Chapter Text
Like most college students, coffee is Asami’s saving grace. Between her final semester at university and finding her footing within her father’s company, coffee is the only thing Asami can look forward to. Her morning cups, piping hot with two scoops of sugar, an iced around noon with caramel syrup, and two decafs to finish the night, one with hazelnut and the other black. The schedule was formed during her second year at university and she followed it religiously. It made her schoolwork easier, to have her days all lined out and divide her work between the cups of liquid gold.
Her final year, however, has proved to be anything but easy. With her final projects, making sure she’s fulfilled all her requirements to graduate, and finally receiving a chance for a more direct position at Future Industries, her stress levels have risen and her sleep schedule has suffered. It’s the reason why she spent almost half an hour finding a coffee shop open twenty-four hours. Asami would not rely on any gas station or corner store, and the coffee at her home simply would not suffice for her task at hand: Asami is to give her first power point presentation at a company interest meeting.
This is the most important task Asami has ever received in the four years she’s worked at Future Industries. It won’t be for another month or so, but Asami finally has the chance to impress her coworkers, to impress her father. Her presentation needs to be more than perfect, and while some may say no such thing exists, she would not be Asami Sato if she didn’t at least try to make it so.
The small name coffee shop is a bit far from her apartment but Asami is more than willing to make the commute. She parks her Satomobile at Earth, Wind, and Coffee; a cute name for a cute looking store. The light is on, one worker is behind the counter, her back to the entrance. The parking lot is empty, Asami is thankful for the vacant shop. She was going to buy the coffee and return home but she already made the trip, why not stay and do some work?
She pushes the door open, hearing a jingle echo in the cafe. The barista looks over her shoulder and stops what she’s doing. She plainly walks to the register.
“Do you need a moment to look?” she asks, her voice tries to be friendly but falls flat.
Asami’s footsteps echo as she walks up to the counter. She nods, viewing all the possible options. The place received four and a half stars on Yelp, there were pictures of various drinks with the reviews people left. Asami thought it all looked amazing and she isn’t sure of what to get.
“Do you have any suggestions?” she says, sheepishly. She’s sure the girl isn’t happy to be working instead of at home in bed, an indecisive customer at one in the morning must not be a welcomed cherry on top.
The barista looks at Asami, her blue eyes are piercing but they’re anything but lively. She’s trying to put a grin on her face but the efforts are subpar at best. Nonetheless, the girl nods, lightly tapping the counter with her fingers.
“Here or to go?”
Asami responds, “Here.”
“You can take a seat, I’ll bring it to you.”
Asami takes a table near the window, placing her bag on the chair next to her. She pulls out her binders and her laptop, placing the laptop in the center and a binder on each side. She takes out her phone, placing it face down in the top right corner of her setup and takes a quick breath. She opens the binder on her left, it’s a collection of sloppily written notes and ideas, using shorthand and abbreviations, some are rough sketches. She grabs a tab and opens to that page, running her finger down the lined paper, trying to read her handwriting.
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a coaster being placed on the table and glances up to see the barista. Asami reads the name tag, Korra. She looks at the wide mug, it features an arrow made from foam.
“That’s the Avatar, it’s our best seller,” she says. Her hands are behind her back but Asami can see them fidgeting, “It’s a latte macchiato, we steep some cinnamon sticks in the milk before adding the espresso.”
Asami smiles warmly, excited to try the drink. She thanks Korra and watches as the girl nods lightly and walks back over to the counter. She begins cleaning the espresso machine. Asami takes a sip from the mug, lightly moaning from the taste. She feels Korra’s eyes peer up at her for a moment. Their eyes meet and Asami blushes, putting the mug and her head down. She opens the binder on the right side, pulling out the pen tucked into the inside cover. She thumbs through to the next clean page and begins squinting at her sloppy notes, rewriting them neatly once they’re deciphered.
She stays until she finishes her latte, about forty-five minutes. She’s done a considerable amount of work: reorganized her notes, divided them into which she’d like to feature in her presentation, created the PowerPoint (albeit empty), and refined her sketches to the best of her ability. She isn’t the best with drawing, and they’re nothing like what she pictures in her head, but the harder she tries, the less the sketches look right. Finally filled with enough frustration, she takes the final sip of her drink then starts packing her things up.
Korra comes over to her table. She peers into the drink and takes it and the coaster away. Asami looks up at her, asking about the price. Korra lets out a small breath, “First time is on the house.”
