Chapter Text
Korra wiped her brow and sighed back against the counter after finishing up with the latest customer and waving him goodbye. She surveyed her modest coffee shop, now with a couple of patrons diligently working or conversing with others at their tables. The morning rush was always difficult, but she, along with her team of scrappy, hardworking baristas, always dealt with it successfully.
Team Member #1 now leaned against the counter beside her and huffed dramatically. “Why do Mondays always have to be the busiest days?”
Korra nudged Mako with her elbow. “Don’t complain about it, just accept the business. Without it, you don’t have a job, remember?”
Mako gave her an annoyed look, one that Korra thoroughly enjoyed being the cause of. He was just too easy to bother. “Can’t I complain without you reminding me that you’re my boss all the time?”
“Nope!” Korra pulled up her sleeves and pushed herself off the counter to start on some cleaning. “Break’s over now. Get to work, soldier.”
“But Bolin’s been on break for fifteen minutes!” Mako sputtered.
Korra turned and gave Team Member #2 a once-over. He was huddled in a little ball on the far wall, rocking back and forth and muttering to himself.
“He got yelled at by that mean lady again,” she reminded Mako with a dismissive wave. “He’ll be fine soon enough.”
Mako opened his mouth to protest but snapped it shut when the front door jingled. Korra followed his gaze to see the strikingly beautiful new regular who had begun stopping by Korra’s shop for the past week. With jet-black hair cascading around her shoulders and bright green eyes, Korra had found herself more than a little distracted whenever she’d take her orders.
“Name?” she’d ask.
“Asami.”
Ever since her first visit, Korra had always taken her orders this past week. As she was the person closest to the register, she was ready to do that again before being rudely pushed out of the way by an overly excited Mako.
“Good morning, Miss. What can I get for you today?”
“Hi,” Asami greeted kindly as she studied the menu behind Mako. “I’m feeling adventurous today. Can I have the Sprinkled Latte Delight?”
Mako turned to Korra with wide, panicked eyes. That was their most popular drink, and usually, by the end of the morning rush, they were out of the sprinkles necessary to make it. Korra crossed her arms and waited to see how Mako would handle it.
“Uhm,” he cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. “Let me just check in that back that we have the ingredients for that. Give me one second.” The speed at which he zoomed into the back of her shop made Korra and Asami jump, and Korra caught her eye and snickered.
“He’s very serious about this job,” Korra told Asami, taking Mako’s place at the register to talk to her. She leaned closer and whispered conspiratorially, “It helps that I threaten to fire him at least once a week. Jokingly, of course.”
Asami cocked her head to one side and regarded Korra. “Are you the manager?”
“Manager and owner of this humble establishment, the one and only Korra’s Koffee.” She gestured grandly at the shop and placed her hands on her hips. “I trust you’re impressed?”
Asami nodded with a smile at Korra. “Very. From one business owner to another, it’s not easy managing people.”
Korra pointed with her thumb to Bolin, who remained huddled on the floor. “Tell me about it. Sometimes we have just downright nasty customers, and it takes its toll.”
Asami studied Bolin, a small frown forming on her lips. “Oh no, I hope he’s okay. I try to be as kind as possible in how I treat baristas or waiters. Your jobs are so much harder than they look.”
“Thank you!” Korra exclaimed. “And don’t worry. You’ve always been a great—”
“We have sprinkles!”
Korra was pushed out of the way again by a soon-to-be-demoted Team Member #1. He proudly showed Asami the container of sprinkles. “One medium Sprinkled Latte Delight then?”
Asami’s gaze switched between Korra and Mako. Then she smiled. “Yes, please. No whip.”
“I got you. Asami, right?” Mako asked as he completed the transaction. When Asami nodded in confirmation, he declared, “Coming right up!”
Korra idly watched with crossed arms as Mako frantically made the drink, and Asami settled into her favorite table (Korra had noticed it was the one by the window). Mako really was hardworking. Maybe Korra could stop the “firing him” teasing for a week and cut him some slack.
“Asami?” Mako called out even though Asami sat right in his line of vision. He faked some looking around until Asami stood up to grab her drink, and he handed it to her, saying very reverentially with a bow, “Here you go.”
Korra had to stop herself from snorting.
