Chapter 3
Over the next few weeks, they talked frequently, even if they were staying closer to the friends territory, it was something and Korra could accept that. Asami was busy, she was a doctor, so obviously some days the talking was slow, but they never stopped. They joked, they shared stories about their days. And they never brought up Sage.
It eventually moved from texting to phone calls, when Asami had time. Korra would mostly be grading papers or working on her next dissertation during the calls, but hearing Asami’s voice made the work seem like less of a drag.
They had grown into a comfortable routine. They always said good morning and Korra always said goodnight since Asami would work into the ungodly hours of the night. Asami would sneak texts to Korra throughout her busy days, and Korra would send her cute photos of the dog she adopted (it felt less lonely in her apartment that way, she said) to tide her over until they could talk again.
They still hadn’t addressed their feelings for each other, out right, at least. Their conversations were definitely less than innocent for just friends, but not explicitly hinting towards something more. They flirted, they complimented each other, but they never talked about it further.
‘Bolin’s party is soon, huh?’ Asami asks as she walks through her front door. They had decided to FaceTime for the first time, and Asami does her best to shrug off her bag while keeping the camera on her face.
“Yeah, it is. Tomorrow.” Korra nods while stuffing her face with pasta. Bolin was throwing his annual pride party, and of course, Korra was going. “It’s gonna be weird this year.”
‘Why is that?’ Asami raises an eyebrow. ‘Also, you have sauce on your chin.’
“Oops.” Korra wipes away at her chin. “Because I’ll be alone. He just started throwing it last year so, you know.”
Asami frowns. Of course she knew. Korra was dating... well yeah. ‘I wish I could go. I felt bad for turning down his invite but—‘
“Hey, don’t worry about it. You’re only missing a once in a lifetime party.” Korra jokes. “But seriously, you’re out there saving lives! Way cooler than some Pride party.”
‘That’s fair.’ Asami grins.
“I like this.”
‘Like what?’
“You know, seeing you.” Korra says with a lopsided smile on her face. “It’s like getting to kick it with you again.”
‘I like it, too.’ Asami chuckles, shaking her head. ‘I forgot to tell you, I’m digging the haircut.’
“Thanks,” Korra beams, jokingly flipping her hair. “A lot shorter than when you last saw it, but it’s nice. A change.”
‘Change is good, sometimes.’
“This is true.” Korra keeps her phone on her face as she plops down on her couch. “How much time do we have?”
‘Hmm.’ Asami glances at her watch. ‘Technically as long as we feel like. I’m on call, but it is supposed to be my weekend. There’s always the possibility of having to go in, though.’
“That’s gotta be hard.” Korra frowns slightly. “Like not actually having real days off.”
‘Hey, I get real days off.’ Asami sticks her tongue out. ‘I just have to use PTO.’
“And I’m assuming you use that to go back home for the best party of the year, right?” Korra jokes.
‘Usually, yeah.’ Asami shrugs her shoulders. ‘But it usually doesn’t take up all of my time that I have.’
“So, what do you do with the other however many days?”
‘Stay at home.’ Asami laughs. ‘I’m so cool and not boring at all.’
“You should go on a real vacation.” Korra suggests.
‘Where would you suggest I go on said vacation?’
Korra’s face contorts as she thinks, a smirk appearing on her face. “Pittsburgh isn’t too far.”
‘Are you telling me to use my ever so precious and hard to get vacation time to come see you in Pittsburgh, instead of going home and having to deal with the overbearing Howell White Elephant Christmas?’ Asami’s tone is sarcastic and playful.
“I mean, maybe. Did it work?” Korra asks hopefully, but you know, not too hopefully.
‘It’s crossed my mind before. Although, some other time in the year. I can’t skip out on going home or my parents would cry.’ Asami teases. ‘But yeah, I’m sure we could figure it out. It’d be nice to hang out with you again.’
Korra’s mind runs rampant at the thought of maybe hanging out with Asami again, but she tries not to let it show. “Mhm, yeah that’d be cool.”
A beeping echoes from Asami’s phone, and Asami sighs loudly. ‘Hold on.’
As her video feed pauses, Korra takes the time to do a little happy dance at the fact that Asami may actually come to Pittsburgh. She’s quick to end it though when Asami’s feed comes back on, and Asami has an upset look on her face.
“Gotta go?”
‘Yeah, I’m sorry.’ Asami breathes out. ‘Duty calls.’
“I’ll see you later?” Korra replies, referring to them FaceTime-ing.
‘Yes, you will.’
They hang up and Korra leans back into her couch, slightly sad that they had to stop talking, but also giddy. She knew it wasn’t conventional or really ideal for her to like her ex’s ex-girlfriend, but... Asami was just an outstanding person who made Korra feel like she was walking on air.
Korra (23:01): I know we haven’t really talked about it much since that time before, but uhm...
Korra (23:02): I like you, like a lot. Have a good night and go save some lives!
Korra’s a little disappointed when she doesn’t receive a reply from Asami by the next morning. Not that she’s owed anything, but the anticipation of how Asami will take her small confession is running wild in her mind. She figures Asami’s phone died, since they were on FaceTime for a while and that shit drains your battery, and then Asami left for work so she probably didn’t get a chance to charge her phone.
As the day goes on, though, there’s still no reply and Korra wonders if she crossed some sort of line. She even tried calling Asami once, but the phone went to voicemail immediately which meant that it was still off, dead, or that Asami was blocking her calls. She hopes it’s not the latter.
“Korra, you just need to let it go for today, and celebrate!” Bolin tells her as they walk through the liquor store picking up last minute drinks for his party. “It’s pride!”
“I know,” Korra chews on her lower lip. “I just hope that I didn’t make things weird and uncomfortable.”
