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The first time Asami kisses Korra, it tastes of ice cream.
It's August and the days are so hot that the sidewalks are melting and there are shimmers in the air and it feels like it will never be cool again. And the heat is kind of unbearable but it's summer and they're best friends and they're not yet sixteen, and it feels a bit like they're living in a dreamy haze.
The sky is the same blue as Korra's eyes and there's not a cloud in sight and they're walking along the street complaining about how hot it is and wondering how much longer it will take for them to reach the ice cream parlour. Korra's wearing cut off shorts that show off her scraped knees and a tank top that shows off the muscles in her arms and her hair is pulled up into a messy bun and she's going on about how there were never summers like this back where she lived as a kid, and Asami listens to her talk and wonders why it is that something feels new this summer.
Something feels new, and it's the way she sees how Korra's eyes match the sky and the way she wants to push the stray strands of hair out of Korra's face and the way she notices how Korra's lips are chapped and she never did that before. But she thinks maybe it's just that they're getting older, Korra's been fifteen for a couple of months now and Asami will be sixteen soon and things are bound to be different.
The sign for the ice cream parlour finally comes into view and Korra cheers and raises her arms like she's just won a victory, and Asami laughs because Korra is so unworried about what anyone else thinks, and Asami aspires to being even half as uninhibited as she is.
“Race you,” Korra says, and Asami doesn't even say that that's a bad idea because it's so hot that running feels like dying, because Korra has the biggest smile on her face and her blue eyes are sparkling and saying no to her feels impossible.
So they run down the street, tripping in their sandals, and Korra has the edge in speed but Asami's legs are longer, so they're running alongside each other the whole way, until Korra flashes a smile at Asami and then puts on an extra burst of speed and makes it there just a second before her.
She shouts in real victory this time, and if it were anyone else Asami would want to smack them in the face, but it's Korra, and right now she's all joy, and Asami is happy just to be able to be near her.
They head into the shop, breathing hard from the race, and the woman behind the counter looks at them like they're from an alien planet, which is fair, because who the hell runs in this kind of heat? At least there's air conditioning in here, and Asami pulls her hair up into a makeshift ponytail to let the back of her neck cool down.
They order, and Korra gets as many scoops and toppings as she can afford, and laughs at Asami for being boring and choosing strawberry when she could get something like cookies and cream or cotton candy. And then she throws an arm around Asami's shoulders and tells her “you may be boring, but I love you anyway”, and Asami doesn't know how to reply, but the woman behind the counter smiles at them both with a twinkle in her eye like she knows something they don't and gives them back a little too much change. Asami tries to give it back to the woman because hey, she herself probably needs the money far less than the shop does, but the woman just waves it away and starts serving the next customer.
The cool air of the shop is such a relief after outside that Asami is tempted to stay, but Korra persuades her otherwise.
“That's not the ice cream experience, Asami! You have to sit on the beach and risk dropping it in the sand and throw stones at gulls so they stay away from you and fight a losing battle to save your ice cream from melting. That's how you know it's really summer.”
And Asami doesn't argue with that because she knows what Korra means, and she thinks someone this vibrant and alive doesn't belong cramped behind a small table in a shop, so she follows her out of the door and braces herself for the wave of heat that hits them and laughs as Korra figures out how best to approach eating her massive ice cream without dropping it, letting it melt, or both.
Then they're heading away from the shops and on to the seafront and walking up the cliff path and the sun is absolutely relentless but it's worth it, because this way they can go to their place, a tiny bay tucked into the cliffs that no-one else seems to know about.
And they half-climb, half-skid down the little slope, and Asami's not sure how they do it one-handed but somehow both they and the ice creams make it to the bottom intact, and then they're hidden away from everyone else in the world and for a moment, she wishes it could stay that way forever.
The sea is sparkling so brightly that it almost hurts her eyes, but she's used to being dazzled because that's what happens every time she looks at Korra. And the sand is rough and grainy and sticks to the sweat on their bodies, and it's going to be itchy as hell later but it's worth it for now.
Korra stretches her legs out and kicks off her sandals and shades her eyes with her hand, and she's squinting out at the beach thoughtfully, and Asami finds herself studying her again, the strands of hair sticking to her forehead and the little scar on her chin where she fell off the swings when they were eight, and the way her eyes turn a deep, twilight blue under the shadow of her hand, and the little chip on her top front tooth from that time she tried to crack a walnut in her mouth, and the freckles scattered across her bare shoulders because she almost never wears sleeves, and the way her nails are ragged because she bites them when she's nervous.
