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"Hey, sweetie!" It was a lovely summer evening, and Korra had been waiting outside the Future Industries warehouse for her girlfriend to finish working. She ran up to Asami and swung her around in a passionate embrace, but stopped when she felt the other girl wince.
"Ahh- hey, Korra!" She instantly regained her composure, leaning her forehead against the waterbender’s. "How was your day?"
Korra raised an eyebrow, but got the sense that Asami didn’t want to talk about whatever was troubling her and decided it could wait until later. “Not too bad. I had this awful meeting with Raiko this morning, but then I spent the afternoon playing with the airbender kids. And," she picked up a picnic basket at her feet that Asami hadn’t noticed, "Pema helped me with this. I thought, since it’s such a nice day and the sun’s still up for a while, we could maybe have a picnic."
"That sounds wonderful!" the engineer replied.
They walked hand in hand to the park. Korra made a face at her own statue. “Hey!” Asami said. “I helped commission that, and I think it’s nice that you finally got some recognition in this city.” All the same, she was fine with them sitting in a woody area nearer to the water.
Korra stretched out in the grass and closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth of the summer sun.
"You know, we have a picnic blanket too," he girlfriend reminded her.
"Hey, Asami," Korra said, turning around, "Why do you have your jacket on? It’s summer!"
The engineer shrugged in an attempt to look casual, but the grimace she made ruined the effect. “It’s a part of my look!”
Korra raised an eyebrow at her. “Asami, I know you always have a snazzy outfit, but you must be roasting in the heat.” Korra scooted next to her, placing a hand on the other girl’s shoulder and instantly letting go when the look of pain returned. “You’re hurt!”
"It’s nothing!" the inventor insisted. "Just another day at work."
Korra sat up. She held one hand against Asami’s face and gently used the other to lift the shoulder of her jacket.
A deep purble bruise stretched from the young woman’s collarbone, under the strap of her red shirt, and down her arm. Korra gasped. Her entire arm must have been throbbing in pain, and the avatar was filled with rage at the thought that someone had hurt her.
The other girl looked away, obviously embarrassed. Korra gritted her teeth “Asami… who did this to you?”
Her eyes widened and she turned back to face the waterbender. “Oh, no one! I… I was testing out the new remodels of the hummingbird suits and just- I knew they weren’t quite ready, I was being stupid!” She reached out to take Korra’s hands, which were balled into fists.
"Really? You promise?"
"Yes! Korra, I was being silly and it’s embarrassing, but I messed up and it was my own fault!"
A smile grew across Korra’s face. “I get it. You can’t wait to see your machines in action, but you try them yourself because you don’t want to put anyone else in danger. Asami, you’re incredible, you know that?”
"You’ve mentioned it once or twice." She laughed and leaned forward to plant a quick kiss on the avatar’s lips. "But thanks for being ready to beat up someone if I needed you to. It’s… flattering, I guess."
Korra let go of Asami’s hands in order to bend a small amount of water from the bay into the space between them. “Now come on, get that jacket off and I’ll start healing that shoulder.”