Asami smiles, the two hold eye contact for a few seconds before Korra walks away. Asami has almost all her things when she looks back at Korra. The girl has spaced out, staring at a table top aimlessly as she leans on the cloth in her hand. Asami can’t imagine having to work this shift, though she’s appreciative for her service since she got some work done and tried a brand new drink. She walks over to the tip jar and leaves 100 yuans.
“Thank you again, Korra.”
At the sound of her name, Korra slowly peers over to Asami, who now stands by the door. “Oh, yeah, of course. Have a great rest of your night, or day? I--” Korra shakes her head. “Have a good one.”
Asami smiles and walks to her car.
Fridays are Asami’s personal days. She doesn’t have any classes, she isn’t required to be at Future Industries, so Thursday nights are the best nights for her to visit Earth, Wind, and Coffee. She’s been dreaming about another cup of The Avatar or trying something else, she isn’t sure. However, the coffee isn’t the only reason she wants to visit again.
Korra had been on Asami's mind since she left the coffee shop. They may not have exchanged many words, but Asami more so wondered how Korra ended up with this night shift in the first place. She looked to be about the same age as Asami, maybe a year younger. She was shorter than Asami but Korra could easily lift the massive bags of coffee beans and carry more than two at a time. The blue hoodie the girl wore hid the muscles she had and Asami would be lying if she said she didn’t want to see her arms. Asami had done a fair amount of work, but her little breaks in between consisted of stealing glances at Korra and wondering how someone got roped into working the night shift.
Does she always work through the night, what about school? When does she attend classes, where does she attend, does she even go to school? Asami has never seen her at her school, Republic City University, but it’s also a large establishment offering a wide variety of majors, maybe she’s just never passed her before.
She just cannot wrap her head around the thought of someone actually accepting this night position when they look like Korra. (As in, a young adult who Asami assumes is trying to find her way in life and fully commit to adulthood. Nothing about Korra’s ocean blues or flustered tone when saying goodbye tugged at Asami’s mind, no.) Is there no one waiting for Korra at home? Her parents, some friends, a boyfriend, a girlfriend? (Is it wrong for Asami to hope no?) Does the girl have no personal repercussions for staying up while the rest of the world is fast asleep? Do her friends hate that she can never go out on a Friday night cause she’s beat from her shift at the 24 hour cafe? Will Asami ever find answers to these questions?
Asami pulls into the Earth, Wind, and Coffee parking lot past midnight. There are a few more cars than last week and inside the cafe are a small group of people. They don’t appear to be staying long, hovering around the register and pick-up area for to-go orders. Asami enters and is met with roaring laughter. She finds Korra but can’t see her face, she’s making drinks. Asami looks at the group, she’s seen a few of them before, noticing one boy in particular. Iroh also goes to Republic City University, he was in Asami’s statistics class last semester. Thankfully, he doesn’t notice Asami. He’d been trying his hardest to get the girl’s attention in the class: tossing crumpled paper her way, whisper-shouting her name when the professor wasn't paying attention, getting to class early and leaving notes on her desk. She didn’t appreciate the gestures, having heard how he talked about himself in class the first day. He was boasting about his status as the Firelord’s son, his soccer scholarship, how many connections he has, all the possibilities for his future: taking the throne, becoming a soccer star, pursuing a business career with his degree. The countless recounting of these points makes Asami upturn her nose; she doesn’t like self-righteous people.
She thought she’d seen the last of him after the class ended. It was a relief to take the final and walk out of the lecture room, free of his antics. However, just a few months ago, Asami walked into the Future Industries conference room to see Iroh shaking hands with her father. He’s stayed rather civil in the workplace, but she’s had to deny him the many drinks he’s offered for her. The work environment has become less than desirable but she persists despite it.
Asami sees who’s with him, more of her fellow classmates. She knows of the two brothers, Mako and Bolin, they’re both on the soccer team with Iroh. Opal Beifong is with them, Asami has met her mother but only seen Opal in passing at Future Industries events. Tahno is with them as well, another member on the soccer team, though Asami could do without knowing him, being as much of a narcissist as Iroh. She, however, can’t have too big an opinion of his crew: she’s only interacted with them a few times and they were rather nice. She wonders how they put up with Iroh and Tahno.
Korra finishes their drinks, placing the five cups on the counter. She also grabs a few bags of baked goods and places them down as well. She doesn’t watch as they take their drinks, only cleaning the counter space before walking towards the back room. As Iroh and his group leaves, he spots Asami waiting by the register. He gives her a wink as he walks out the door. Rolling her eyes, Asami tries to look into the back room to see where Korra is. The girl comes back out, her eyes finding Asami’s. She swears she can see the corner of Korra’s lip turn upwards but before she can really tell, Korra lets her head fall and places down the bag of coffee beans. She walks up to the register.