She's startled out of her reverie when something cold hits the bare skin of her leg, and she realises she's been so distracted with looking at Korra that her ice cream is melting all over the place, and Korra looks across at her and laughs and then reaches out and wipes the splotch of strawberry off her with the hem of her tank top, and Asami finds herself smiling at her like that's the sweetest thing anyone's ever done, and Korra looks back at her with something surprisingly shy in her eyes, and then the tables turn because Korra's taken her eyes off her monster of an ice cream for far too long, and Asami laughs at her gently because hey, payback.
Korra pushes her mouth into a pout like she's five years old and eats the rest of the ice cream at a superhuman speed before it can happen again.
Asami finishes hers looking out across the sea, counting how many boats she can see in the water from here, and marvelling at that one person who's always swimming really far out and passes by pretty much every day. She and Korra have come up with a dozen different stories about who they could be. An Olympian getting some practice in; a retired athlete who still wants to keep up with their swimming as much as they can; someone who's aspiring to swim across an ocean one day; a mermaid disguised as a human being (that last one was mostly a joke which Korra used to kickstart a debate about the likelihood of the existence of mermaids.)
Asami looks across at Korra to ask her if she's come up with any new theories, but Korra isn't looking at the sea or the mysterious swimmer. She's looking at Asami instead, with an oddly serious expression, like she wants to learn every detail of her face. The studiousness is undermined somewhat by the streak of ice cream on her cheek, and Asami reaches out without thinking and wipes it off. And Korra's eyes lock with hers, wide and blue and surprised and something else too, and Asami freezes where she is, her hand still resting against Korra's cheek, and what was a casual moment suddenly feels important, and emotional, and just a little scary, and they both pull back at the same time, laughing nervously.
And then Korra's standing up and looking out at the water again, this time with a gleam in her eyes. “Did you bring a swimsuit?” she asks, and Asami shakes her head because this trip wasn't really planned at all, but it was way too hot to hang around indoors.
“Me neither,” Korra responds, and she grabs Asami's hand and pulls her to her feet and runs towards the water anyway, and Asami protests because hey, she's not dressed for this, but Korra doesn't let go until they're both knee-deep in the waves, and then she smirks and she bends down and splashes as much water as she can straight into Asami's face, and Asami coughs and splutters and she can taste salt and the tang of the ocean, and Korra is definitely not getting away with that.
By the time they emerge from the sea, the sun is starting to set and they're both soaked through and laughing. Korra's hair has come down out of its bun and is plastered to her head, and Asami can see drops of water on her eyelashes, and they've barely sat down when Korra says that she wants another ice cream, and Asami rolls her eyes and hands her some change that she thankfully left in her purse and not in her pocket, and Korra scrambles back up the slope and runs off, way too fast for the weather, and Asami wraps her arms around her knees and rests her chin on them and waits for her to come back.
It only takes her ten minutes, and when she returns she's carrying two ice creams, even though Asami didn't ask for one, and she pauses at the top of the slope like she's just now realising she didn't think this through, and Asami has to meet her halfway and take one, and it all strikes her as more funny than it probably is, because it's too hot and she's happy and real life feels suspended this summer.
They sit in silence for a while, and when Korra has eaten the last of her cone, she watches the sun set for a moment before she speaks.
“Hey, Asami?”
“Yeah?”
“What do you think it's like to kiss someone?”
The question comes out of nowhere, just like so many of Korra's thoughts, and Asami loves the way she so often says exactly what she's thinking without any dancing around the subject, and how she'll never be able to understand how Korra's mind works, and how it's one of the few things she doesn't feel upset about not understanding.
“I don't know,” Asami says, because neither of them has ever kissed anyone, and she wonders if Korra's thinking about how many of the other kids at school claim they have, and if she's as doubtful as Asami that half the accounts are true. “Why?”
“I don't know,” Korra says, picking up a handful of sand and watching it trickle through her fingers. “I just worry about it sometimes. Like, y'know, what if when I finally do get to kiss someone, I'm not any good, because I lived fifteen years without ever being kissed?”
And Asami laughs a little, not because she doesn't understand that fear but because she knows it all too well, and she says, “If this were a movie, this is when I'd say we could always try it.” And she doesn't know what possesses her to say it, and she's scared the instant she has, because she's not sure whether Korra will read it as a joke or not, and she's not sure whether or not she wants her to.
