Chapter Text
Asami drives them to a restaurant she likes near the hospital. Over the course of the drive and the business of getting seated and ordering, Korra deftly avoids the kinds of small talk that usually leave Asami looking for a way out of the conversation. Instead she talks about the kids at the hospital, confirming Asami’s suspicion that tiny, shy Jiro has the best smile to ever grace human lips, that Cixi was so impressed by Kya that she’s seriously considering becoming a doctor as well as a rock star when she grows up, and that Pakku has the sort of intense, confused crush on Opal that makes both Korra and Asami glad that they aren’t thirteen anymore.
It occurs to Asami--as Korra describes Cixi performing an air guitar solo for her today--that if Korra were trying to find a shortcut to Asami’s good graces, then she couldn’t have picked a better topic of conversation. The thing is, though, that given how animated and enthusiastic Korra is, Asami’s pretty sure that Korra is talking about the kids because she likes them and she wants to. And that fact means that Korra has become one of Asami’s new favourite people by the time their food arrives.
Conversation breaks down as they begin to eat. In the relative silence that follows, Asami finds her thoughts drifting back to what brought them here. “So. You’re a clown.”
“I am a clown,” Korra says gravely.
“Why…?”
Korra chuckles. “Clowns make a lot of people happy, Asami. Not everyone, sure, but...”
Asami can feel her face heating up. “I didn’t mean to imply--”
“It’s okay.” Korra puts down her chopsticks and purses her lips. “I do like making people happy, but that wasn’t why I became a clown. I guess...I guess I realised one day that I was allowed to make myself happy, and that’s where it started.”
“You thought being a clown would make you happy?” Asami blurts.
Korra laughs, which only makes Asami’s face hotter. Korra leans across the table and gently touches Asami’s arm. “Hey, no. I’m sorry. I’m not laughing at you, I swear. I just...we’re coming at this from really different angles, I guess. Let me try to explain it better?”
Asami nods, too embarrassed at her outburst to risk speaking for the moment.
“So, uh, I was a gymnast in high school. I was fiercely competitive, really focused on my training, determined to compete at the Five Nations, all that stuff. At the time, I would have said it was my dream. I did say that! Often and loudly! I...am a bit of a talker, if you hadn’t noticed.”
Asami smiles. “I had, you are, and it is no way a bad thing. I like listening to you.” Korra stares at her, and it’s only in the brief silence of the moment that Asami becomes aware of just how quickly Korra’s voice and story had soothed her. Asami finds herself tensing again, so she quickly says, “So, uh, gymnastics wasn’t really your dream?”
Korra blinks. “Oh! Uh, no. Well, kind of. I did love performing, for the physical thrill and for an audience. I still do! But...but I was so focused on the competitive side, I kinda lost the joy in the creative side. I was pretty good. My coach expected big things of me. A lot of people began to expect big things of me. It felt like the only way to please them was to please the judges And trying to please the judges had me chasing the technical perfection my coach demanded, and...eh, I was a real butt for a while to everyone around me.” Korra looks away for a second. When she looks back, she smiles. It’s the first time she’s looked anything other than utterly sincere. “But luckily, I got injured!”
“Luckily?” Instinctively, Asami lays her hand over the back of Korra’s. “What happened?”
“I dislocated my elbow practising a routine. No bone or ligament damage. I really was lucky.” Korra’s smile softens. “It happened a couple of weeks before my try out for the Southern Water Tribe National Team, though. Blew my chances. My coach tried to push me into performing anyway, said the injury wasn’t too severe, I could get back to practice after a week, and--”
“He did what?” Asami knows, on a rational level, that this happened a long time ago and that Korra is here now and healthy. But she has seen too many children hurt through the callousness of adults who are supposed to care for them. Her anger spills out before she can contain it. “He had absolutely no right! A week of immobility is the bare minimum of recovery time! And there’s no way you can go from that to intense physical activity without causing real, lasting harm! Is this coach still coaching? What’s his name?”
Korra is staring at her again, and when the spilled anger evaporates, Asami feels a fresh wave of embarrassment rolling over her. She makes to sit back, but Korra quickly catches her hand. Korra gives her a gentle squeeze and lets go. “Thank you,” she says softly. Then she grins. “But it’s okay! Unalaq isn’t a coach anymore and I’m fine. I mean, I was almost willing to believe him, but I talked it over with my parents and that made everything blow up. Did I...mention that my coach Unalaq was also my uncle Unalaq?”
