smiled, taking four menus and leading them to an open bay. "So this is where you'll be seated for tonight and I would just like to remind you there is an hourly payment fee meaning you will be charged thirty yuans for every hour. Do you need any help getting started with the machine?"
"No, thank you, I think we're all good." Asami shook her head finally getting the code up to start the program.
"No problem! Here are your menus should you want to order anything from our top notch kitchen and bar, and your server should be with you soon. Enjoy!"
"She sure is chipper isn't she…" Iroh noted watching her walk away.
"Watch her walk away harder, why don't you?" Asami rolled her eyes, "So what kind of game do we want to play?"
"I don't know, what's the easiest one?" Koda asked, feeling a bit suffocated by the tension. "I've only played golf once. As you can probably imagine, there's not a lot of grass in the South Pole."
"You're from the South Pole?!" Opal gasped when he nodded, "That's so far!"
"Says the one from Zaofou." He teased.
"Well, you got me there." She giggled adorably letting her hand run down the tall man's muscled arm, "But even once is still more than me. You'll have to give me some pointers."
"I could try to teach you what little bit I know, sure."
"Top Golf is not about being good," Iroh started, "its not real golf. You don't even need a good swing. It's more about how far you can hit the ball. Just hit that shit hard as fuck and you'll be fine. Let's do the one where you're supposed to hit it the furthest. That'll probably be best and the easiest."
"Hello, my name is Biyu, and I'll be your server today. Can I start you off with some drinks? Appetisers?"
"I'll have a water. Ice, no lemon, please." Koda said without hesitation. "Thank you,"
"One ice water, no lemon, got it." She nodded, writing his order down.
"Do you guys have lemonade?" Opal reached for the menu noticing the nod from the waitress, "Yes? Then I will take one of those. Thank you."
"Me too." Asami said still messing with the golfing computer.
"Two lemonades," she wrote furiously before turning to Iroh, "and for you?"
"A cola. And can we get some wings?"
"Cola. Bone in, boneless? What kind?"
"Bone in. You guys do that like, variety basket, right? Where you get like one or two of every flavour? Yeah? Can we get one of those? And I think that's it for now, thanks." Iroh smiled for the first time that night, his eyes following her hips as she walked away. He 'subtly' turned back to the group to see Opal talking a mile a minute to Koda, who was looking between her, him and the waitress, with an eyebrow raised. 'What?' Iroh mouthed, rolling his eyes when the other man's blue ones shot to Asami then back to him questioningly.
It was currently Opal's turn to golf and Koda stood behind her in attempts to physically show her what he believed to be proper technique. But what he didn't know was that she had actually lied to him about having no experience earlier, being forced into private tennis and golf clubs with her four brothers since she was big enough to hold a tennis racket and a golf club. So she knew for a fact that practically everything Koda was both saying and showing was horrendously wrong, but this was the perfect excuse for him to get unnecessarily close to her so she took it. A little trick she'd learned from the infamous Miss Sharpay Evans. She leaned against his firm chest letting his calloused hands completely cover hers as he showed her how to swing the club improperly, his form poor in every conceivable fashion.
"And that's it. Try it for yourself." He said taking several large steps back for her to do her thing.
"Okay…I think I got it." She said lining up before purposely hitting the ball short, "Aw boo…that's so embarrassing." She pouted, turning back to him. "Especially after you showed me how. You'll have to help me again on my next turn." Opal said looking up at him through her long eyelashes.
"Hey, it's only your first time, you should cut yourself some slack." He smiled that pretty smile of his comfortingly placing a hand on her shoulder, "It wasn't too bad. Of course I'll show you. But 'till then, watch and learn, beautiful." His false confidence surging even higher upon her giggle.
Iroh was wiping sauce off his fingers as his girlfriend watched the two wistfully. "They're so cute…and they're not even a real couple…I miss when we were like that." He scoffed at her statement. "And what is that supposed to mean?"
"When were we ever like that? Like, be fucking for real."
"I know it may seem like a forever ago, but once upon a time, we used to actually like each other, remember? Before your eyes started wandering that is."
He scoffed again bitterly, "And who's fault is that? Maybe if someone would stop withholding what I want, I wouldn't be forced to look elsewhere. Which you have apparently been doing as well. How do you and Koda know each other?"
This time it was Asami that scoffed in annoyance, "I don't really know him, for your information. I'm just his tutor for the semester. That's all."
Iroh froze his mind flashing back to the conversation he had with the man in question before practice, "You tutored him today?"
"Yeah, this afternoon, why?"
"No reason." He shook his head clenching jaw as he watched his teammate flirt with his girlfriend's roommate.
"Then what's that face about?" Asami mocked, rewording what he said to her earlier.
"It's just my face." Iroh pettily replied getting up to take his turn as Opal and Koda returned to the table, not noticing the dirty look the woman sent him as they passed.
"I suuck." Opal whined seeing her score as they sat back down.
"Aw, Opal." Asami laughed at the girl's sudden outburst, rubbing her arm in solidarity.
