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Korra was pretty sure they would spend all night walking through the Spirit World had her muscles not started to cry in protest. That amazing girl attached to her hand had set a rather grueling pace.
“Asami,” Korra requested, coming to a halt, “We should probably stop for the night.” She glanced over to the sun, which was starting the set behind rolling hills, leaving a warm gold glow in its wake.
“....Okay,” the other woman agreed reluctantly. Mutual fatigue had finally won out over the genius's curiosity, much to Korra’s relief. Not that she could blame the girl though.
The Avatar dropped her pack on the ground, following only seconds behind it. Her body hit the ground painlessly as she crumpled and sprawled into the fluffy grass. She solemnly noticed the void of warmth that had deserted her left hand, as she had to let go of Asami’s hand in order to avoid dragging the other girl down on top of her. Not a bad idea though -- for a different day.
Asami chortled slightly at the sight of the exhausted bender face-down, wrapped over her backpack.
“Hey Korra,” Asami posed with her hands on her hips, “This is a vacation, right?”
Korra turned over obligingly, muscles suppressing a groan of pain.
“Yeah,” she agreed, slightly confused. They had already covered that, hadn’t they?
Asami smiled slyly. “Want to take a dip?” Korra followed the direction of her pointed finger to a cluster of hot water springs. Yes.
Korra nodded. “Sure!” They walked closer to the springs, stopping at the last elevated patch of land before the water.
“We shouldn’t get our clothes wet,” Asami pointed out, setting her pack down to remove her jacket.
“Good idea,” Korra agreed. A quick hand slid down an arm sleeve; the rest following it in a top-to-bottom fashion.
“Uh,” Asami paused awkwardly, looked slightly alarmed.
“What’s wrong?” Korra froze, standing on one leg while her hands grappled the other pant leg.
Looking up was a mistake. Well, not a mistake, really, but -- damn. All Korra’s restraint immediately went into stifling a squeak. Asami looked absolutely stunning with her bright skin stark against dark fancy underclothes.
“Um,” Asami flushed furiously, “Do we … what should …?” She gestured at her underclothes awkwardly, trying her best to keep her franticness contained and failing splendidly.
Korra laughed to ease the mood. “Just hop in. I’ll bend our clothes dry after.”
“Okay,” Asami agreed, almost immediately returning to the pristine image of composure.
The nonbender was the first in the water. She dipped a toe into the water to test the temperature, and finding it satisfactory, slid the rest of her body in at once.
“Come on in!” Asami giggled, sending a little splash in Korra’s direction.
Korra grinned with pure joy. “Alright!” A moment later, she was submerged right alongside her best friend. The ridges of their faces glowed above the golden water.
“Mmm, this feels good,” Asami said. She closed her eyes and leaned back against the slight rock ridge. Korra opted to keep her eyes open, finding a better view in front of her. The way the sun filtered in from behind Asami’s head, it made her look like a goddess among the spirits.
“So … do you want to talk?” Asami’s voice wasn’t a whisper, but they were in such close proximity that it didn’t require a lot of effort to be heard. It felt … intimate.
Korra relaxed against her side of the spring wall. “Sure. What about?”
Asami blushed as the steam swirled around her face. “About … us.”
“Oh. Okay,” Korra agreed, suddenly fidgety. Next thing she knew, there was a gentle, calloused hand sliding right into place within her own.
“What I said earlier, about not being able to handle losing you, I meant it,” Asami said, “I ... I have feelings for you, and I can’t imagine losing you.”
“I have feelings for you too,” Korra stated, "I - I should've told you sooner."
“It’s alright,” Asami assured, “You needed time to heal.”
Korra looked at her reflection in the water. It was surprisingly … whole.
“Thank you,” she spoke softly, “For waiting.”
Asami replaced the bender’s mirror image as she shifted to stand in front of the girl.
“Would you …” Asami said, eyes full of a fragility that made Korra’s chest pang with a delicious pain. “Would you like to give this -- us -- a try?”
Korra nodded, watching as the ripples in the water circles from Asami’s waist and crashing against her own. “Yes. Definately.”
Asami sighed in relief, it turning into a chuckle when Korra grinned. “Okay. Good. Really good.”