Asami gapes at her. “Seriously?”
“Yup!” Korra shakes her head. “He and my dad got into a fight, I quit the gymnastics team, my uncle ended up resigning and moving north. It was a whole big mess. And I was…”
“Feeling guilty?”
Korra slowly nods. “Yeah. I was supposed to be this star, you know? I had all these expectations riding on my shoulders. My own most of all! And suddenly, my family was fighting and there was nothing I could do. Yeah, I felt guilty. And lost! And...and for a while I was even more of a butt to everyone around me. You do not want to imagine my buttishness, Asami. It was bad.”
Asami coughs and takes a sip of water while she tries to get rid of the mental image of the adult Korra’s butt in skinny jeans. Asami caught a glimpse of it on the way in to the restaurant. ‘Bad’ is not a word that applies. “Ah, I can imagine, in a situation like that, that you’d be...it must have been tough.”
“It was. But my elbow healed, and things settled down, and I began to realise that I didn’t really know who I was without all that pressure on me. And, okay, that was kinda scary, but I also realised that who I had been with the pressure...well, that wasn’t someone I liked very much.” Korra shrugs. “I got to figure that out pretty young. I think that makes me lucky.”
“Not everyone would agree,” Asami says softly, “but I think you’re right.” And someone special. Asami is becoming increasingly convinced of that, too. “Now, how did all of that lead to you becoming a clown?”
Korra blushes. “Oh, right! I, uh, didn’t mean to give you my whole life story!”
“Korra, please. I’m enjoying talking to you.”
Asami is treated to another of Korra’s dazzling grins. “Yeah? Great! Okay, so, uh, long story short? Aang’s Aerial Nation Circus came to town and my folks took me to see the show. This was months after the whole elbow thing. I was still pretty moody, and I didn’t even want to go to the show! But I remember that night. I remember watching all the aerialists and the acrobats and the jugglers and the clowns and...it clicked. What I’d been missing when I was trying to be perfect, you know? The joy of it! The spectacle! The laughter! I told my parents when we got back home that I was running away to join the circus.”
Asami laughs. “You didn’t!”
“I totally did! I was...hazy on the concept of running away. And joining circuses.”
Asami snorts, shaking her head. “How did your parents react?”
“They pointed out that I’d have better odds if I stayed in school, worked hard, and applied to circus school.”
“There’s a circus school?”
“There is! Right here in Republic City. I spent three years there. Wanna know what I learned?”
“I’m going to guess that it involves clowns.”
“Good guess! Among a lot of other things. I learned a little of everything in circus school, but I wanted to focus on acrobatics and aerial techniques. But...I fell into bad old habits and got a bit too intense when I was training. I would get mad at myself whenever I messed up. One mistake would get me so wound up I’d wreck a whole routine. And that’s...not good, obviously. In a performance, mistakes are gonna happen! You’ve got to be able to deal with them.”
Asami nods. “I think that goes for life in general.”
“Right?” Korra laughs. “And this is where the clowns come in. Trying to be an acrobat was too close to what I used to do. To who I used to be. But when I put on a dumb wig and some grease paint...I became someone else. And if I made a mistake, people weren’t laughing at me, they were laughing because a clown did something dumb!”
“Huh. So you just...decided to become a clown and abandon the gymnastics?”
“Nah, I do both.” Korra grins and leans across the table, eyes shining. “Actually, I get to do everything. You should hear the response I get when I mimic the acrobats’ routines or do a high wire act in all my clown gear. I do all the pratfalls, and juggling, and general buffoonery, too, but I also get my own little moments to shine. Little spots where I get to try very technical things, but make it look sloppy or silly or out of control. I get to satisfy the competitive part of my brain without taking myself too seriously and driving everyone around me up the wall.”
Korra’s grin softens into a smile and Asami can’t help but smile back. “I get to be happy with who I am as a performer. I get to make other people happy when I perform. And that makes me pretty happy the rest of the time, too. And that...is why I’m a clown.”
“You are a clown,” Asami solemnly agrees. She smiles and raises her glass of water in salute. “And somehow, you’ve made me like that about you.”
Korra laughs and clinks her glass with Asami’s. “Good. I, uh, I hope it makes things easier for you at the hospital. I’d say I could still visit without the makeup, but...the kids expect clown me, not me me.”
