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On December 1st, Korra got so excited to initiate Operation Kiss Asami Sato that she quite literally tripped on her two feet walking to the girl of her dreams with a sad mistletoe attached to a fishing hook (one that Bolin had proudly made).
On December 5th, Korra tried again by getting her friend-but-also-crush alone backstage during one of their charity events to try Operation Kiss Asami Sato Again. Unfortunately, Bolin had conveniently forgotten Korra’s plan, and thus invited his groupies to the same spot Korra had specifically told him not to, damn it.
On December 14th, Korra initiated Operation Smother Asami Sato If It’s Not The Last Thing I Do. She immediately had to go to the hospital for a broken leg.
On December 17th, Operation One More Time, Please God Why was in motion. It backfired once more, and December 18th rolled around. That backfired, and then she tried again the next day.
Every single time, every time damn it, something went bump in Korra’s smooth plans.
So now it was December 25th, the Doomsday to Korra’s hopes and dreams. You couldn’t confess to your long time best friend after December 25th, especially if you didn’t have any other better idea than to use the one thread of hope you called a mistletoe. It made Korra shiver just thinking about it.
Bolin thumped her back with his fist in sympathy, offering her his mug of eggnog with an encouraging smile. Korra refused with a simple shake of the head, thrusting the mug back to Bolin’s broad chest when Bolin refused to get it out of her face.
“I just don’t get why you can’t just tell her how you feel, Korra,” Bolin said to her, quickly stuffing a gingerbread man into his mouth once he swallowed the last. “I mean- come on! It’s Asami!”
“Exactly!” Korra said, the exasperation and annoyance in her voice loud and clear. “She’s been with us for like, what? Four years? Longer? Remember Mako and how much I blew that up?” she groaned.
Bolin hummed in content, wagging his last hoarded gingerbread man at her accusingly as they walked down the narrow hallways of the mansion. “Asami isn’t Mako though,” Bolin said simply, his shit eating grin resting squarely on his face. Their last stop was to play for Asami’s own grand Christmas party, and they were all too eager to say yes. Actually, it would’ve been a crime to say no and it wasn’t just because Asami was their good friend. She was the reason Korra, Bolin, and Mako had formed their band after all, and had gain commercial success over the past few years.
She was in their rock band for the first half of their careers, until duty called and Korra had her...incident and Asami had to clean up after her father’s mess. One would think the great Asami Sato would take no part in such “eccentric activities”, as one would call it, but they’d be surprised at how truly extraordinary Miss Sato could be. Korra was, especially when they first met a lifetime ago.
And now Korra was deeply enamoured with Asami, and there was literally nothing she could do about it but scream to herself at how pretty and out of her damn league goddamnit her best friend was. You’d think Korra of all people would have complicated but effective plans on wooing the most gorgeous person she’d ever laid her eyes on.
But nah. Her plan? Get them alone and commence the final and desperate plan of Operation Mistletoe.
“Bolin,” she said solemnly, grabbing the gingerbread out of his hands before it reached his mouth, “I am so dead.” Then she stuffed the holiday goodness into her own mouth, chewing quite sadly for someone about to land the girl of her dreams in an hour or so.
“Course you are!” the drummer exclaimed. He crouched lower to match Korra’s view of the ground, making hand gestures all over the place as he explained, “You’re the Krew’s star singer! The ooh to everyone’s aah! The moan to Asami’s oh, Korra, right th-!”
“That’s enough, Bolin, thank you!” Korra cut off, pushing his face down to the ground before he can see the growing heat to her entire face. Bolin only breathed out a laugh, catching up to match Korra’s now brisk pace.
“But you know it’s true,” he teased. He put his drained mug on a random hallway table decor for a butler to fetch. Their destination drew closer, their voices echoing and bouncing off the vast space of Sato Estate. The party was all the way to the other side of the building, where everyone was probably packing up to go home and having their last complimentary conversations after the Krew had announced their final song of the night.
“Look, Kor,” Bolin said smoothly when Korra had refused to answer. “You’re nervous, I get it. I would be too! Heck, I am nervous! I mean, it’s not everyday you get to help out two of your best buds to join in holy matrimony and have cute little adopted babies that call me ‘Uncle Bo’ whenever I visit-”
“-you can think about that much much later on, Bolin,” Korra said. She pursed her lips, wringing her hands out in front of her in a vulnerable show of nerves. “But for now, try and not help me break my leg again, please?”
“But you should be breaking your leg, that’s how we musicians show we care!” Bolin argued. Then the actual meaning hit him, and he said, “ Ooooh. Oh right. Right. Huh. Well, knock them dead instead of break a leg then! Wait- no- you get what I mean.” He thumped her hard one last time on the back, pulled his hood over his head and flashed her the thumbs up before darting to the nearest next wing. Like according to plan.
Korra stood there for a good three seconds before realizing that Bolin had actually left her alone.