///
“Are you feeling better from this morning?” Korra asked Bolin as they closed the shop later that night, removing the apron from over her head. He seemed to recover after an hour of moping on the floor, returning to his easy-going cheerful self throughout the rest of the day, but Korra still wanted to check up on him.
Bolin sighed and ran his hands over his face. “Mehhhh,” was all he said.
Mako wrapped an arm around Bolin and ruffled up his hair fondly. “Did you see how Korra banned that woman from ever coming here again? She really showed her what happens when you mess with Bolin!”
Bolin perked up a bit at that. “Yeah, Korra can get really scary when she wants to.”
Korra dusted off her hands and hung her apron on the hook. “Well, just know you won’t be seeing any of her ever again. And tell me if you’re ever having trouble like that, okay?”
“Thanks, Korra.” Bolin pulled her into an astonishingly tight hug. “You’re really the best boss! You know that, right?”
“Ah, it’s nothing, Bolin,” she said, voice muffled by his chest.
Bolin pulled away and patted her on the back before taking off his own apron and surveying the shop. “Well, besides the super mean lady incident, I’d say this was a successful day. Hm, Mako?”
“Yeah, it was fine,” he grunted.
Korra crossed her arms and stared him down. “What’s up with you now? Did some mean lady yell at you, too?”
Bolin pursed his lips and made a knowing face in Mako’s direction. “Oh, no. It’s quite the opposite.”
“The opposite?” Korra asked as Mako spun towards Bolin and smacked him on the shoulder.
“Dude? Really?”
“Ow!” Bolin rubbed his arm where Mako hit him. “What? It’s not like you’re subtle about it or anything.”
Now Korra was getting impatient to figure it out. “Subtle about what?”
Bolin wiggled his eyebrows and cocked his head in Mako’s direction. “Mako’s got a crush,” he sang teasingly.
“I do not!”
“Woah, woah, wait a sec.” Korra shook her head and pointed at herself incredulously. “Is it a crush on me?”
“No!” Mako insisted. “No, no, no! That’s like—I don’t know, incest!”
Korra rolled her eyes. “Okay, no need to be so adamant about that, though I agree.” She placed her hands on her hips. “Then on who?”
Defeated, Mako slumped and gave in. “Ugh, fine.” He ran a hand through his hair. “It’s Asami.”
“Huh.” Korra pictured the gorgeous woman and recalled how Mako had made her order faster than anyone else’s. She had thought he was just being extra hardworking after teasing him about getting fired, but it turned out he just was simping. “Huh. Asami, hm.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Mako challenged.
“Oh, nothing.” Korra shrugged. “Just that for someone with a crush, you really like to make a fool of yourself in front of her.”
“What?” Mako turned to Bolin with wide eyes. “Did I do that, bro?”
Bolin waved Mako off. “Don’t look at me! I was recovering from the mean lady.”
Korra didn’t know what it was, but something inside her felt the deep urge to beat Mako at this. Whether it was her incessant and very sibling-like need to always bother him or something else, Korra just knew that Mako couldn’t win over Asami.
But she shoved that unreasonable need down for now and turned to grab the shop keys. “What I’m saying, Mako, is that you need to up your game. Winning over a woman like that takes more than just finding the sprinkles in the back. You need to wow her.”
Mako looked at her intently, and Korra knew he was taking mental notes. “Okay, okay. How do I wow her?”
As if Korra would make it easy for him. She turned off the lights in her shop and jingled the keys in her hand. “You gotta figure that out yourself.”
Bolin pulled Mako into a side hug. “Don’t worry, bro. I’ll help you come up with ideas.”
Korra didn’t want to know what those ideas would be. She yawned as she and the brothers exited the shop and prepared to go their separate ways. “Bolin, please just don’t burn down the shop.”
Bolin gave her two enthusiastic thumbs up. “You got it, boss!”
///
In the next few days, Mako had escalated his efforts from memorizing Asami’s most likely orders and speed-running them to learning foam art tricks and playing romantic songs whenever she walked in. Korra knew that most, if not all, of the ideas, were Bolin’s, but she supposed she could take solace in the fact that they’d managed to not burn down the shop.
Mako was trying—she knew that. But just one glance at Mako’s most recent attempt at a heart on Asami’s hot latte that Friday made her want to gag and burst out laughing simultaneously.
Mako must’ve not been pleased with whatever face she did end up making because he turned toward her with a scowl. “Is there something wrong with it?” he challenged, their bickering safely contained in the back of the shop. It was Bolin’s turn at the register right now.