Asami sighs. “I...will probably need more time to adjust to clown you. But I meant it when I said I don’t want you to stop on my account. And I mean it when I say I’m very glad to have met you. You you, at least.”
Korra dips her head, maybe in agreement, maybe because it looks like she’s blushing again. Asami feels another pleasant tremor in her stomach. Asami takes advantage of Korra’s downturned eyes to study her face. It’s a very nice face, Asami decides. Possibly the nicest face, in fact.
Just as that thought occurs, Korra looks up. She smiles shyly. “What?”
“Nothing! Just...uh, should we get the bill?” Asami curses herself inwardly while maintaining a smile for Korra’s benefit.
Korra glances at her watch and nods. “I guess. It’s getting late, huh? I didn’t mean to take up so much of your time.”
“No, please! It’s been...um, actually, if you aren’t busy, there’s a good coffee place not far from here?”
Korra grins. Asami decides that she likes being able to make Korra do that. “Yeah? Well, I’m never too busy for coffee!”
A brief argument about who is paying the bill--which Asami graciously loses--later, they’re walking down the street together. They don’t talk, but their silence holds few of the nerves it did before dinner. Few, but not none. Asani finds herself stealing little glances at Korra as they walk, finding her a more engaging sight than the storefronts and alleys that they pass.
Korra catches Asami looking, but she doesn’t say anything. She just smiles and looks away. After a moment of staring at the sidewalk and waiting for her cheeks to cool down, it occurs to Asami that maybe the reason why Korra caught her looking was that Korra’s been sneaking looks at her. Asami looks at Korra. Korra is looking at her, but she quickly turns her head, coughing and turning red.
Asami smiles to herself, enjoying the sudden warm glow in her chest.
They’re almost at the cafe when Korra stops. She points down an alley, grinning. “Look! This is perfect.”
Asami looks. She sees an abandoned wire shopping trolley near the mouth of the alley. “Uh...it is?”
“It is! We need to acclimatise you to my clowning ways.” Korra rolls her shoulders and stretches her neck. “So! Wanna see me balance a shopping trolley on my chin?”
Asami blinks. “I...think that, as a medical practitioner, I have to say no?”
“Fair. What about as an Asami?”
Asami smiles. “Still no, I’m afraid. Because you could injure yourself?”
“Pfft! Circus school is pretty much all about balance. Your balance, balancing on things, balancing things on you...I’ve got this!”
Korra strides confidently towards the shopping trolley.
“Korra! I’m warning you! I’m not going to treat you if you hurt yourself. You’re an adult, even if you’re acting like a kid.”
Korra laughs. “Fair enough! But I kinda think you’d help anybody in need, if you could.”
Asami rolls her eyes but she has to bite her lip to keep from grinning.
Korra positions herself behind the trolley. She puts her hands on either side of the body of the trolley, bends her knees, takes a breath, then hoists it easily into the air. She lifts the trolley up high, tilts her head back, and lowers the trolley until the push bar is resting on her chin. She makes a series of minute adjustments of her head and her body, then lowers her hands from the trolley.
It stays hanging in the air with barely a wobble, resting on Korra’s chin.
Asami gapes at her. Then, laughing, she bursts into applause.
Korra starts to say ‘thank you’, but she doesn’t get very far because she has a shopping trolley balanced on her chin. Or had. The trolley drops and Korra yelps, diving back. The trolley hits the concrete, bounces with a resounding clatter and hiss of vibrating metal, and ends up half on top of the collapsed, groaning heap that is Korra.
Asami is running before the trolley’s first bounce. “Korra! Are you okay?”
Korra shoves the trolley aside, rolls back onto her shoulders, kicks with her legs, pushes with her hands and is suddenly standing in front of Asami with a grin on her face, entirely uninjured. She winks at Asami, thrusts out her hand, and says, “Hi! I’m a clown. We do pratfalls.”
For a second, Asami is busy processing Korra’s rapid change from the horizontal to the vertical. In the next second, Asami is worried, angry, indignant and seriously considering yelling. When she opens her mouth, though, she bursts out laughing. “Oh! Oh, I was worried! You...what you are, Korra, is a jerk!”
“I mean, I’m not the one refusing to shake my hand, so…”
Asami snorts. “See, stuff like this is why nobody likes clowns!”
Korra lowers her hand, but she’s still grinning. “Some people do. Or I’d be an amateur jerk instead of a professional jerk.”
