Slow Motion

"This is gonna be so much fun! The whole team together again!" Bolin was blooming with excitement.

Today was Opal's twentieth birthday and the first time since the wedding that everyone could get together and do something fun for a change.

"And it'll be nice to get away from the air temple for a while," Opal added. Most of the work the air nomads had lately kept them within Republic City, from helping cleanup to rebuilding and helping citizens readjust or find new homes. On rotation, one group at a time would travel to aid in the Earth Kingdom, but the groups were small and it had been and would be weeks before she would go back.

"It'll be nicer once we actually leave," Korra grumbled. Asami was waiting with the car, so she wanted to get back as quick as possible.

"Tell it to this one's girlfriend," Opal said, jerking her thumb at Kai, "Master Jinora is taking her sweet time."

"She had to let Master Tenzin know we were leaving," Kai explained, "and you know how he is."

"Oh! I got this!" Bolin exclaimed, "he's a windbag. Get it?"

Korra folded her arms and pouted, internally debating whether or not to go on ahead of the group. As she was about to turn and leave, she caught sight of Jinora in the corner of her eye. "alright, everyone's here, let's go." She motioned for everyone to move.

"What did your dad say?" Kai asked as the fallowed Korra out.

"Just that we need to be ready to work again tomorrow," Jinora said.

"You know most people get to celebrate that they can legally drink at twenty. I get one drink," Opal held up a finger. "I can't jeopardize my chances of beating Kai to my tattoos."

"Like you'd get them before me!" Kai sneered, "Miss Worldly Possessions."

"Like you should talk!"

"I should, I've mastered more forms."

"If we're talking strictly forms," Opal fired back, "Meelo's got the best chance and we all know Korra's more likely to get tats before he does."

"What?" Korra narrowed her eyes at them. "Leave me out of this." They approached where Asami was waiting with the car. "And anyway, Ikki will get hers next, right Jinora?"

"Most likely, yes." Jinora replied.

Korra ignored the airbenders resigned grumbles. She bounded over to the driver's side and leaned over the door. "Sorry that took so long," she said and kissed Asami on the cheek. Simultaneously the other four let out groans and gaging sounds. "Oh come on, it was just the cheek!"

Asami smirked and pulled Korra closer for a kiss. The mummer of complaints grew louder. "We could always make you walk," She said, silencing them.
Korra straightened up, her face felt hot and she knew it was likely bright red.

She didn't know how Asami could stay perfectly calm like that. Her eyes narrowed at Kai, who was trying to slip into the front seat. He caught her look, frowned and went to squeeze into the back seat.

Mako's new apartment resided in the new part of Republic City. Only a few buildings had been built on the outskirts of the slowly rebuilding old part of town, making the place easy to find. Korra had spent the last few weeks with Bolin and the former prince Wu working in the Earth Kingdom, it seemed like in that time the buildings had sprung up all over.

Her eyes combed the city, trying to figure out which roads Future Industries had worked on. Asami said that she had done about half of them, but they all looked the same to her.

They pulled up to his apartment and hauled up the copious amounts of booze they brought to celebrate. Mako took Bolin and Korra for a tour of his place since they hadn't seen it yet. It was small but bigger than his old apartment.

There were two bedrooms one bathroom and a decently sized living space.
While Mako went into the kitchen for the cake, everyone else settled down in the living room. Bolin and Opal took the couch and left space for Mako while Jinora and Kai took the floor on opposite sides of the coffee table as Asami and Korra. After the cake was passed out and Bolin's terrible rendition of "Happy Birthday" had been sung, Mako stood up.

"Oh, Jinora, I finished those books you lent me." He disappeared into his room for a moment and came out with two volumes.

"How did you like the ending to The Remains of the Day?" Jinora asked as she took the books and set them behind her.

Mako shifted his eyes and tugged at his collar. "Uh, well I wish they got together in the end but I understand why they didn't."

Korra stared at him for a moment and then glanced at Asami. They smirked and both silently laughed at the idea that Mako was embarrassed about reading a romance novel.

"Hey, I saw that. So what?" Mako's face grew bright red and he crossed his arms over his chest. "A guy can't read a romance?"

"You're the one who's getting redder than the Fire Nation," Korra shrugged, "I don't care what you read."

"I mainly read historical fiction, like Water Margin or Romance of the Three Kingdoms!" Judging from the look on his face that wasn't entirely true.

"Bro, the one has romance in its name." Bolin's words came out muffled by a mouthful of cake. "So you need a little help in the love department, big deal."

Opal cocked her eyebrows at Bolin. "Sweetie, everyone's read that book. It's about war. You've read it haven't you?"

"See I don't really do the whole 'reading' thing. Kai, back me up here."

"Hey I read some of Jinora's adventure stories."

Bolin's eyes landed on Korra. "I saw a theater production of Princess of the Moon with Asami, does that count?"

"Not really," Opal said. Korra pouted in response and grumbled something about not having time. She preferred listening to radio shows, they had stories and she could train while listening to them.