"I mean so do I, but Iroh was kind of right, it is more about hitting the ball hard than anything." Koda shrugged, spreading out on the seat next to her.
"How could you even say that when you're literally in first place right now?" Opal asked incredulously.
"I can't help being a winner, baby." He winked picking up one of the menus, "I'm kind of hungry now though, how's the food here?"
Opal bit her lip giving him a once over before looking at Asami for the answer, she was kinda hungry too, in more ways than one. She sent the other woman a satisfied face to which the Sato heiress replied with a smile and bounce of her eyebrows. "It's not bad. As you can see, Iroh killed the wings, so those are presumably good. And if you want any, you should probably try some before he gets back." She joked, her smile faltering at her scowling boyfriend.
"Talking shit about me as per usual, are we?" Iroh asked upon returning to the table immediately dampening the mood.
Asami simply rolled her eyes, continuing her sentiment, "The burgers aren't bad either. They're unnecessarily huge, but they taste pretty good."
"The pizza's amazing too. We should get one." Iroh interjected, eyeing the wings again, "And definitely some more of these wings. They're so good."
After a couple of hours the group was golfed out and full, so they piled back into Asami's Satomobile to head back to campus.
"This is a really nice car, Asami. And it seems really new, like you got it right off the assembly line new." Koda remarked, really seeing the car for the first time.
I practically did, she thought to herself smiling at him as they all got back into the vehicle. "Thanks. My dad is a little bit of a…car…connoisseur you could say? He got himself and I one of these as soon as they were released."
"Wow, that's crazy. My parents are like that too, but more so with technology in general. I'm surprised they don't have one of these. I'm sure they'd love it." Opal smiled, missing both her eccentric and eclectic mother, and considerably quieter, more grounded, father.
"I mean, they're still really new. I would say only a couple months really, if that." Asami shrugged nonchalantly trying to deflect attention from herself.
"My parents are so stuck in the past. The whole tribe is really." Koda said, adding contrast to dialogue, "I don't know exactly what model we have, but it's nothing like this, I could tell you that much. They don't really drive now that I'm really thinking about it. Never have. It's kinda crazy because we do literally have cars but everyone seems to still prefer sleds and polar bear dogs, but cars are super dangerous on the ice."
"Yeah, I heard cars don't really sell well in the South Pole." Asami added vaguely to make it seem like she had less knowledge of the situation than she actually did.
"I don't think any technology sells well in the South Pole." Koda shrugged, "Well let me not say that, because it's not necessarily true, because hunting, fishing and snow gear, and like heating equipment, and just inside stuff is pretty common, but coming to Republic City was a culture shock for sure. There's nothing Time Square down South. I've never seen that many screens in one place before."
"Yeah," Opal agreed, "I used to think they, I don't know who they is so don't ask, turned it all off at night, then came back and turned it all back on again in the morning. I guess I didn't really understand the phrase: 'the city that never sleeps?'"
Iroh brooded in the front seat trying to think of anything other than what the car was going on about. His parents were alright he guessed, but his dad was kind of goofy and his mom was too uptight to talk to about anything outside of Fire Nation politics and the weather. He tried to gauge how far they were from their school wanting nothing more than to get as far away from Asami and the double date from hell as possible. Opal was cool and all, though she talks a lot, too much even, but she was cute enough to make up for it; and Koda was always a good time, despite that thing with Asami, who herself, was almost unbearable to be around. Practically every time he saw her nowadays he wished he'd initially just left her alone last year more and more. Ignoring the conversation around him, Iroh felt like he could finally breathe again as they pulled back onto the campus. Finally, he can get out of this car and into his bed. Maybe text that cute waitress whose number he got when he went to the bathroom. The two had bumped into each other when he came out, with her almost dropping the tray of food she was carrying all over him.
"Woah, you alright?" Iroh smirked as he caught the saucer before anything on it tipped over.
"Oh my Spirits, yes, I'm so sorry about that!" She apologised frantically.
"It's alright beautiful, you need some help? Is this our stuff? He asked, hoping this batch of delectable looking wings and pizza was for him to eat.
"Uh no, but yours should be out shortly. And you're not really supposed to touch this stuff anyway." The woman blushed, noticing the position of his large hands on the tray as they inched dangerously close to her own before her green eyes met his amber ones.
"I won't tell if you won't." He whispered winking before his handsome features broke into a smile. Her breath caught in her throat as he continued, "How about you go deliver this, then come back and give me your number?"
"Aren't you out with your girlfriend right now?" She asked, remembering the two beautiful girls in his party. Either could be with him or the other with the equally handsome man with them.
"She's my sister, and currently trying to set me up with her friend, who I'm not really into." he lied seamlessly shaking his head in indifference, "Let me take you out sometime. I can show you a nice evening."
"Okay…" Biyu trailed, not sure what to believe, "how about you let me deliver this food and I'll think about it?"
"I'll be waiting, but not for too long."