And then Korra really didn’t know what happened next but Asami was there -- Asami was there -- and the world was draped momentarily in darkness as warmth met the bender’s lips. They were soft, not too wet, but not dry and scratchy. It was tender, but not hesitant -- not rough and aggressively trying to prove a point and not too gentle that she couldn’t even feel them. It was, in a word, perfect.
When they pulled away, Korra found herself sucking her lips ever so slightly, eager to find the distinctly cherry taste of Asami’s lipstick.
“So you’re my girlfriend?” she clarified, eyes blown wide. “And not the Naga-kind.”
Asami smiled, her eyes soft with something Korra couldn’t place. It ran deep though.
“Yes,” she confirmed. “Not the Naga-kind.”
Asami leaned in for another kiss, bobbing her head the slightest bit against Korra’s. The tip of a tongue ran between the grooves of their lips. Her lipstick made their lips glide against each other, a happy frictionless existence that Korra wasn’t quite used to but could definitely get used to.
“Mmm,” Korra remarked, sucking on her bottom lip. “ ’m-I want to do that again.”
The third time was even better. Well, fourth technically, if you count the one as they went through the portal, but honestly -- who gives a shit? Korra had a beautiful genius to keep making out with.
Lung capacity eventually forced them to pull away from the other. Time had past; the water was no longer stained gold. The sun had forgotten them. Instead, the moon watched over them, guarding everything a gentle silver light.
“It’s kind of weird,” Korra admitted, taking advantage of the new air, “That I can kiss you whenever I want.”
Asami leaned in, blushing a lock of her raven hair behind her ear. “How long have you wanted to?” Her lips were dangerously close once more.
Korra blushed. “When I saw you waiting at the restaurant, the day I got back …. you looked really cute reading that magazine.”
“I did have my cutest sweater on that day,” she teased.
Korra smiled softly in response. Her eyes flickered briefly down to her hands and then all across Asami’s glowing face.
“ ‘sami, can I ask you something now?”
“Sure,” Asami nodded, brushing a piece of hair behind her ear. “What is it?”
“What do you look like without makeup on?”
"Uhm," Asami frowned, caught off guard by the question. "I don't ..."
“You don’t have to,” Korra quickly promised, sensing her new girlfriend’s discomfort. “I didn’t mean to … It’s just, I realized I’ve never actually seen you without it on.”
Asami inhaled deeply. "No. No, I'll show you."
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and sunk below the water. Korra copied her actions. The water felt refreshing as it washed over her face, cold against her open eyes but warm against her skin.
Asami's hands rubbed her eyelids first. The violet powder came off in swirls with the water. The plum lipstick came next; discarded paint on her palm. Slowly, than in a surge, bubbles escaped from Asami’s mouth and masked her face. Spheres of golden light that danced against the water. When they cleared, Korra was left alone with only sparse flakes of purple swirling around her.
She rose to the surface, still mesmerized by the sharp colors only to be jolted into entrancement with a new visage. Asami -- no purple, no red. And overwhelming wash of green and silver.
“You look beautiful,” Korra stated.
Asami looked down disapprovingly at her reflection in the water.
"What don’t you like that you see?” Korra asked with respectful curiosity.
Asami stared back at her face in the mirror. "My eyes seem washed out. My lips look too thin." The way the words came out of her mouth without pause made them seem worn. Tired and overused.
"I like it all," Korra informed her, pushing Asami's chin up gently to that the woman now faced her instead of her insecurities. The nonbender instantly found herself locked onto cerulean pools.
Korra leaned in carefully, slowly, so that the other woman had time to react. She pressed her lips gently to Asami's closed eyelid, then the other, and then her plain lips. The cherry taste from earlier was gone -- neither bad nor strange, just different.
"I..." Asami mumbled, staring down at the hollow in Korra's neck.
"Wear what makes you feel good," Korra assured. "I think you look beautiful either way."
Asami looked into Korra's eyes, searching for the slightly hint of deceit and finding none.
The taller woman chuckled to herself. “You’re amazing.”
Korra blushed. “I can think of someone more amazing.”
Neither of the girls were content to leave the warm water; they leaned back against the edge of the pool and let the peace sink in. Intertwined fingers kept them tightly wound together, and for some reason the air felt richer.
“I … just want to say thank you,” Korra spoke quietly, her voice made scratchy by the late hour.
“For what?” Asami met her tender gaze.
“For being here,” Korra explained. “With me.”
They sunk deeper.
“There’s no place I would rather be.”