Conversations shifted and drinks were passed around. Opal spoke about how nice it was to see her family again after so long. No one asked if she had went to see her brother in prison, Bolin had warned them beforehand not to bring it up. The airbenders talked about games they had played or weird things that happened while out working with the civilians. Mako talked about the increase in crimes around the city since the battle and the increased duties Lin gave him. Asami talked about how many citizens chose to work for her, making the surplus of project around the city manageable. Bolin told everyone how their work in the Earth Kingdom was going with great flourish, from dealing with Kuvira supporters to organizing upcoming elections. Korra only had to interject a few times with corrections and comments.

She was excited to hear about all that everyone had been doing but she couldn't help but feel a little sad that she hadn't been there for it. Since the spirit world vacation she had with Asami, she had only been back in the city once and Asami had come to visit her twice – one of the times had been when they saw that play. Korra told herself it was just the alcohol getting her down.

Asami noticed how quiet Korra was and placed her hand over hers. She smiled at her and pointed over to Mako. "looks like someone can't handle their liquor." Mako was half slumped over the arm of the sofa, muttering a slurry mess about cracking down on gang members.

Korra smirked and glanced back at Asami. She had leaned close to her and Korra felt the sarcastic joke dry up in her mouth. Only seeing each other a handful of times in the past few months since they decided to try the whole dating thing out left her just as nervous about being close to Asami as she probably would have been had they just been on one date. It frustrated her, how come it was suddenly nerve-wracking to be around her now that they both knew what the other felt!

They had decided to take things slow, but right now things were slow not because of them, but because of distance. It wouldn't be so frustrating if they were in the same place and in the same city. Then it would be because that was just where they were and not where they had to be.

She wanted to kiss her. A real kiss, not like the chaste kiss from earlier but one with passion and pull. A heart-pounding kiss, one that kept going just to taste her skin, just to feel her touch a little longer.

Asami leaned over her to trade Mako's new glass of alcohol with a glass of water. "I think you've had enough." Mako didn't seem to notice and continued to explain to the two of them that turf wars continued to increase with expansion.

Korra hid a chuckle and nudged Asami with her elbow, "he's not the only one."

Opal, while still keeping herself upright, had more than exceeded her limit of one drink. Her voice arched high and loud and was laughing obnoxiously at every joke Bolin made. She jumped in excitement and knocked Bolin on the shoulder. "My favorite show!" she exclaimed. "Turn the radio up!"

"What show is it?" Kai asked as Bolin turned up the dial.

Jinora folded her arms on the table and rested her head in her hands. "Monster Mystery Hour," she grumbled, "it scares half the girl's wing when she plays it."

"Oh, Monster Mystery," Bolin flinched away from the dial, "sounds scary."

Opal patted his arm, "I'll protect you Bo."

"The real misery where tis my drink go," Mako stumbled through his words, his inflection all over the place. He had somehow grabbed another drink unnoticed and down half of it already, "Deck ecive Mako on …case."

"Haha! It is a misery, isn't it?" Kai laughed followed by a ssh! from Opal.

Asami stood up, brushed out a crease in her skirt and took the drink from him again. She seemed to be moving in slow motion. "How about we get you to bed Detective?"

Mako made a slight grumble in protest before nodding.

Korra knew 'we' meant Asami and herself. It took her a moment before she pushed up off the floor. Her head spun a little and her vision seemed to narrow. Still, even with Mako leaning most of his weight on her, she managed to stay mostly steady. Mostly.

"Since you're up could you grab a few pillows and blankets?" Jinora asked.

Asami gave a 'mmhhm' in response while she gathered up a glass of water and a small waste bin. She led Korra and the all but passed out Mako around the corner to the bedrooms. Korra slid Mako off her shoulder and onto his bed. She stepped back in a slight stumble and opted to sit on the edge of the bed.

Korra watched as Asami placed the glass on the end table and propped him up so that if he vomited in his sleep he would do it into the waste bin. Some of her hair fell out of her ponytail and in her face. That had to be her favorite way Asami looked, when she was in the zone about something and didn't notice how her look shifted from impossibly perfect to an even more impossibly perfect slight mess. She had seen her working on her car just once, but somehow she made covered in oil and grease the most attractive thing she had ever seen. Then there was how she looked in that dress at the wedding, or in the spirit world when her face lit up at each new sight, or when she met her in the Earth Kingdom after three weeks without her.

After a moment of inwardly arguing with herself, Korra decided every Asami look was her favorite and right now this was it. Wavy strand of hair escaping their tie and hanging around her neck and her green eye narrowed in focus and worry, her jaw set in slight annoyance but her lips in the slightest of smiles, indicating that she didn't mind. She remembered the feeling of Asami's smile and laugh against her lips.

"Alright, Mako's all taken care off." Asami said, straightening up. She motioned for Korra to follow as she stared out of the room. Korra stood up, even more slowly than before. The floor was like the pitching deck of a boat in rough seas. After her first few steps she caught her balance and followed Asami to the spare bedroom.

