Chapter Text
"Hey, you made it!" Bolin gestured for Asami to come sit next to him in the stands with Opal and Mako.
"Hey, guys!" She greeted him with a hug and said hello to the other two. In Bolin's lap sat a large poster board. "Oh, were we supposed to bring signs?" asked Asami, suddenly worrying that she had come unprepared.
Mako laughed. "Bolin, show her the other side!" Bolin's sign showed a lot of... effort. She tried to keep her smile neutral while examining his elaborate depiction of a stick figure with a bob, lying sideways in a pool while everyone cheered.
"I think it's sweet," said Opal. Asami gave a nod in agreement.
They settled in for a while, in the humid, chlorine-scented air. Asami pulled off her coat and scarf. Korra wouldn't be competing until the final relay, but Asami had never been to a swim meet before, and she loved seeing them race. It was so immediate, direct and yet graceful, the way the athletes shot forward towards the finish. The crowd was fairly small: she would have expected more for the first swim meet of the year, but it meant that they had a great view.
The Ba Sing Se Badgermoles quickly took on a lead in the point system. "The badgermoles are usually ranked at #1," explained Bolin. But roughly halfway through the meet, it became less clear-cut. Republic City U won first place in two races and steadily began creeping towards the lead.
"There she is!" Mako jumped out of his seat. Asami rose immediately, following his gaze. The individual swimmers of the RCU Spirits looked pretty uniform in their black suits, swim caps, and goggles, but there... There she was! Her figure, her ready-to-fight posture, and her crooked smile immediately drew Asami's eye. Korra and three other women stood together by the coach, who was talking animatedly.
"What order is she racing in?" asked Opal.
"I'm betting first or last," Asami remarked. "They'll put her somewhere high-stakes." Really, she had no justification for thinking Korra was an especially good swimmer, but she could tell from the way the others talked that this girl was going to make an impact on the team.
"It's all or nothing for our home team, folks! Only five points down!" called the announcer. "If they come first place in this last relay, they'll get seven and take the lead, but not if those Badgermoles can stop them!"
"Do you think she can see us?" Asami waved her hands. Bolin immediately joined her, hoisting up his sign as the swimmers lined up. The first swimmer up crouched, readying herself for the dive. A few feet behind her teammates, Korra looked around uncertainly, until her gaze fell upon their section and she gave them a salute.
Asami let out a laugh. "Were those finger guns?" asked Bolin with a chuckle. Asami made the gesture back and let out a cheer.
"Aaaaand... They're off!" Four swimmers to cover two hundred meters. The first swimmer dove with grace, kicking her way through the water. She stayed almost neck and neck with the swimmer in the adjacent lane. When she finished her portion, the second swimmer launched badly, taking a second to get her bearings. The Spirits lagged, and it showed. Asami jumped up and down, watching as the odds began looking worse and worse. The third swimmer couldn't make up the lead, and when Korra finally launched, she started a full second and a half behind the leading swimmer. But then...
"She's doing it!" cried Asami. "She's really doing it!" Steadily, Korra clawed her way ahead in the race. She shot forward in the water, almost next to her nearest opponent. "She really is!" All four of them stood with bated breath as the race crept closer and closer to the finish.
Three tenths of a second. That was the final margin of victory. And the Spirits had won. Mako and Bolin climbed up onto the benches, pulling Asami and Opal with them. They whooped and cheered and hugged, all trying to wave some part of Bolin's sign. Korra pulled her goggles off and threw her arms around her teammates, who were more than eager to congratulate her. The four of them headed off towards the locker room in a triumphant group, the rest of the team jumping up and down like they were at the Olympics.
The crowd started to head out of the stands to the larger athletic complex, and Opal pointed out the area indoors where the athletes would emerge. The swimmers who had competed earlier were dressed first, but before long Korra appeared, met with hollering and whooping from the crowd. Asami, Mako, Bolin, and Opal waved, and Asami stepped forward and pulled Korra into a tight embrace. Korra’s arms wrapped around her and Asami felt her feet lift the ground. For a moment they were both chlorine and adrenaline and sheer exuberance.
The hug ended and Korra stood back, still flushed from her relay. She shook her head like a dog, flicking water on those around her. Bolin tackled her in a hug of his own, then tried to convince Mako that they should carry Korra out on their shoulders. Opal, slipping in for a much tamer hug, pointed out that Korra might not want to get concussed when they walk through a doorway.
Coach Kya called the athletes back over to announce plans for a team pizza night. Korra disentangled herself from her friends briefly enough to say that she would be there, then came back to talk. “You’re all coming to the party tonight, right? I don't know what the theme is yet, but there is one, so that means it'll be... exciting?”
She was met with mixed reactions. “Come on! I kind of have to be there, so I get to bring my friends. It won’t be just swimmers there!” She made eye contact with each of them individually, doing her best puppy-dog face. A face that must have worked on everyone in the group, because a few hours later, there they were.
Asami hadn’t been to a party in at least two months, not since her father sent her a series of angry texts after a picture of her holding a plastic cup ended up on social media. But then again, Korra had a knack for leading her down the exact paths her father feared.
"New years?" murmured Mako, eyeing the decorations. "That's not for weeks."
"I guess they wanted to celebrate before everyone goes home?" Opal didn't totally sound like she bought the idea herself. The crew had met up beforehand to walk together, but it took a while for them to find Korra in the crowd.
Things that reminded Asami why she didn't miss parties: the filthy condition of the swimmer house, which was home to twelve seniors. The cheap alcohol, paired with generic sodas. The three guys who tried to hit on her.