Korra tried to school her features but failed miserably. Through a somewhat repressed laugh, she managed to say, “No, no! It’s…beautiful. It almost even looks like a heart!”
Mako glared at her and carefully picked up the drink. “Look, it’s not like I get to practice that much. She usually takes it to go or gets an iced drink. I’m seizing my opportunity now.”
“You could practice with other customers, you know.”
“It’s not the same,” Mako sputtered. “I’m not just gonna make a heart for a stranger.”
“Asami’s a stranger,” Korra pointed out.
Mako just smiled self-righteously. “Not after this.” Drink in hand, he proudly marched out through the swinging door, and Korra chased after him, eager to see how this went down.
He awkwardly cleared his throat, and Asami, seated at her usual window table, blinked up from her laptop.
“Your drink, ma’am.” He bowed stiffly and placed the cup on her table, shooting at her that lopsided smile that Korra hated to admit did have a certain charm.
Asami smiled back at him and lifted the cup to her lips. “Thank you—oh.” Her eyebrows knitted together as her gaze flickered down to the blob-shaped heart on her drink. She glanced back up at Mako. “Is that a heart?”
“I—uh, yes.” Mako coughed into his hand and stood impossibly straight, linking his hands behind his back. “Yes, ma’am. It is a heart.”
A sound of something like laughter escaped from Korra’s throat, and she pressed a hand over her mouth to stifle it. She pulled Bolin into a side hug and gestured over at Mako. “Bolin, you seeing this?”
Bolin narrowed his eyes, confused for a second, before lighting up with realization. “Oh yeah! Mako is wooing Asami with the foam heart, right?”
Korra shushed him to listen to their conversation.
“Oh.” Asami gave Mako a smile. “It’s nice, thank you…?” Her voice trailed off, and for once, Mako caught on.
“Mako. My name is, indeed, Mako.”
Asami nodded and took a sip from her coffee. “Well, thank you for the heart, Mako.”
Mako bowed deeply and retreated to the back, where Korra and Bolin eagerly met him.
“Bro, that was amazing!” Bolin cheered.
“She knew that it was a heart!” Mako said in disbelief. “And now she knows my name!”
Korra had been scrolling on her phone, pretending not to be interested in the brothers’ conversation. “She already knew my name.”
“Yeah, only because it’s on the sign outside,” Mako protested. He crossed his arms and glared at her in accusation. “What’s with you and this whole Asami thing anyway? You’ve been nothing but grumpy this whole week.”
Korra guffawed. “Please, as if anything you do outside of work interests me.”
“Technically, this is inside of work,” Bolin piped up.
“Not helping,” Mako grumbled.
“Look, Mako.” Korra put her phone away and gave Mako the look, the one she reserved for serious occasions. “It’s just getting annoying seeing you bend over backward for this woman, okay? Especially during work hours.”
“But you were the one who told me to impress Asami.”
Which was true. She had said that.
Waving a hand dismissively at the brothers, she pushed through the door to get back to the register and called back, “Fine, fine, do whatever you want. I don’t care.”
///
Except, Korra did care. A lot, apparently.
An unexplainable rage overtook her every time one of Mako’s efforts seemed to work. Okay, maybe not full-on rage, but something fiery and angry, for sure. As the week progressed, Asami began taking fewer orders to go and staying in the coffee shop for longer, diligently working on her laptop at her table by the window. Korra should’ve been thrilled at having such a gorgeous patron in her shop, bringing her more business and brightening the vibe (Korra couldn’t explain it, but that’s what it sure felt like). But instead, she would scowl from the corner as Mako’s foam hearts got better and more defined, the song choices more romantic and actually good.
The worst was when Asami would smile back at Mako. Or, spirits forbid, talk to him. His girlish squeals from the back after interactions like that (which began happening more and more often) and Korra’s grouchy reaction to them told her all she needed to know.
Mako was starting to win over Asami. And Korra coud not let him.
Maybe it was a matter of winning—just beating Mako at something. Another way to bother him, her favorite pastime. Or maybe it was something else entirely, like jealousy—
Okay, no. Korra was not crushing on the insanely attractive woman who frequented her shop. That would make her no better than Mako!
And Korra was going to be better than Mako. He wouldn’t win Asami over.
And so, one weekday morning, Korra decided it was time to be a saboteur.
