Work Text:
Part 1
The party was loud. Way too loud. They could barely even hear each other speak over the music. Asami was honestly tempted to just ditch the whole thing and ask Korra over to hers, but that might be a little too obvious, given that they were surrounded by all their other friends. Friends who still didn't know they were together. Friends who included their mutual ex-boyfriend.
“I'm getting drinks!” Bolin shouted over the noise.
“Hang on, I'll come with you!” Asami shouted back, hoping it would be quieter in the kitchen. She turned to Korra. “Do you want anything?”
Korra shrugged. “Whatever you're having is fine!”
Asami nodded and smiled at her and Korra blushed and rubbed the back of her neck, which was possibly the most adorable habit Asami had ever seen.
She shook her head, trying to hide the grin on her face as Bolin raised his eyebrows at her. Luckily, the music was too loud for him to attempt an interrogation about whatever had just happened, if that was what he'd been working up to.
The kitchen was crowded with people, drinking and talking and raiding the cupboards for snacks. It was only a little quieter than the room they'd been in, and a lot more cramped, so they escaped as quickly as they could, finding their way back to the others.
Asami tapped Korra's shoulder and she turned from where she was engaged in a conversation with Opal to grin and take her drink from Asami's hand. “Thanks, babe.” Her eyes widened. “Um. I mean... B-BFF?”
Opal raised her eyebrows at them. “What did she just call you?
“What? Sorry, the music's too loud, I can't hear you!” Asami replied, panicking.
“Uh, I'm gonna just... go... talk to Kuvira a second,” Korra said awkwardly.
“I'll come with you!” Asami added hastily.
They left Opal, looking nervously at each other. It wasn't like a 'life-or-death' situation that they keep this private. They were just waiting for the right moment to tell everyone. But right now wasn't that moment.
Hopefully, Opal would just forget about it.
Part 2
Team Avatar Group Chat
korra: hey has anyone seen my jacket? i think i left it somewhere
bolin :): haven't seen it sorry!
Opal Beifong: me neither :(. did you leave it at the party?
korra: no i've had it since then
Mako: I haven't seen it.
Asami: it's at my place! I'll bring it round for you :)
korra: thank u ily <3
korra: platonically ofc
Asami: Haha. Of course.
Opal Beifong: ...
Mako: ???
bolin :): oh my god opal i see it!!
Asami: See what?
Opal Beifong: Bolin stfu
korra: see what??
Opal Beifong: nvm.
Korra sighed and set down her phone. She had a feeling her hasty cover-ups were starting to make things worse. Maybe no-one would even have noticed the 'ily' if she hadn't followed it up.
Hopefully, they hadn't figured it out. She was sure the following cryptic conversation was unrelated. There was no way they were talking about Korra and Asami's relationship. Right?
Part 3
“Hey, are you awake?”
Someone was knocking. Very loudly. Asami sighed and blinked her eyes open. Then blinked again, this time in shock. This was not her room. This was decidedly not her room. This was Korra's room, and Korra was lying next to her, fast asleep, the bedsheet tangled around her body, one arm flung out in Asami's direction.
“Korra! Hey! Wake up!”
Bolin was the one yelling, knocking loudly on the door. Shit. Asami had fallen asleep here. She hadn't meant to do that. Korra shared her place with Mako and Bolin. They'd agreed she shouldn't stay the night here.
But yesterday... well, the brothers had been out, and things may have gotten a little out of hand, and then they'd lain there for a while and... well, evidently drifted off. And not woken up. Until now.
Korra stirred next to her, rubbing her eyes. “What?”
“Korra!” Bolin shouted. “Are you up? Can I come in? I need to talk to you about something!”
Korra looked from Asami to their discarded clothes to the door in horror. “Wait a minute, Bo, I'm, uh, I'm getting dressed!” She scrambled up out of bed, pulling on a tank top at record speed. “Shit, shit, shit. This is not the way we want them to find out! Can you hide? Or climb out the window?”
Asami fumbled with the buttons on her shirt, trying to get them to line up. “Is there room in your closet?”
“In the closet.” Korra snorted a laugh and then shoved Asami towards it. “Sure, why not? Just. Be quiet, okay?”
Asami nodded and drew the closet door shut behind her. There wasn't much room in there, but it was just about enough. She kept still, barely breathing, observing the room through the slats in the door.
Korra let Bolin in, trying to appear casual.
“Korra, I need your advice! What should I wear tonight?”
“Tonight?” Korra asked, sounding confused.
“My date with Opal!” Bolin said loudly. “I don't know what to wear!”
“Why are you asking me?” Korra pointed out. “You should ask, uh, Asami.” She coughed slightly, and Asami inwardly facepalmed. Korra wasn't great at keeping secrets. It was cute, but a little inconvenient.
“Asami's not here! And you're my best friend, you're supposed to help me with stuff like this! What about that scarf?”
“Scarf?”
“You know, the cool one you got in the South! Can I borrow it?”
Say no, say no, say no, Asami chanted silently. She could see exactly where this was going.
“Sure, I guess so,” Korra said tiredly.
Bolin started heading towards the closet.
“Wait!” Korra shouted. “Um. There's... a... private stuff. There's private stuff. In there. So you should, uh, wait outside. And then I can get the scarf... for you. Yeah.”