“Lucky for you, some people are weird about the things they like.”
“Yeah.” Korra locks eyes with Asami. “I feel very lucky right now, Asami.”
Asami swallows, but she doesn’t look away. “Done clowning for the moment?”
“I think so. Still want to get coffee?”
“I do. Somehow. Barely.”
Korra laughs, her eyes dancing. “See what I mean? I’m lucky!”
They share a booth at Shiro’s Coffee. Asami likes it partly because it’s always open late and partly because they make very good coffee in a traditional Fire Nation style. Asami waits for Korra to try her first sip and hides a smile behind her cup when Korra hums in approval.
Asami takes her own sip, cradles her cup in her hands, and sighs. “You haven’t asked about...my thing. With clowns. I...appreciate that.”
Korra hesitates, then nods. “It’s personal. I don’t have a right to pry.”
Asami smiles. “You’re making a dangerously good impression on me, Korra. Just so you know.”
“Well, I have to make up for the first one, right?” Korra treats Asami to another dazzling grin. “But, uh, that’s also...good. And just so you know? You actually did make a good first impression, so you have no ground to make up.”
“Oh, come on! I was a mess.”
“Nuh-uh. You were scared. But you were trying so hard to be polite, and not to freak out or freak me out and that’s...I mean, and then there’s the whole devotedly caring for sick children thing. That doesn’t make a good impression, that’s just good.”
Asami shakes her head. “It’s my job.”
Korra smiles. “I think it’s more than that. You care. And the kids in that ward, the ones I’ve spoken to? They know it. They feel cared for. They feel safe.”
Asami lowers her eyes, not sure what to say. Until, abruptly, she is. Her knuckles whiten around her coffee cup. “The Amazing Amon performed at my sixth birthday party.”
“Huh? Wait, the Amon? But...that’d be more than twenty years ago, right when he...oh. Oh, Asami...”
Asami nods. “Yeah. It made the news, and I’m not surprised you heard some version of the story, being in the circus. I’m the girl who killed the Amazing Amon’s career. And he...almost killed me.”
After a moment’s quiet, Korra says, “He didn’t have much of a career left at that point anyway. He put a lot into that TV show of his and it tanked pretty hard. So don’t…” Korra touches a finger to the back of Asami’s hand. “You know, you’re right. I’ve only heard the rumours about what happened. I don’t know the truth.” Korra pauses. In a soft voice she adds, “You don’t have to tell me anything. Okay? But I’ll listen, if you want to talk.”
Asami sighs. “There isn’t that much to say. My father had a business contact who knew Amon. And Amon had a lot of debts, so he agreed to do a kid’s birthday party. Mine. It was a big affair. I didn’t want it to be, but my father...well. There were a lot of other kids there, mostly because their parents were associates of my parents. I had friends, of course, but...I barely knew most of the other children there.”
“Sounds...awkward.”
“It was...he wanted to show how much he loved me. My father. He did. But he figured the bigger the occasion, the better. And he figured he might as well get some business done, while he was at it, and those impulses decided the guest list and the nature of the whole day. After an hour of it, I wanted to hide and read a book. But if I did that, I’d be ‘letting down my guests.’ I took that seriously. The idea that the guests were my responsibility? I took that to heart. I didn’t want to disappoint anyone, least of all my father.”
Korra clears her throat, shifting in her seat without breaking contact with Asami’s hand. “I, uh, didn’t realise that you were that Sato. But...I did notice that you don’t drive a Satomobile.”
“No,” Asami says flatly. “I don’t. Neither does my mom.”
“Oh.”
That’s all. Asami lapses into silence, and Korra lets her. She doesn’t press or try to change the subject. She doesn’t stop touching Asami either. Just a single finger on the back of her hand, exerting no pressure but providing a kind of tether that helps keep Asami in this moment, preventing her from entirely slipping into the unwelcome past.
When she feels stable enough, Asami raises her cup to her lips, breaking contact, and drinks. Korra folds her hands on the tabletop and offers her a smile. Asami accepts it and returns it. “So. I think Amon or his agent decided that while a kid’s birthday party was beneath the great man’s dignity, he was getting older, he was in debt, and if it went well, with all those rich parents and their children in the audience, events like that could become a nice sideline for him.”