She started off small. The first time, she offered a leftover blueberry scone to Mako, just knowing that he would instead save it and give it to Asami along with her drink “on the house.” But what Mako didn’t know was that Asami’s favorite scone flavor was actually vanilla. (Korra knew this from an early conversation with her at the register.) It was so evil—but not evil enough.
She slowly began escalating her efforts. The next time Mako finished his foam heart, Korra snuck behind him when he wasn’t looking at it, took a toothpick, and ran it through the foam, distorting the shape.
“Flying hog monkeys!” Mako sighed heavily and carefully picked up the drink. “I guess I shook the table too much again.”
Korra also purposefully hid the sprinkles, insisted that she wanted the newest Flamey-O’s songs playing instead of Mako’s sappy love songs, unplugged the foam machine when Mako needed it, and gave him extra cleaning chores whenever Asami showed up. It was all coming together marvelously: Mako was getting increasingly frustrated at his still-distorted hearts and annoyed at the Flamey-O’s admittedly pitchy lead singer’s voice. Korra’s saboteur efforts were working beautifully.
The next time she noticed Asami walking by the windows before he did, Korra turned to Mako with her hands on her hips. “Go clean the bathroom.”
Mako groaned dramatically and rolled his eyes. “But Korraaaaa…”
Asami had her hand on the door.
“Now,” Korra growled through gritted teeth. When Mako finally got the hint and disappeared into the bathroom, Asami was smiling at Korra from the other side of the register. “Good morning, Asami!”
Asami blinked in surprise at the use of her name right away, and Korra didn’t fail to notice the faint hint of pink coloring her cheeks. “Hey, Korra. Haven’t been able to talk to you for a little while.”
“I know! Mako’s always at the register when you come, but—” Another brilliant idea to sabotage Mako further occurred to her. “I know you’re here usually in the late mornings, but if you let me know when exactly, I can take your order instead.”
Asami cocked her head to one side, an amused smile on her lips. “Is there a problem with Mako taking my orders?”
Oh, shoot. Korra had made it seem like Mako was a sub-par barista or a creep, which definitely wasn’t true. She shook her head quickly. “No, no! There’s nothing wrong with Mako. He’s a great barista, I swear. Just, you know, if you ever want to switch up the pace.” Korra grabbed a medium-sized cup and tossed it skillfully from hand to hand. “I got you.”
Asami chuckled at Korra’s antics. “Well, thank you then. I work across the street and try to come during my lunch breaks, so usually between twelve and one. But on Wednesdays, I like coming a bit earlier since I usually have meetings that I definitely need coffee for.”
Korra listened, enraptured, and mentally jotted down all these notes. They would come in handy. And did she say she worked across the street? That was the Future Industries building. She made an extra note to ask her about her job at some point.
“Noted! Now,” Korra turned her attention back to doing her best at her job. “What can I get for you?”
Asami ordered what seemed to be becoming her favorite drink, the hot white chocolate latte, but before leaving, she smiled at Korra gratefully. “You know, it always feels like I get a lot of personalized attention here compared to other places. Thank you for that.”
“Oh!” Korra didn’t want to tell her it was because one of the baristas had a crush on her. So she tried to sound convincing when she said, “That’s what we do here at Korra’s Koffee, make every customer feel individually loved!” She laughed loudly, her cackle awkwardly piercing through the quiet shop. She cleared her throat, composing herself better. “Yep, that’s our motto.”
“That’s great, then.” Asami slid her sleek black metal credit card back into her wallet, and, for not the first time, Korra got the idea that she had money. Well, that combined with the designer handbag on her arm. “It’s a good business technique. It keeps me coming back for sure.”
“It does?” Korra asked absentmindedly as she completed the transaction.
“Yeah.” Korra looked up, and Asami gave her a curious, heavy look. “The customer service here is fantastic.”
Korra went hot, and as Asami turned to sit at her usual table, Korra managed to squeak out a small “Thank you!”
Reduced to a flushing puddle of mush, Korra hid in the back and frantically fanned.
Oh, spirits.
Maybe she was no better than Mako.
///
In light of her new realization, Korra kept up her sabotage efforts, much to Mako’s annoyance, which was growing by the day. The next time she tried distorting the foam heart shape, he spun around too quickly and caught Korra in the act.
“You!” he gasped.