Bolin looked between Korra and the closet door, then shrugged and backed away.“Okay.” His feet tangled with something on the floor and he flailed, trying to regain his balance, then picking up the item. Even with her vision fragmented by the slats of the closet door, Asami recognised it. This just kept getting worse. “Wait, isn't this Asami's skirt?”
“Um, I borrowed it!” Korra said, her voice half an octave higher than normal. “Okay, thanks Bolin, bye!”
She literally shoved him out of the door and then leaned against it, sighing. Asami came out of the closet (the irony of which was not lost on her) and scrambled to put on the rest of her clothes, trying not to laugh.
“Oh, we are terrible at this,” she whispered.
Korra laughed. “You can say that again. But Bo's kind of oblivious, isn't he? It's possible he didn't guess, right?”
Part 4
Korra yawned for the fifth time in as many minutes. She was exhausted. Suffice it to say, she and Asami hadn't gotten all that much sleep last night, making up for their last few days of trying to be actually careful with their secret. And then Bolin had texted the group chat at nine a.m., suggesting they all meet at the local coffee shop, and Korra hadn't been able to find a good excuse not to go, so she and Asami had agreed to the hang-out, arriving with a strategic distance between them (a few inches should be enough, right?)
“Didn't sleep well?” Opal asked sympathetically. “I relate to that. I keep lying awake worrying about coursework. Whoever said college was going to be fun was lying.”
“Yeah, coursework,” Korra agreed, trying to look casual and not think about what had actually kept her awake last night.
“Hey, Asami, you look exhausted, too!” Bolin chimed in. “You've got dark circles under your eyes. Are you okay?”
“Oh, yeah, I'm fine!” Asami said, yawning halfway through the sentence.
“Korra was over at yours last night, right?” Mako asked.
“Yeah, we were, um... just doing...”
“Uh, math-mathematics?” Korra said, wincing at the accidental question in her voice.
“Why?” Mako asked, frowning between them. “Nothing you're studying has anything to do with math, Korra.”
“Just for, uh, for fun,” Korra replied, looking at Asami for help.
“You hate math,” Bolin said flatly.
“I'm... teaching her to love it!” Asami responded, shooting their friends a radiant smile.
Mako raised one eyebrow. Bolin gasped and clapped his hands over his mouth. Opal's eyes were narrowed in a way Korra decidedly did not like. There was altogether too much gleeful knowledge in that look. But it probably wasn't about them. Surely not.
Part 5
“So, guys, um... there's something I need to tell you,” Korra said nervously, glancing across the table at their friends. Mako, Bolin and Opal were wedged together on one side of the booth, and Korra and Asami sat on the other.
Asami squeezed Korra's hand under the table. “Something we both need to tell you, actually,” she added.
“This might be, um, a bit of a surprise,” Korra continued, playing with a lock of her hair awkwardly. “Particularly given the... past some of us have.” She looked at Mako. “But I – we – wanted to tell you about it. The truth is...” she looked at Asami, who smiled back at her reassuringly.
“We're together,” they said at the same time, Korra's shoulders visibly relaxing once the words were finally out.
Asami looked across the table. All three of their friends were staring at them both in utter shock, eyes wide and mouths hanging open.
“That's...” Opal began. “That's the big secret?”
“Um, yes?” Korra replied, looking as confused as Asami felt.
“That's what you called this whole important meeting for?”
“Yes,” Asami confirmed.
Opal burst out laughing. “And here I thought there was an actual surprise!”
Korra and Asami looked at each other, even more confused. “What do you mean?” Korra asked.
“We know!” Bolin burst out. “We've known for ages! You two are really bad at hiding stuff!”
“I didn't believe it when Opal first guessed,” Mako added, “but the fifth time Korra stayed over at Asami's the entire night and didn't answer her phone once? By then, I had to admit that Opal might have a point.”
“You called her 'babe' in public!” Opal laughed, gesturing towards Korra. “More than once!”
“Her skirt was in your bedroom!” Bolin said, looking at them incredulously. “And you said you 'borrowed' it? I have never seen you wear a skirt!”
“Oh wow,” Korra said sheepishly, blushing. “We were not subtle.”
Opal shook her head. “You can say that again!”
Asami hid her face in her hands, torn between laughter and dying of embarrassment. “Oh god.”
“Don't worry, guys. You might be the absolute worst at keeping secrets, but we still love you!” Bolin announced dramatically.
“And we're happy for you,” Mako added. “Really.”
Opal nodded. “Yeah, I'm so glad you guys finally acted on those feelings. The pining was starting to get a little hard to watch.”
“You knew even then?” Asami asked, sure her face was as red as her shirt.
“Oh yeah,” Opal said casually. “It was really, really obvious.”
“Subtlety is not a talent you possess,” Mako agreed.
“Guess I'll take it off my résumé,” Asami quipped, putting her arm around Korra's shoulders. Korra smiled up at her and leaned in to her side, wrapping her own arm around Asami's waist.
Their friends continued to tease them mercilessly for the entire meal, and Asami found that she barely even minded. Looking at Korra's bashful smile, there was only one thought in her mind. Totally worth it.