“So Amon put on a show for you…”
“Mmhm. In the grounds of my father’s estate. But...I don’t know. I didn’t like him. I didn’t think he was funny, I found him...threatening. I got the impression that he didn’t really like children. And I think he decided he was too good for the job. He was...mean. The jokes he made, the tricks he played...they were clever, but mean.” Asami shrugs. “At least, that’s how I remember it.”
Korra nods. “I was never really a fan of his, but some of his old shows were filmed and bits of his TV show survived. From what I saw, if he didn’t think a bit was going over, he’d blame the audience. He could be mean, for sure. I think he probably was just mean.”
“Yeah. I think he was.” Asami finishes her coffee and puts the cup aside. She laces her fingers together and studies her hands. They don’t look like they’re shaking, or at least, not more than could be attributed to the caffeine. “I feel so stupid. It wasn’t a...he didn’t try to kill me. He was just a mean jerk and I was...I was unlucky, I guess.”
Korra leans closer, resting her forearms on the table. Again, she doesn’t say anything. She just waits.
Asami sighs. “I was unhappy. I’d been unhappy most of the day, but Amon wasn’t just upsetting me. He was upsetting the guests. My guests. And my father wasn’t around, so if anyone was going to do something, it had to be me. That’s what I thought. So I got up, and I asked the Amazing Amon to stop. He wasn’t being nice, and I wanted him to leave.”
Korra twitches, but she doesn’t speak.
“And he turned and stared at me...with that blank white face and those cruel eyes and that painted smile, and he said ‘You don’t like my jokes? What about my slapstick?’” Asami groans, shaking her head. “And he threw a pie at me. He hit me in the face with a custard pie.”
Korra doesn’t laugh. Asami looks at her and sees that Korra’s fists are clenched and her face is tight with anger. She takes a breath and, in a surprisingly gentle voice says, “You aren’t stupid. And he wasn’t just mean. He was a cruel, vicious bully. And at the height of his career, he didn’t deserve to have you in his audience.”
Asami gapes at her.
“Sorry.” Korra blushes and ducks her head, the anger draining out of her and loosening the tension in her muscles. “I don’t like bullies. And I would never, ever let anyone in a show I was part of do something like that to a kid.”
Asami lays a hand on Korra’s. “You...are a very sweet person. For a clown.”
Korra coughs out a laugh. “I’m one of the good clowns. He was one of the bad ones.”
“Telling me there are bad clowns...does not help my fears, Korra.”
“No, no! See, some people are bad, right? So it stands to reason that some clowns will be bad. But there is good news here!”
Asami cradles her chin in her palm. She looks into Korra’s eyes, smiling. “Oh?”
“Yeah.” Korra nods firmly, her lips crooking up into a smile. “Good clowns are required to stop bad clowns. So, as long as I’m around? Yeah, I’ll fight off the bad clowns for you. Not even because I want to, though I do! I have to, Asami. It’s clown law. And I’m a law-abiding clown.”
Asami laughs. “That’s good to know. I...have been studying martial arts for twenty years, though. I do know how to look after myself.”
Korra’s eyes widen. “Whoah! That is...a thing that I would not have guessed but that I find I very much like about you. Still...I’ll watch your back. In case of clown sneak attacks. Which are, admittedly, not a common thing. The big shoes and the squeaky noses aren’t the best for stealth.”
“Wouldn’t, ah, wouldn’t it make more sense to take off the squeaky nose on a stealth mission?”
“Are you kidding?” Korra gasps in mock outrage. “We can’t take off our noses! Clown law, Asami!”
“But...wouldn’t bad clowns be more likely to break clown law?”
“Not even bad clowns break clown law, Asami. At least, not bad clown law.”
“Ooooh, there’s a bad clown law now?”
“Sure! Uh, I mean, there has been since the beginning of the history of bad clowns, obviously! There have to be laws, and you have to stick to them, or else you’re not a clown. So a bad clown who took off their squeaky nose to be stealthy, well...they wouldn’t be a clown anymore. They’d just be a bad.”
This time, Asami giggles, her embarrassment at the sound she makes instantly burned away by Korra’s appreciative grin. “I had no idea being a clown was so complicated.”
“Well, you know…” Korra huffs on her nails and buffs them on her t-shirt. “Not everyone’s cut out for a life of clowning. It takes the best!”
Asami’s smile fades. “Or the worst.”
Korra winces. “Yeah.”
There’s another silence. Asami takes her time, knowing that Korra won’t break it. At length, Asami shrugs. “Wanna hear the rest?”
“I do.”