"Korra, you okay?" Asami asked, stopping just inside the room. "You've been pretty quiet all night."

She didn't know how to answer the question. Right now, physically, she wasn't the best. The past few weeks, emotionally, she was a roller-coaster of happiness and pride in the work they were doing, to doubt and fear of if it was the right thing, to sadness and longing that she was away from most of her friends. Today, emotionally, she was excited and happy and distant and alone.

"I'm okay," Korra said, "I'm just tired from working and travel."

Korra sighed and rubbed the back of her head. She couldn't lie to her. "I feel like I'm missing everything while I'm in the Earth Kingdom. Again."

"I assure you, Korra, you're not missing much." She took Korra's hand. "How much longer do you think it will be?" Asami asked, "for things to settle out enough that you can come back?"

"Elections are a week away. It'll probably be another month. Or two." Her shoulders sagged. She had spent three years away and it would likely total another six months away by the time she could come back for good. She had spent maybe three months in Republic City in the past three and a half years.

Korra was trying to muddle through her thoughts enough to say what she wanted to, what was on her mind. It was hard when the room was spinning when she was 90% certain she was motionless. It wasn't just that she was away from Asami and their relationship wasn't moving forward at all, but it wasn't just everyone and missing out on being around them and their lives either. Maybe it was a 60-40 split. Asami searched her face. 80-20?

"Is something else bothering you?" Korra dropped her eyes. A mistake, moving her head too much was dizzying. Asami led her over to sit on the edge of the bed. "Do you need to lie down too?" Taking it as a question rather than the suggestion it was, Korra shook her head. Bigger mistake.

Korra closed her eyes and tried to think of what she was trying to say. Was she swaying or was that just her head spinning? What was the question? Something bothering her. Right.

"I thought," she started, at the very least she could speak pretty clear, "after our vacation we would be together but we barely ever see each other."

"That's only temporary." A hand on her shoulder. A hand over hers. Bright green, worried eyes. Asami sure worried a lot.

"I know but it sucks." She could see the gears working in Asami's mind. "Don't other think it, Asami. There's nothing to do about it, I'm just venting."

"Is there something I could do?" Asami asked anyway. Korra wasn't in a state to wade through what she meant by that, she knew enough to know she wasn't implying that she'd pack up and spend the next two months in the EK with her, it could have meant nothing at all.

Meaning and implication aside, Korra knew how she was feeling. She raised her free hand to cup Asami's face and pressed her lips against hers. For a moment Asami was surprised but soon she moved into it. She pushed back with her kiss and pulled her closer with her hands, gripping tightly through Korra's hair.

She could feel Asami's heart pounding and her breaths coming shorter and hotter and the taste of her soft lips. She unlocked her other hand from Asami's and wrapped it around her waist. She wanted to be closer and Asami kept pulling her in.

Korra brushed her lips over Asami's neck, just under her ear, kissing the spot tenderly.

"Korra," Asami moaned, shuddering against the touch.

Korra smiled and brought her lips back to Asami's. She didn't know where she was going with this, just that she wanted to keep kissing her and taking her in. She pushed forward, leaning Asami back slightly.

Asami drew back, pressing her forehead against Korra's, She had one hand pressing on Korra's shoulder and one behind her, propping her up.

Korra opened her eyes, the room spinning before she could make out Asami's face and the red high in her cheeks.

"You're drunk," Asami said firmly, albeit breathless.

Korra took a breath and slid back. "I know. Sorry."

"No, you're the one who's inebriated, I should have-"

"You did."

They sat in silence staring at each other, filled with both exhilaration and awkwardness.

"The blankets!" Asami startled Korra by standing upright. She moved to Mako's closet and took out three blanket and sheets, tossing three pillows to Korra.

They reentered the living room, the group just relaxing as a commercial break started. "Is Mako alright?" Bolin asked.

"He'll be fine," Asami said smoothly. How she could regain her composure so quickly was beyond Korra. She was certain she was still blushing like a madhouse, maybe even more so out there with everyone looking at them.

They passed out the blankets and pillows, keeping a set for themselves. Korra settled on the floor with the pillow and tucked the blanket around Asami's shoulders. She felt better laying down, and suddenly very tired. She glanced over to Opal and Bolin on the couch, the former laying on top of him already fast asleep despite wanting so desperately to listen to her favorite show. Bolin however pulled the blanket up around them, teeth catering at the broadcast but not turning the show off or switching stations.

From underneath the coffee table, she saw Kai and Jinora sharing both pillow and blanket, lying back to back, settling down now that all of their alcohol-influenced friends were beginning to rest.

Asami handed down a water for Korra. "Drink up if you want to see straight tomorrow," she smiled down at her and brushed the hair from Korra's face.

She glanced over at Bolin who responded, "I'll get the radio once the shows over."

Asami laid down, facing Korra's back, pulling her in as the little spoon. She kissed the back of her neck and whispered so only she could hear. "Next time you kiss me like that, you better be sober."