And Korra looks at her with an expression in her eyes that Asami doesn't know how to describe, and she's not laughing, and she looks down at the floor and draws a circle in the sand with her fingers, and then she says, almost too low for Asami to hear it, “We could.”
And for the second time that day, the moment has turned from joking to meaningful in a matter of seconds, and it's hard to breathe, and Korra's pulling nervously on a loose thread that's trailing from the hem of her shorts, and she looks smaller suddenly, like she's receded into herself, like she's anxious about what Asami might say.
“Okay.”
Asami isn't even sure she planned to say it, but the word is out, and Korra looks up at her with a light in her eyes like the sun sparkling off the sea, and her cheeks are flushed a little, and she says, “Okay?”
And Asami nods, and she turns to face Korra, and Korra leans in towards her, and her eyes are so blue and she's so close they're sharing the same breath and Korra lets out a little huff of nervous laughter and then she's kissing her.
Korra tastes like ice cream and sea salt and summer, and her lips are chapped and a little rough but she kisses gently, and Asami shuts her eyes because that's what you're supposed to do, isn't it, and she doesn't know what to do with her hands and they're not in the best position for this, kneeling facing each other, and it's awkward and imperfect and wonderful.
It lasts a few seconds, and then Korra draws back a little, and there are stars in her eyes when Asami looks at her, and she's smiling a bit, and then she looks down at the floor abruptly, a blush on her cheeks, and Asami reaches out to touch her face gently, and Korra catches her hand and holds it there.
“Was that... okay?” Asami asks, suddenly unsure of herself, because her heart's beating out of her chest and she knows already that she wants to kiss Korra again, and again, and again.
And Korra smiles softly at her and then her mouth twitches into a smirk, and she says, “Maybe we should try again to be sure,” and she almost pulls off suave but not quite because the next second she's blushing again and stumbling over her words and saying, “only if you want to, of course,” and Asami thinks that maybe she knows what that different thing is she's been sensing between them.
And instead of answering she leans in again, and this time she wraps her arms around Korra to pull her closer, and there's sand on her skin and their clothes are still damp and it's still way too hot outside to be embracing, and none of that matters in the slightest.
And Asami thinks about how she's read about kisses tasting of sunlight or hope or passion, and maybe that's true, but she thinks if she ever kisses anyone who isn't Korra again she'll be disappointed because the kiss won't taste like ice cream and sea salt, and the realisation crashes over her suddenly that this means something to her, it really does, and she hopes more than she's ever hoped for anything that Korra feels the same way.
So when they draw apart again, and stay there staring at each other like they can't believe what's just happened, she collects together all her courage and asks. “Did you... um... was that just practice or... did you mean it?”
And Korra looks at the floor and she twirls that stray thread fast between her fingers and she digs her other hand into the sand and lets her hair fall across her face and then says, “Yeah, I... I meant it. I think... I think I like you. Is that okay?”
And Asami laughs because she's so relieved she feels light-headed, and Korra looks at her anxiously like maybe she could break her heart if she's not careful, so she stops laughing and she reaches out for Korra's hand and holds it tightly in hers, grains of sand grating along her palm, and she says, “I like you too. I... I definitely do.”
Because it's sudden and absolute and she knows what all this has been, why she's been looking at Korra in a new way, why every moment spent without her feels dull in comparison to the slightest glance they share, and she thinks maybe like is too small a word, but it will do for now, because Korra's eyes are lighting up like the sun rising, even though its setting rays are spreading orange lines across the sea behind them.
“I definitely do, too,” Korra replies, and she's smiling wider than Asami has ever seen her smile.
“As much as you like ice cream?” Asami asks, teasing her a little.
“Oh, way more than that,” Korra says, laughing. “Even if your taste is boring.” And then she stands up and spreads her arms wide and proclaims, “Asami Sato, I would give up ice cream forever for you!”
And Asami thinks that it sounds a little like I love you, and she stands up and leans in to kiss Korra again, with the sunset and the sugar on their lips and those words hanging in the air between them, and she thinks about how this day started with ice cream and racing and is ending with kisses and a blaze of orange light, and she thinks that no day could ever be perfect, but this one came pretty damn close.
It's possible that she's more than a little in love already, but, well, that's between her and her heart.