“Welcome back,” her voice sounds happier than last week. Asami smiles, “Need another minute to decide?”
“Can you pick a drink for me again?” Asami asks, “I like anything, really.” She watches Korra nod, she sees the girl thinking. “For here, please.”
Korra walks away from the register and Asami gets the same table. She gets her usual set-up together, this time also pulling out a tablet and stylus pen. She doesn’t want to do too much more of the presentation until the sketches are done for blueprints so she’s scanned the mediocre sketches onto her tablet, hoping a drawing app would help with the imperfections.
Asami hears footsteps approaching and sees another wide mug in Korra’s hands. She places down a coaster and the drink, “This is Aang’s Special, it is an egg coffee. We use a dark roast, and then it’s egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, and a little sugar. It’s another best seller.”
“Wow, I’ve never had eggs in my coffee before,” Asami brings the mug up to her mouth and takes a sip. It’s creamy and rich, with just the right amount of sweetness. She smiles, placing it back down, “Do you know a lot about coffee?”
Korra shrugs, “I just know the menu. Enjoy.”
Korra leaves, her navy hoodie is riding up in the back, Asami can see a white tee shirt underneath. Is it wrong if she wishes she could unveil that sight?
Asami finishes the first cup and walks over to the counter. She has the mug and coaster in hand, watching as Korra organizes the flavored syrups. Asami clears her throat and gets Korra’s attention.
She walks up to her, “You didn’t need to bring that over, I could’ve gotten it.”
Asami waves a hand, “It’s no problem. Anything to make your shift a little easier on you.” Asami traces some lines on the counter, her eyes following her fingertips, “I can’t imagine working these kinds of hours.”
“Aren’t you kind of doing work at this hour?” Korra points over to her table and Asami turns around. She blushes, passing the mug and coaster over to her. When she hears the girl take a deep breath, Asami finally brings her eyes up.
Korra's eyes are big, the blues are even more piercing than Asami remembers. They’re dark, almost blending in with the black of her iris. She looks tired, though Asami isn’t surprised. She looks down again, unable to contain how those eyes make her feel.
“You’re very right that I am doing work,” Asami starts, unsure of where she’s going with her drabble, “but I get to leave soon, once I feel I’ve done a suitable amount of my project. You have to stay here.”
The blue-eyed girl pouts lightly, “It’s not the worst to be here. It’s quiet, not many people pass through.” Their eyes meet and the corner of Korra’s lips twitch, “I don’t have to deal with any coworkers, Raava knows small talk is not my strong suit.”
“Then what’s this?” Asami asks, wanting to see Korra’s lip upturn fully.
Then, as if the Spirits heard her, Korra puts on a (small) grin and looks away slightly, “Just talking, I guess.”
She brings her eyes down. She takes the mug and coaster and walks over to the sink. Asami stands at the counter for a second longer before sighing, walking back to her seat, content. She’s still struggling with the sketches. The feeling burns in her mind, how she wants, needs, this to be everything and more. Even with the help of the app, she knows they won’t suffice.
Korra has been cleaning up, sweeping the floor and wiping the tables. She brought over a chai tea for Asami at one point, saying she gets one free drink as an employee and she wasn’t in the mood for anything. Now, just before two in the morning, Korra stops at her table to get the mug when she sees the physical copies of Asami’s sketches.
“What’s this?” she asks, pointing. She only picks it up after Asami looks between her and her finger and nods.
“It’s supposed to be some motorcycle designs.”
Korra pulls out one seat, eyes on the drawing, “A couple different ones?”
Asami brings her attention back to the tablet, “Yeah, Future Industries is doing a great job with our cars and race cars, but professional motorcycle racing has started popping up more and I thought it’d be good to lean into that area of automotives.”
She looks over, realizing Korra has taken her pencil and is drawing. The girl is hunched over, the tip of her tongue sticking out, and she’s erasing and writing. Asami watches as the deer antlers turn into handles, as the conch shells turn into engines, as the eyeball turns into a headlight. Her mouth opens slightly, looking almost inviting for any nearby flies.
“How’s this?” Korra asks, placing the new sketch in front of her. Asami looks over the drawing, glad to see that her vision could be achieved on paper. “Wait, did you say Future Industries?”
Asami looks over at the girl and laughs, “Maybe you need a little caffeine to wake up that brain of yours.” She continues looking over the front page and smiles, “You really fixed these up. Wanna do that with the rest of them?”
