Baking and Baseball
“Isn’t it funny,” Wu said, as they entered the dining hall, “how Vaatu intended for me to be straight and cis, but anything else and the great spirit ‘works in mysterious ways’.”
“Shush, they might hear you,” Asami said with a giggle.
Korra smirked. Nothing, nothing Tarrlok and Noatak had to say at breakfast today could make her feel down. She had kissed Asami yesterday! She glanced at the heiress. The older girl showed no signs of their… uh… “activities” from earlier. Asami twirled a loose strand of her hair and casually ate her food while Korra stared at her like a dork.
It turned out that Noatak’s “guest speaker” last night was an alumnus from a few years ago. The man was dressed in a button-up shirt and khakis, with a beer-belly and slightly balding brown hair, even though he was only twenty-five or so. He went on and on about how the program changed his life— he now had a family and a spouse and lived happily in a white picket fenced house and yada yada. If that was Camp Amon’s idea of motivation, Korra was going to be bored to tears this summer.
“Or maybe not. I guess things just got a whole lot more interesting, didn’t they?” she thought, looking over at her roommate.
Kuvira sat down and scarfed a piece of bacon, “So what did you write about in your journals yesterday?”
“I wrote about the Earth Kingdom, and how I’m supposed to inherit it someday,” Wu said, checking his nails indifferently.
“I wrote a few poems, but I’m not sharing them,” Mako said shyly.
“I doodled.”
“Ummm, I just wrote a bit of gibberish that will never see the light of day,” Korra said with a blush. She made a mental note to burn her journal later.
Kuvira rubbed her eyes, annoyed at the group. “Please tell me that one of you at least wrote about yesterday’s lesson and your camp experience so far.”
“Nope.”
“Nada.”
“Oh we were supposed to write about the lesson? Shit…”
“I mean, yeah I wrote about the activity, but I then kinda got sidetracked…”
“Sidetracked by what?” Kuvira said, narrowing her eyes.
Korra was looking anywhere but at Asami. “I was thinking about ‘The Spirit World’?”
“Why?”
“Well, you guys teach us that we go to the Fog of Lost Souls when we die right?”
“Yes, if you are a sinner.”
“Well, I was just writing about… uh… maybe some of the nicer parts of ‘The Spirit World’ that I might want to visit.”
Wu and Mako cracked smiles, and Asami had to look anywhere but at Kuvira, who’s brow began to furrow. But instead of pressing the matter, the counselor merely shook her head and continued her breakfast.
“Well,” she said in-between bites, “I hope that today you might decide to write a few paragraphs on Camp Amon and your lessons here.”
It was clearly more of an order than a suggestion.
. . .
The activity today for the girls was baking, which meant Korra got to watch Asami stumble around a kitchen trying to use utensils she’d never seen before. It was fucking adorable.
“Don’t laugh!” the engineer complained. “I work late at the office and I never have enough time to cook food. I usually eat at restaurant or order food to go.”
“So you’re a professional at eating out?” Korra whispered, out of earshot of other campers and counselors.
Asami blushed as red as her Future Industries hoodie. Embarrassed out of her wits, she accidentally knocked over the bag of flour, causing both of them to be engulfed in a cloud of fine white powder. The two of them were laughing so hard that everyone in the classroom stopped to watch. Kuvira, unaware of the prior conversation, separated them with a chuckle— claiming that they were too distracting to be near each other.
“Ain’t it the truth, sister.”
They made cookies while the older counselor (Korra never learned her actual name, but it was probably something like Barbara or Mildred) lectured them on the importance of proper cooking— how they would need to feed and support their hard-working husbands. Korra scoffed and daydreamed.
“Imagine cooking all day, making a really fancy meal. The front door slams open and some snow accidentally makes its way in. Asami walks through the door— the tip of her nose is bright red from the freezing cold— and she hangs up her coat at the stand. She wraps her arms around me while I cook. We’re laughing and taste-testing and I couldn’t be happier.”
“Korra, make sure you don’t burn your cookies,” Zhu Li said, snapping the girl out of her trance.
The Water Tribe lass glanced over at Asami, who gave her a wink and kept listening to the lecture. Korra sighed and sat on top of the counter. It was going to be a long day.
. . .
“So are we going to The Spirit World tonight?” Wu whispered excitedly.
It was free-time and they were hanging out on the front steps of Cabin 16B. Kuvira was hanging out with some other counselors in the middle of the cabin complex, and as long as the group stayed on the porch they didn’t have to be close to her. Which meant they were out of earshot.
“Yeah, that’d be fun,” Mako said with a smile.
“Perfect, because I have a plan to get us some alcohol,” Wu smirked.
“What did you come up with this time?” Asami asked.
“Yesterday, after dinner, Mako and I were walking back and we saw Tarrlok in his office knocking back a shot. I think he forgot to close the blinds,” Wu said smugly.
“So you think he has a liquor cabinet?”
“Yeah.”
“Ok… Asami, do you know how to pick a lock?” Korra asked curiously.
“Why did you ask me?”