Damn it.
She’s tried to get Asami’s attention to ultimately confess before, and not once had she felt like passing out. So why now ? She groaned to herself, smothering her face with her hands to get herself to pull it together. Promptly turning around to face the big doors to her destination, Korra took a deep breath. You can do this, she said to herself, you’re the Avatar. Number one. It’s just Asami. Asami…
Asami who would probably freak out if she saw a mistletoe above them, but not in the good way. Asami Sato, who was thousands and thousands of different ways of being out of Korra’s league.
“Ugh!” Korra groaned. She threw open the doors to the outside for the Future Industries test course. She had ice cream and her cuddly dog waiting for her at home if this didn’t go right.
The first thing she noticed when she had stepped outside was how unbearably dark it was. It was nearly 11pm, after all. Republic City had its share of harsh winters and Korra would still be willing to wear a tanktop outdoors. However, with how cold it was? Would Asami be out here? Korra was blasted with a sudden new panic, her body completely ignoring the blast of cold winter air. Where would Asami be after the party besides her workshop? Could Korra find her in time before her band would be kicked out of the estate like wild dogs? Would Asami even want to kiss her for the sake of a tiny plant? What on earth is Korra doing ?
Hopefully soon, Asami. But that’s not a concern right now.
Before the panic could settle too much in the pit of her stomach, a loud rumble from an all too familiar Satomobile struck Korra’s ears. She tuned in to where it was coming from and followed accordingly. The rumble was soon accompanied by Asami’s voice, who by the sounds of it, was annoyed with a client over the phone.
Korra snuck into the joint workshop, closing the door fully to keep the cold out. Asami’s back was facing her, still wearing the expensive dress Asami doned for her party. However, her hair was no longer in the tight curls she kept and was loose around her face while she looked over the hood of her new prototype. Asami paid no mind to Korra, who was now currently stuck in an awkward position to lean against one of the cars and resist the urges to throw car parts at her friend to get her attention.
She didn’t have to wait long, however. Asami said an obviously curt goodbye to whoever had unleashed her annoyance on Christmas. Korra glanced at the digital clock on the shelf. It was eleven. An hour before December 26th and all attempts at mistletoe wooing gone for good. She swallowed the sudden lump in her throat, and turned back to look at her friend.
Asami had taken notice of her now, wiping the dirt off her face with a cloth while she turned around to face Korra. She looked downright tired, but Korra couldn’t keep her tongue out of its ties from how beautiful Asami still looked. Everything this girl did was nearly flawless that it was almost unfair.
“Korra,” Asami greeted. The green in her eyes were shimmering like emeralds in the workshop’s closely kept lights. She draped the cloth over the desk next to her opened hooded car, smiling at Korra in the genuine way that was different from the smiles she gave to every guest she had to give to everyone. It never failed to make Korra swell in pride at that mere fact. She wished she could keep giving Asami those smiles for the rest of her life, regardless as good friends or more.
Asami gave her a bemused expression, and Korra was quickly snapped out of her little trance. “Sorry, what?” Korra said with a sheepish smile. “I’m a little out of it- from the show, I mean,” she excused herself.
“I’d bet,” Asami agreed, leaning against her own car to reflect Korra’s casualness, “you three were great out there. Better than any old band I can get across the country, actually. I just asked how you were doing.”
“Oh, I- I’m great!” Korra quickly answered, the strain in her voice evident. She mentally smacked herself in between the eyebrows for it. “How about you? I know you’ve been uh, trying to please everyone at the party.”
Asami smiled, though it strained a little bit in her eyes. “I just miss being up there with you guys, that’s all,” she replied.
“Oh,” Korra said dumbly. An awkward second passed by, and Korra cleared her throat to try again. “Once everything settles you can come with us to a few gigs now and then. We definitely wouldn’t mind. You’re a killer- lady killer! Up there, I mean.” Stop talking, Korra, stop talking.
Asami laughed, fiddling with a single nut on her desk. “I’d love to. Really. How has fame been treating you, Korra?” she teased.
“You wouldn’t believe it, Asami,” Korra groaned. She threw her arm out in front of her to make a point of how crazy it was. “Sometimes I’d be walking down the street and people would go, oh my God it’s the Avatar, and I’d be like, hell yeah I am, come get it, and just- wow!”
Asami laughed even louder at her antics, one that Korra decided to join in for. “Well, I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself, Miss Avatar,” Asami said.
Korra made a face. “Don’t use my stage name. It’s weird coming from you,” she complained.
“Weren’t you the one who came up with it?”
“Only because I didn’t want to be stuck with something stupid like the Boulder.”
Asami hummed. Tilting her head slightly to the side, Asami folded her arms in front of her and asked, “Did you come here to give me my gift before you had to go or did you put it under my Christmas tree in the banquet hall like everyone else?”