“Okay.”
Asami stops, shaking her head, “No, Korra, I, I was just joking.”
“Well, I wasn’t,” she responds, fishing through the rest of the other sketches. “Though, I think I’d like doing these more if I got to know who I was drawing them for.”
Asami ponders the sentence for a moment, realizing, “Oh, Korra, I’m sorry. I’m Asami.”
Korra nods, “Okay, well, Asami, I can get these done for you. I think I can tell what you’re going for in all of them.” She shuffles the papers together, “Can I bend these?” Asami nods. “Do you want color, does that go into sketches?”
Asami grins, “Color would be great. Reds and blacks are good.”
Korra pouts, “I’ll let you know, blue is my color.” Asami giggles and sees Korra’s eyes light up for a second, “I can do reds and blacks. Same time next week?”
Asami smiles wide and nods. She begins cleaning up her things as Korra walks away with the mug in hand and sketches in her apron. Asami glances over at Korra, watching as she lifts the bag of coffee to pour in the grinder. She walks up to the counter, leaning over it slightly.
“So, what time do you get to leave, anyways?”
Korra softly grunts, letting the bag of beans even out before placing them on the ground. “Five.”
Asami checks her watch and sees the time is just past two thirty. “My condolences, I hope the last few hours go by fast.”
Korra nods, looking at the ground, “Have a good week.”
Asami tries to find Korra’s eyes, but she keeps them towards the floor. Asami quietly sighs, “Thank you, Korra. You too.”
She walks out to her car and watches Korra once more. Asami can see how tense she is, her shoulders are pushed back too far, as if Korra is trying to be more: more confident, more in charge, more in control. Korra turns around and her eyes find Asami sitting in her car. She waves. Asami blushes lightly and waves back, starting her car and leaving.
“So, do you work at Future Industries or something?” Korra asks as Asami looks through each new updated sketch.
Korra had done a great job of fixing what Asami originally created. The color scheme is perfect, following the usual Future Industries standards. Though, one of them has a black body with blue highlights and Asami finds herself enjoying that motorbike more than the others.
She sighs, looking up at Korra, “Kind of.” She looks between the ocean blue eyes in front of her, wondering if she’s really going to do this.
At school, once everyone found out Asami was related to CEO Hiroshi Sato, one of two things happened: they tried to take advantage of her wealth or they assumed she was some high class, prissy bitch. It’s part of the reason why Asami doesn’t have many friends. She could never tell if someone was being genuine or trying to get the latest Satomobile for half price (A girl named Ginger really tried to do this). It’s easier to avoid people all together than play some guessing game where Asami could really lose: lose some pride, lose some self respect, lose someone she could start to truly care about.
However, the look in Korra’s eyes makes Asami waver. The cool ocean blues are peaceful, almost eager to hear the elaboration about to leave Asami’s mouth. She wonders, if she tells Korra, what will happen? Will the girl prove to be like everyone else? No.
“My father is Hiroshi Sato.”
Korra’s lips part, nodding.
Asami grows nervous, unsure of what the look in her eyes means now. She’s so anxious she starts rambling, “I’ve been working on a presentation I’m gonna give in a few weeks. It’s gonna be in front of a few pivotal investors so it has to be amazing. My dad’s always wanted me to have a part in the company, and I thought it might be as his successor, but for as long as I’ve been working with him, I’ve always been sidelined. I’ve gone on more coffee runs than helping my father with his duties as CEO and I finally have a chance to show him that I can be so much more for the company.”
Korra’s head has not stopped bobbing up and down. Asami can’t get a read on what’s going through Korra’s mind. Before she can open her mouth again from fear of losing the girl who might be her only real friend as of late, Korra says, “You should probably practice then. Do you have everything ready?”
Asami watches as Korra grabs a binder and flips through the pages. She starts shaking her head, “All right, I’m sorry, but what the hell does this say? I have chicken scratch for handwriting but this is a real contender for taking the Bad Handwriting trophy.”
Asami snatches the binder, her jaw dropping lightly, “First of all, rude. Second of all, this binder has all of my sloppy notes. Sometimes I get ideas but I don’t have enough time to flesh them out fully so I jot them down fast.” She grabs the binder to the right of her and places it in front of Korra, “That binder is the neat one.”