“Okay. I’m allergic to vanilla. Which is...not common. But what’s rare is, I’m extremely allergic to vanilla. Some of the custard from the pie went into my mouth, and, because of the vanilla extract, I...went into anaphylaxis.”
“Spirits,” whispers Korra, her eyes wide. “That’s so awful...”
Asami grimaces. “It...was. I didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t know I was allergic back then. And I was shocked and confused because of the pie, and I started feeling anxious. I was struggling to breathe, but...that didn’t seem strange, in the circumstances. And there was a lot of yelling, at that point. My mom apparently ran in and punched Amon. Knocked him down! I wish I’d seen that part, but I had custard in my eyes.”
“Whoah! Your mom sounds awesome!”
Asami smiles. “She is. And that’s...most of it. One of the parents was a doctor, luckily, and as soon as my mom realised that I wasn’t just upset, that something was wrong, she got the doctor to take a look at me. He saved my life.” Asami remembers the sensation of her throat closing, of the desperate, whistling breaths she struggled to take, of the terror building and building inside her with no relief in sight. She remembers being bundled into a car, her eyes swelling shut, blinding her, and...she shuts the memories away. She decides not to mention all of that to Korra.
Not tonight.
“I survived, of course. But when news got out...Amon’s career was over. No one would hire him after he almost killed the daughter of a titan of industry.” Asami’s smile becomes rueful. “And that’s why I...have a tiny bit of a thing about clowns.”
“Yeah.” Korra shakes her head. “I don’t blame you. And I’m so sorry you went through that.”
“Well…” Asami shrugs. “It was a long time ago.”
It gets quiet again after that. Korra finishes her cold coffee, staring at the table, giving Asami time to clear her head. By the time she’s got all of her memories packed away again, the sky has turned black.
Asami groans. “I’m sorry. I...should probably let you go. It’s been good…really good, Korra. But it is actually getting late now.”
“Yeah.” Korra looks at her and smiles. “It has been good, but I guess it is.”
They gather themselves up and go out into what is now the full dark of night. The street lights and store lights around them punctuate the dark, and Asami looks around carefully, fearful of full stops. When she looks at Korra, though, Korra is waiting at the edge of the sidewalk, watching Asami and smiling faintly. Whatever tonight has been, it appears that Korra is in no more of a hurry for it to end than Asami is.
“Hey,” Korra says quietly. “Thank you for telling me the true story.”
Asami smiles. “Thank you for...being a good clown. I’m sure I’m still going to freak out when I see you in costume, but...but it’ll only be until I realise it’s you in there, and then I don’t think I’ll be scared...any...more.”
Asami gasps. It occurs to her that when she looks at Korra, she looks down at Korra, who is a few inches shorter than Asami.
Korra raises an eyebrow at her. “You okay?”
“Um...yeah. I...would you say you’re around average height?”
Korra blinks. “Uh, no. No I would not. I am, in fact, an inch and a quarter taller than the statistical average.”
Two things occur to Asami in rapid succession. The first, which should have been obvious much sooner, is that Pema’s prediction came true and it was about Korra. The second, though, is the one that takes priority. “Korra! Do you...do you maybe have just a tiny bit of a thing about your height?”
Korra’s eyes widen. Her nostrils flare. “Noooo, because we have clearly established that--far from being tiny--I am taller than average. Which makes me, in fact, tall.”
Asami bursts out laughing. “You totally have a thing about your height!”
Korra flushes. “It’s not my fault every adult I know is weird and taller than me! I’m above average! I should know some short adults and--” Korra blinks. “Wait...why did you ask me that?”
Asami wipes a tear from the corner of her eye. “Huh? Oh, I...you know Pema? I mean, of course you do! Well, she predicted that I’d meet someone, and...I think that someone is you. I don’t believe in fate, but I can’t deny that Pema was right about you.”
To Asami’s surprise, Korra neither scoffs nor expresses her wonder. Instead, she scowls and clenches her teeth. “Spirits, Pema! Whyyyy?”
“Uh...am I missing something?”
Korra groans. “Just...my supposed friends trying to embarrass me. Pema knew I was going to talk to you about all this stuff tonight. I...kinda maybe ran it all past her?”
“Oh.” Asami hesitates. “Ah...some of the things she said were...um…”
Asami trails off, but she imagines that her blush does a pretty good job of indicating that Pema talked up Korra’s charm and beauty, and if she wasn’t receiving visions from the spirits but reacting to what Korra told her…
Korra rubs at the back of her neck. “I...may have told Pema things in confidence that may have, somehow, led her to believe that I was maybe kinda slightly attracted to you?”