“Oh, I just thought… you’re good with tools and…”
“I know how,” Mako chuckled.
“Wait, really?” Wu asked.
“Yeah, I used to live on the streets and run with a gang. I picked up a few tricks.”
“What time tonight?”
“Same time as before. After counselor lights out at 11:00.”
They joked and laughed until the dinnertime bell. Bolin had made a casserole for tonight’s dinner, and it was absolutely fantastic.
“So how was they boy’s lesson today?” Kuvira asked.
Mako shrugged, “We played baseball.”
“He was so good,” Wu said in awe. “He hit, like, fifty homeruns.”
Kuvira was too busy eating her dinner to notice Mako blushing.
“Let me know if you men get hungry,” Korra said with a smirk, “Us women made cookies today.”
“Jealous,” Wu said with a frown. “I love baking.”
“I’ll trade you. I’d love to be playing baseball.”
“What are we doing tomorrow, Counselor Badgermole?” Asami asked with feigned interest.
“We’ll be doing some reading of the ‘Book of Vaatu’ with our groups in the morning, and possible some arts and crafts activities. In the afternoon we have some journaling and also camp chores,” Kuvira recited, ignoring the nickname.
“Oh so nothing too strenuous then?” Asami asked.
“Why do you ask?”
“Because if we get this plan off the ground… some of us are going to be quite hungover in the morning.”
“I just wanted to know if we were doing anything too… active. I wanted to paint my nails tonight,” Asami said innocently.
Kuvira bought the lie and nodded, “Yeah, you do that.”
They were dismissed from dinner and walked back to the cabins. There was a slight tension in the group— anticipation for tonight’s antics. Korra and Asami pretended to say goodnight to Mako and Wu, and then walked back to their cabin.
No sooner was the door shut that Asami harshly grabbed Korra by the front of her jacket and smashed their mouths together. Not that Korra was complaining. She swiped her tongue in-between Asami’s lips, and the older girl purred. One hand was one Asami’s back while the other may or may not have been squeezing the older girl’s ass.
“Mmm, you’re good at that,” Asami whispered in between kisses.
“Practice makes perfect.”
“Is that so?”
“You’re welcome to find out.”
Asami smirked and lowered her mouth to Korra’s neck. She peppered the Water Tribe girl’s throat with kisses— Korra was struggling to keep quiet. Asami’s teeth grazed a sensitive spot and Korra clutched onto the older girl for support, her legs had all but turned to putty.
Someone could be heard coming up the steps.
“Oh shit, Zhu Li!”
Asami must’ve been thinking the same thing, because she instantly pushed Korra away from her— the younger girl tripped and fell onto her bed with the grace of a sumo wrestler. Asami calmly sat down on her bunk and opened a book just in time for the counselor to open the door.
“Good evening ladies, and how are we doing?” Zhu Li asked, adjusting her glasses.
“Spectacular.”
. . .
“Mako, are you sure you know how to pick a lock?” Korra asked impatiently.
“Shh, I’m trying to concentrate.”
To be fair, the poor boy was working in the dark. They couldn’t risk anyone seeing the light, especially in the office. To make sure that no one was going to catch them, Wu made a “trip to the bathroom” after lights out and confirmed that Tarrlok and Noatak were going to their house on the other side of camp.
“Almost there,” Mako said through gritted teeth.
Asami peeked out into the hallway, “The coast is clear, for now.”
They heard a KA-CHUNK. Mako turned the handle to the door, and it pushed open.
“Now let’s hope that he doesn’t have security cameras or an alarm,” Korra muttered.
“Oh shit, I didn’t think of that.”
“Have you seen how low budget this place is? What kind of place has eighties carpet AND hi-tech security cameras? I think we’re in the clear,” Wu whispered.
They spread out and searched through the cabinets.
“Man, Tarrlok has some shitty taste in decoration,” Mako said, looking at the paintings of Vaatu on the wall.
“AH-HAH!” Asami whispered loudly.
The bottom drawer of Tarrlok’s desk was absolutely filled with alcohol. All sizes and shapes of bottles just waiting to be nicked.
“Let’s get two bottles. He won’t notice them missing.”
“Take something cheap, he’ll know if pricey alcohol is AWOL.”
Korra grabbed two bottles of vodka. They were both about ¾ full. The group quietly slithered out of the office, and Mako closed the door.
“So, how about you and I go out on a date sometime, Zhu Li?” a voice said casually from the end of the hallway.
“FUCK SHIT RAAVA HELP US!”
“Quiet, Varrick, you might wake someone up!” Kuvira’s voice snapped back.
“Sprint as fast as you fuckin’ can,” Korra muttered.
Four adults rounded the corner, but weren’t bothering to look towards the office. They continued to chatter and bicker— oblivious to the world around them.
The four kids scrambled out of the building quicker than Barry Allen on a good day. The counselors likely didn’t notice them, but that didn’t stop the group from booking it through the forest to “The Spirit World”.
“Stupid Noatak,” Kuvira muttered, opening the office door. “He never bothers to lock up his shit.”