Though it’s quiet, she hears Korra snicker, it’s the closest thing Asami has heard to a laugh. It makes her happy to see Korra happier. Today is the first time Asami has seen Korra smile. It wasn’t full as it could be, Asami just knows, but the lopsided smile is one she wants to see again. Korra smiled when Asami came in, asking if she’d want her to pick her drink again. Korra gave her Momo's Moon Peach Iced Tea and Sokka’s Cactus Juice, a carbonated version of a cherry-berry lemonade made with (very safe and drinkable) cactus water. After Asami finalized the basic points of her slides, and Korra finished restocking the sugar packet station, Korra showed her the sketches.
“Wow, so you even want Future Industries motorcycle gear? A jumpsuit sounds cool,” Korra says. Her finger follows under each word she reads, “Sponsoring a racer, doesn’t that mean you’d be paying someone else? Don’t you guys want money?”
Asami shakes her head, “Sponsoring gets our name out there. If we represent a racer who wins an upcoming race, fans will want to be just like that racer. And how will they do that, you may ask? By buying the matching Future Industries helmets, jumpsuits, leather jackets, gloves, goggles, the works.” She fishes through her computer’s files, opening the folder titled BIG PRESENTATION!! She shows Korra the designs she’s made, highlighting the Future Industries logo. “Stickers, patches, pins, even some little fuzzy dice you can hang off a rear view mirror. To make money, you have to spend some first.”
Korra nods, “They teach you that in school?”
Asami chuckles, “Yes, actually, but it’s also something I’ve known for a long time from my father.” She notices how the moonlight peaking into the window highlights the baby blues across from her. “Are you in school?”
Korra lets out a sharp chuckle, “No. I was never much of a scholar.”
“So, you just work, all the time?”
Korra shrugs, “I’m here Mondays to Fridays, nine to five. It’s just been the routine since I moved here, nothing else really.”
“Where did you move from?”
“South Pole.” She takes a deep breath, “Was looking for a change, something different. My parents were all for it. I know the owner,” she points to the counter, “he’s a family friend. Tenzin was kind enough to give me the job so I could find my footing in the city.” Korra’s eyebrows furrow, “What about you? All I’ve ever seen you do work, all you ever talk about is work, you think you’re in a place to ask a question like that?”
Asami blushes, unable to stop the smile that grows on her face, “I do believe I can ask any questions to get to know you.”
Korra’s eyes flash at the statement. They quickly shift back down to the computer, as she looks through the rest of the memorabilia Asami has created. They don’t talk for a while, Korra looking at the laptop, Asami looking at Korra looking at the laptop. She enjoys the way Korra’s hair rests right under her chin, how there’s one out of place hair in her side bangs. Asami wonders how she deals with it, the way it rests right in between her eyebrows. The girl never pushes it away, fixing it to conform with the others. Asami, the more she looks, enjoys it.
“Your friends in the South miss you?” Asami asks, “They must be so sad you moved.”
“They would be,” Korra says. She speaks quieter, “If I had any.” The smile once on Asami’s face has turned into a frown. “I didn’t really grow up with people around my age. Just my parents and some of the people they worked with. We didn’t travel much either, so it was usually just me and Naga. That’s my dog.”
“Well, surely you’ve made friends here?” Asami asks. “It’s a big city, and there’s so much to do, you’ve most certainly spent some weekends out?”
Korra lets out a weak chuckle, a small grin forming on her face. “You’re giving me too much credit, Sato.” She shakes her head, “I don’t really know how to make friends. But, you know, I get it, you asking me why. I’m sure all your friends have to fight over your time so you can hang out with all of them.”
“Well now, you’re the one giving me too much credit.”
Asami can’t even say her own father is her friend. After her mother died when she was 10, he poured himself into his work. Asami sometimes wonders if that’s why she’s so intent on joining the Future Industries company. She never ponders the thought for too long.
Korra insists she’s right, that Asami has friends lined out the door, and refuses to believe otherwise. Only until Asami shows the girl her contact list does Korra know she’s wrong. The girl takes her own phone out, just to show that she still has Asami beat with the least amount of contacts. (Asami has her father, her father’s body guard Kuvira, her father’s assistant, and her lab partners. Korra has her mom, her dad, and Tenzin.) She takes Korra’s phone, smiling to herself as she types in her name and phone number.
“Right at the top, as I should be,” she sings, giving the phone back.
Korra lets out a chuckle and texts Asami. She looks at the time on her phone, “It’s getting a little late, you should practice next time.”
It’s 2:44 and Asami knows she should be going to sleep soon. She, sadly, packs up and Korra walks her to the door. The two hold eye contact for a few seconds before Korra holds the door open for her. Asami doesn’t know what to thank for Korra’s happier mood as of late, but part of her would like to think it’s because of her. She checks her phone, to see the text message Korra sent.
It’s your friend, Korra.