“Oh.” Asami bites her cheek. “What things could those have been?”
“Asami!” Korra glares at her. “Are you laughing at me?”
“Can’t you tell?” Asami leans forward so that her eyes are on the same level as Korra’s. “Does this help?”
Korra chokes, her face reddens, she snorts, then suddenly she laughs. “Oh, great! Another tall person in my life who wants to make fun of my height! Perfect! Just what I needed!”
“I think it might be more than just your height, now I know I can fluster you like this.”
Korra smirks. “Oh, really? Are you sure you want to play this game with me?”
Asami flips her hair over her shoulders. “Fairly, yes.”
“Well how about this? I told Pema that everyone at the hospital said you were the kindest, hardest-working, most talented doctor they’d ever worked with.”
“Uh…” Asami’s grin dissolves. “Oh…”
“Uh huh. That’s what I thought.” Korra’s smirk becomes more smug. “And I told her you’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen!”
“Oh.” Asami swallows, suddenly very aware of how close Korra’s face is to hers. “Korra…”
“Ahhh…” Korra’s eyes widen and her smirk vanishes. “I...think I meant to keep that an inside thought? Not an out loud thing I said?” She swallows. “It’s, uh, true though. You are. And getting to know you? Even a little bit? It’s been...well...it makes me think I’m...”
Suddenly, Korra’s foot slips off the edge of the sidewalk. She stumbles, tries to hop to regain her balance and somehow kicks her leg out from under her, so violently she flips over and lands on her back on the sidewalk.
Asami quickly kneels beside her. “Are you…?”
Korra winks at her and smiles. “I’m pratfalling for you, Asami.”
Asami clutches her stomach and ends up sitting next to Korra, shaking with laughter. When she has enough breath to speak, Asami gasps, “Oh, Spirits! That is...somehow the dumbest...and the sweetest thing!”
Korra sits up and grins at Asami. She bumps her shoulder against Asami’s. “I’m a clown. Clown law makes flirting really tough sometimes. Just, uh, pretend I’m wearing the nose.”
“I’d rather not. I like your real nose much better. I like your whole face, actually. Quite a bit.”
“Oh. Yeah?”
Asami chuckles. “Yeah. So...I’m meeting some friends from the hospital for drinks next week. Would you like to come with me?”
Korra stares at her. “Like...as a date?”
Asami bumps Korra’s shoulder. “Tell me, what would you say tonight was?”
Korra’s grin blazes to life. “I’d kinda have to say date.”
“Well, then. I suppose we’ll have to make next week a date, too.”
“I just can’t find a way to argue with that logic. Let’s do it.” After they exchange numbers, Korra hops to her feet and offers her hand to Asami. Asami takes it and lets herself be helped to her feet. Korra doesn’t let go of her hand right away. “I guess this is good night?”
Asami’s stomach flutters again. “I guess it is…”
Korra stands up on her tiptoes and kisses Asami’s cheek. “Good night, Asami. I’m really looking forward to seeing you again.”
Asami smiles. “I am too! Looking forward to seeing the you you, anyway.”
“Right.” Korra chuckles.
“Do you need a ride anywhere?”
“Nah, I’m not far from my hotel. I’ll walk. Thanks, though.”
Asami nods, hesitates, then reluctantly backs away from Korra. “Good night, Korra.”
Korra smiles, waves, and turns away. After a couple of steps, though, she pauses and turns back. She grins when she finds Asami watching her. “Hey, Asami?”
“Yes?”
“Is there any kind of dress code at this place we’re going to?”
Asami folds her arms. “Korra.”
Korra laughs, holding up her hands. “It’s a reasonable question!”
“No clowns, Korra!”
Korra laughs again. “I solemnly vow, you won’t find a speck of grease paint anywhere on me!”
Asami grins. “Oh? Well, I’ll take your word for it this time. Checking something like that is more of a third date thing, don’t you think?”
She takes the dumbfounded look on Korra’s face with her as Asami walks away with a wave, her blood singing giddy songs in her veins. Korra’s startled laughter follows her, warm and genuine and full of joy.
That night, the hours of sleep that she loses to thinking about a clown are, for the first time in Asami’s life, entirely happy ones.