Korra smiled and quickly straightened, pathetically hiding the toothpick behind her back. “Who, me?”
Mako narrowed his eyes at Korra and whisked the cup of coffee protectively away from her. “So, it’s been you ruining all my hearts for Asami this week?”
“What?” Korra blinked at Mako a few times, tilting her head to one side. “You mean those foam blobs?”
Mako stomped his foot. “They’re blobs because of you!”
Bolin popped his head into the back of the shop through the swinging door. “Everything okay in there?”
“Yeah.” Korra crossed her arms and stared Mako down in a challenge. “Just peachy.”
Mako huffed. “Yeah, we’re good, Bolin. Just forget it.” When Bolin beamed at them and disappeared back to the register, Mako turned back to Korra. “This isn’t over.”
Korra shooed Mako towards the door. “Go, go—woo the fair maiden with your beautiful heart.”
But Korra knew she had crossed a line with this, so instead of watching and attempting to sabotage Mako’s inevitable conversation with Asami again, she sulked off to the back and distracted herself with cleaning.
///
“Korra!”
She froze, her hand on the door as she tried slinking away before Mako and Bolin noticed her. But she owned the shop and had the keys. They were closing up, and she was always the last to leave. What did she expect?
She turned to face Mako and placed her hands on her hips. “Yes, Mako?”
Mako approached her and pointed an accusatory finger at her. “What was that about earlier? With the toothpick and all.”
“Oh, I was just—”
“And have you been doing stuff like that on purpose? Now that I think about it, every time Asami’s shown up, you decide that the bathroom needs cleaning or that I need to take inventory.”
“Hey, it’s not every time—”
“Have you been ruining my efforts on purpose?” He crossed his arms and stared Korra down.
Korra opened and closed her mouth to speak, but Bolin interrupted her.
“But that doesn’t make any sense. She’s the one who told you to go for it with Asami.”
“I know it doesn’t make sense. That’s why I’m asking her,” Mako shot back, still staring at Korra. “So?”
Korra rubbed her suddenly sweaty hands on her pants. She hadn’t even come to terms with her crush (could it even be called that?), and now she had to fess it up to Mako? “I—look, it’s just—”
Mako looked impatient. “Just tell me, Korra.”
“She’s—”
Bolin snuck up behind Mako and chirped, “Oh, what if she also has a crush on Asami? That would be such a coincidence, right?”
Korra and Mako both froze.
“Bro, don’t be crazy. That would be….” His voice trailed off as he noticed Korra’s expression, like a deer caught in headlights. “Korra, don’t tell me you have a crush on Asami, too?”
“Ha, ha,” Korra laughed dryly and shrugged. “Surprise?”
Mako facepalmed, and Bolin released a massive gasp.
“What? Korra has a crush on Asami, too? Isn’t that, like, illegal?”
Korra snapped back to her senses and rushed to defend herself. “Hey, how’s that illegal?”
“Because Mako liked her first!”
“That doesn’t matter!”
“But he basically called her—”
“How can you call someone? Bolin, are you objectifying women?”
“Hey! I don’t even know what that means—”
“Enough!”
Mako’s yell silenced their bickering, and Korra bit her lip as she looked at his face, pointy brows furrowed in deep thought.
“Enough,” he said, a little quieter this time.
Korra crossed her arms, remembering her place as the shop owner with these two dolts as her employees. “Yeah, enough of this. It’s stupid. So, what if we both like her? That stays outside of work.”
Bolin suddenly laughed. “Imagine if you and Korra fought to see who could win over Asami first! That’d be so funny.”
“Yeah,” Korra rolled her eyes. “That would be funny—”
“Wait.” Mako cradled his jaw thoughtfully. “That’s actually not a bad idea.”
“What?” Korra asked incredulously. “You seriously cannot think us fighting for Asami’s attention during work hours is a good idea.”
“Hear me out.” Mako looked at Korra intently. “Us trying to impress Asami will just make her like our business—I mean, your business—even more. And isn’t that a good thing? She’ll leave better reviews for us and even recommend us to her friends.”
“I guess…”
“And both of us being at work gives us an even playing field.”
Korra hummed thoughtfully. She did like the idea of more business and beating Mako fair and square at something. And the thought of sweeping Asami off her feet made her giddy with excitement—more than she wanted to admit.
So she stuck out her hand and smirked up at Mako.
“You’re on.”