Korra’s face paled and her blood dropped to a level colder than the snow outside. “Asami, I’m so sorry, I-” she stammered.
“Korra,” Asami laughed. “I’m joking. You coming here to perform was more than enough for me, I mean it.”
“Oh, thank God, I was almost about ready to beg you for forgiveness,” Korra moaned, half-kidding and half-serious. With all the craziness about Operation Mistletoe, Korra forgot the most essential part of all. Gifts, damn it.
Asami only giggled to her expense, and had pushed herself up from leaning against her prototype car to disappear behind it. “I hope you didn’t mind, but I got something I think you’d like to see before you go,” she called from behind the mess. Korra stood on her tiptoes to see what Asami was digging through, but retracted in defeat when she couldn’t see anything.
“I hope it’s not another Bolin action figure, Asami,” Korra said in reply. Her friend didn’t answer.
Asami came back to her vision with a guitar in her hand. Shiny, electric, and perfect in Korra’s hands even if Korra hadn’t even touched it. But it was also familiar.
When it hit her, Korra’s jaw slacked.
“Is that my old electric guitar?” she said quietly.
“Hm, in design, yes. It’s...not the original, but I made it to be exactly like your first,” Asami admitted. When Korra first went to Republic City as a witty teenager, she played her electric guitar like her life depended on it. She could play Through the Fire and Flames without breaking a sweat. However, once she had to take her “anger management” classes from her mentor Tenzin, she had to get rid of it because of how “crude and savage” it was for her personality.
Jokes on him, because now Korra played it for a living.
Still, it wasn’t the same without her trusty guitar. And now, to see it again in the flesh, even if it wasn’t the original, it was almost...bittersweet. But mostly sweet. So very sweet knowing that Asami made it.
Wait.
Oh my God, Asami made it.
“You…” Korra’s voice failed her.
“Yeah,” Asami said sheepishly. She stepped toward Korra, gingerly placing the guitar in Korra’s nearly numb arms. All the times she played Smoke on the Water and Black Betty rested in her hands now. It was a shiny plated solid blue, a strip of traditional Water Tribe patterns around the body of the guitar, identical to Korra’s bicep tattoo.
“Asami, I’m going to start crying,” Korra said plainly. She looked up at her friend.
Asami smiled back at her, and Korra had to restrain from sobbing and kissing every part of Asami’s face.
“You could thank me with honouring a tradition,” Asami said with a carefree shrug.
“A wha-?”
Right on time, Korra caught the thing that hung almost right between them in the ceiling. She looked up even more, craning her neck. A mistletoe.
But that was not her mistletoe. She was supposed to lead Asami to a casual walk around the Sato Estate, to where her mistletoe was. How did she miss this one? Why did she miss that one? What?
But you know what? It still got the job done.
Like it was in slow-mo, Korra brought her eyes back to eye-level with Asami, leaning forward without a single thought in her head but it’s finally happening while at the same time, Asami did the same. She had a feeling the both of them wanted to kiss each other on the cheek, but man, did the world like to screw everything up.
They pecked each other on the lips, and for a moment, Korra felt Asami’s soft velvety lips against her cracked ones. She tasted like peppermint.
Korra retracted like Asami was on fire, blinking furiously. “I- sorry! I didn’t-!’
“No, I should be apologizing, I wasn’t thinking either-”
“You weren’t?! I didn’t even bother to-”
And just like that, their stammers fell to a close, and they simply looked at each other, with Korra’s hands still wrapped around her new cherished guitar and Asami looking just as shocked as the other.
“So...do you have any song requests?” Korra squeaked out.
“Any...any love song would do,” Asami said without apparent thought.
“I don’t think I can think of a rock song with enough love to be accurate about you.”
“Then write one.”
Korra felt like her entire body was vibrating. She gave Asami her crooked grin, one that Asami returned with a relieved smile of her own.
“I think I will.”
“It worked! It worked! It worked!” Ikki squealed, dancing around with her brother Meelo.
Jinora and Kai shushed them, though they both had crazy mad scientist grins on their faces themselves. Kai high-fived his girlfriend, looking through binoculars as they watched between the bushes in front of the workshop.
“How mad do you think Bolin will be when he realizes that his efforts were curved?” Kai asked.
Jinora thought about it for a while.
“Enough.”
Kai grinned. “Good.” He turned to Ikki and Meelo behind him, offering them binoculars of their own to watch the exchange. “I don’t think Jinora and I could’ve done this without you two,” he admitted to them as they crouched by his side.
Ikki pshhhed, waving her arm in front of Kai’s face in dismissal. “I mean, it wasn’t hard. I just offered Asami some peppermint gum and Meelo put that mistletoe in the ceiling crack! For a rich lady, Asami reallyyy needs to invest in fixing those ceiling cracks.”
Jinora shook her head, putting the binoculars back up to her face. “Let’s just consider this our gift to those two.”