“Honey, Asami’s a doctor. I’m sure that your little confession pales in comparison to the amount of weird and uncomfortable things that she has seen in her life.” He rolls his eyes, patting Korra on the back. “Look, she’s probably just busy.”
“I know.” Korra repeats again.
“So, let it go for now and let’s go have some fun!” he says a little too exuberantly. “Come on! I don’t want you sulking at my party.”
“I don’t sulk!”
Bolin raises an eyebrow and quickly looks Korra up and down; slouched shoulders, narrowed eyes, lower lip sticking out in a pout. “Oh sweetheart, you totally do sulk.”
“Whatever.” Korra rolls her eyes, arms crossed. “Let’s just go so I can drink.”
“Way to be dramatic, Korra.” Bolin exaggerates. “Really well done!”
A couple of hours later, Bolin’s party is in full swing. And instead of moping around and constantly checking to see if she had anything from Asami, Korra decided to try and have a good time. She grabs a beer from the kitchen and goes to mingle around all of the patrons, spotting her friends Opal and Kuvira who seem to be completely dominating a round of beer pong.
“KORRA!!” Opal squeals excitedly as she spots Korra eyeing the game. “Do you want to play!? Kuv and I need some good competition.”
Korra looks around the party, searching for anyone that she may know to join her. She sees Mako, Bolin’s brother, leaning against the wall nursing a beer. They make eye contact, and Korra nods her head towards the beer pong table, to which Mako just shrugs his shoulders and nods before pushing himself off of the wall to stand next to her.
“Wanna play? Opal and Kuv said they need a new team to play against them.”
“Sure, I’ve got nothing better to do.” Mako deadpans.
“Opal, we’re in next game.” Korra shouts and Opal jumps excitedly before sinking her ball into a cup.
“So, how have you been?” Korra makes small talk with Mako while they wait for Opal and Kuvira to finish kicking the other team’s ass. “How’s Wu?”
“He’s good, we’re good.” Mako smiles softly. “I’ve just been working a lot. Kind of burnt out, you know?”
“No, I totally get it. I’ve been working on my thesis and trying to get ready to get my PhD next semester.” Korra replies, taking a sip from her beer.
Mako nods, following suit by taking a sip of his own drink. “Hmm. Oh, Bolin told me what happened with Sage. I’m sorry, dude.”
“It’s nothing.” Korra shrugs it off. “Honestly, I haven’t really thought about it for a while now.”
“Shit, I’m sorry.”
Korra holds her hand up. “Stop, don’t be. I just figured there’s no point about dwelling on the ‘what could have been’ and just pushing forward.”
“Still, I shouldn’t have brought it up.” Mako says apologetically.
“It’s really okay, Mako.” Korra smiles and pats him on the back.
Mako nods, smiling back. “Okay. Hey, why are you here alone? Bolin told me you met a new girl?”
“Of course he did.” Korra chuckles and playfully rolls her eyes. “I did, but it’s complicated. Plus, she’s in Baltimore, so… you know, logistics.”
“Oh, why is it complicated? Besides the distance?”
“Because she’s Sage’s ex from high school. I met her back when I went through that whole Christmas debacle.” Korra sighs. “Plus, we haven’t really talked about it. She mentioned she had a crush on me back when we first met, but… I told her I liked her and haven’t heard back since.”
“Damn. That’s rough, buddy.”
“Yeah.” Korra breathes out, about to say something else when she hears Opal screaming.
“YEAH! WE WON, KUV!” Opal shrieks. “KORRA, MAKO!!! IT’S TIME TO GET YOUR BUTTS KICKED.”
“Well, that’s our cue.” Mako sighs, taking a long sip from his beer. “Let’s just get this over with.”
Korra doesn’t know why she agreed to play beer pong against Opal and Kuvira. Since no one else at the party seemed interested in playing the team who had been undefeated since the party started, Korra and Mako got sucked into losing more than enough games against the couple.
They were on their third round, Korra and Mako definitely way too tipsy to really focus, and now they were bickering at each other.
“Why did you drag me into this?” Mako whines, throwing his hands up in the air as Kuvira sinks a ball into one of their cups. Mako removes the cup and takes a swig from the fifth beer he has gone through since they started losing horribly.
“Because….” Korra pauses, trying to think coherently. “They wanted me to play and I just wanted to get my mind off of the fact that Asami still hasn’t texted me back.”
Korra pulls her phone out of her pocket and frowns, noticing her still empty notifications.
“You’re so hopeless, Korra.” Mako chuckles as they prepare to take their shots.
Mako throws the ball across the table and it sinks into a cup. “YES!”
Korra rubs the ball in her hands, narrowing her eyes at a cup and trying her best to ignore Opal and Kuvira waving their hands over the cups. She was in no mindset to be able to play a decent game of beer pong, and now she was regretting agreeing to this, but she still persisted.
She lifts her hand to line up her shot and draws it back when a pair of hands rest on her shoulders. Then she feels a small breath of air brush past her ear as a voice she had grown so accustomed to speaks.
“I like you a lot, too.”
Korra, in all of her shock, lets go of the ball, watching as it bounces twice before landing in a cup.
“WHAT THE FUCK!?” Kuvira screams. “KORRA WAS PLAYING LIKE SHIT AND THEN SOME PRETTY GIRL SHOWS UP, AND SHE AND MAKO KILL FOUR CUPS!?”
“It’s also balls back.” Mako states before turning to Korra whose eyes were wide and he could clearly tell his friend was in shock. From across the table, Kuvira and Opal grumble in upset before tossing the balls back. “Kor?”
Korra finally turns around and is met with the sight of emerald green eyes and raven black hair.
“Asami? What are you doing here?”