Things she didn't mind so much: the text from Korra beforehand, saying that she didn’t have to come, especially if parties weren’t her thing, but that Korra would really love to see her. The enormous grin that lit up Korra’s entire face when she saw her. The way Korra kept introducing her to the team: “This is Asami,who’s probably the coolest person I’ve ever met. She’s one of my best friends in the world!” The arm around her shoulder (Korra’s, of course). The glow of the team's success... which was really down to Korra.
“How much have you had?” she murmured to the guest of honor, who seemed even giddier than usual.
“Not that much! Honestly, I’m way more hyped up on adrenaline than anything else, I swear,” Korra insisted. She was almost convincing.
Asami tried not to cringe at the boxed wine in the kitchen, opting instead for a beer. People kept coming up to congratulate Korra on the final relay.
“You were like a superhero!” Bolin insisted. “It was looking dark for the Spirits all around, when suddenly, WHOOSH! There she was!” He did an elaborate movement with his hands, though it was hard to tell if he was the swimmer or the pool.
Korra giggled. “C’mon, Bo, it wasn’t QUITE that bad.”
“Oh, come on!” added Asami. “This would be a night of the team drowning their sorrows if you hadn’t pulled that off! Bolin, have you ever thought about acting? That was a pretty great reenactment.”
He stood up straight and puffed out his chest with an earnestness that made Opal have to cover her face to hide her laugh. “Funny you should mention it! As a matter of fact, I enrolled in an improv class for the spring, so stay tuned for more! Clearly, Asami’s way ahead of us all, intellectually,” he told the group. “Korra, you have fine taste in friends.”
This line caused Korra to sputter on her drink. “In that case, how come I've stuck with you so long?"
"Ooh! Low blow, Korra. Low blow." Opal patted his arm consolingly.
In another area of the house, someone had set up a makeshift dance floor, a crowded area Asami had been avoiding. But when Korra's favorite song began playing, somehow the five of them ended up in the middle of the action. Asami shook her head incredulously at this girl's ability to draw people together, to rally them in a moment of joy. Korra seemed to have a magnetic pull over those around her, and her moods were infectious. "Dance with me!" she insisted, grabbing Asami's wrist with one hand and Mako's with another.
Asami Sato didn't dance at college parties. She danced formally when she needed to, and she maybe danced terribly around her apartment on occasion, but she froze up when a male swimmer pulled her towards him. She turned around, her head spinning, trying to pick out familiar faces. She tried to move towards the perimeter when - "There you are!" - Korra, who had been dancing with Bolin, stepped towards her.
Relief flowed through her. Korra pulled an arm around Asami's waist, taking her hand in the other and falling into a clumsy back-and-forth step. "Asami, are you doing alright? You look a little green... you're not gonna get sick on me, are you?"
"I'm fine, really." She was, really, now. She rested her cheek against the top of Korra's head. "Glad that you're having fun. What kind of step is this?"
"I figured you'd only dance 'proper' or something. How's this?"
Asami stifled a laugh. This was proper? "Come here, look at my feet." One, two, three, one, two three.... She got them moving in some step that could very loosely be called a ballroom dance. "There, we're waltzing!"
Korra laughed, her breath tickling Asami's neck. "Of course, Lady Asami." Someone yelled something about the time, but they couldn't distinguish his words over the music. Suddenly, Korra let go of her waist, sending her for a clumsy spin that almost swept her off her feet. They reunited as Korra dipped her, a move she admittedly carried off with style. In comparison with the rest of the dance floor, Asami figured they probably looked pretty damn elegant.
The music cut off without warning. "You guys!" The swim captain, who had definitely had too much to drink, began shouting. "It's midnight! Everyone, it's midnight!" Asami looked around, puzzled, unable to connect the dots until- oh.
Their lips met, and it was sloppy and awkward and yet so perfect. Korra smiled against her lips, one hand cupping the side of Asami's face. And it was over as suddenly as it started. "Happy new year," Korra said with a chuckle. Her head rested against Asami's shoulder; they couldn't see each other's faces. Several couples around them had continued kissing, and Asami found herself at a loss for words.
"Or, I guess, happy early December. This is fun, though." They walked together towards the kitchen. Asami tried to tell if it was fondness or exhaustion that kept Korra leaning against her. She hoped that she looked more together than she felt.
"I guess it works... But only since we'll probably all be home for actual New Years," mumbled Asami, realizing Korra had been looking at her for a response.
"Yeah, I'll be forever away! I guess I can call people, but where's the fun in that?"
Asami gave Korra a nudge with her shoulder. "Hey, I'd be so down for a celebration over wi-fi."
"There you are!" Mako approached them both. "Do you guys wanna head out soon?" Korra nodded, stifling a yawn. "Woah, you feeling alright? Both of you, I guess - Asami, you look pretty red."
"What? Oh, it's just hot in the other room, that's probably it." He raised an eyebrow, probably attributing her lack of composure to alcohol, but she didn't care enough to correct him.
Asami ended up crashing in a beanbag chair on the floor of Korra and Opal's dorm, since she didn't want to drag anyone in the opposite direction to her place. Korra offered to share her twin bed and Opal offered to give hers up, but Asami insisted she didn't feel like moving, feigning exhaustion. Despite her best efforts, though, she didn't spend much of the night asleep. She kept going over every detail of the night in her head, wondering just what events had led her there, but she knew one thing for certain: she wouldn't have missed it for the world.