Chapter 1: The Trip

"That's the last of it," Korra said.

"Thank god," Bolin said as he leaned against the wall and wiped imaginary sweat off his forehead.

"Bolin, we were packing for like half an hour. Don't be dramatic."

Mako smirked at the look on Bolin's face which clearly showed him to be rather put out. It was the last day of university and they were all getting ready to leave for their summer holidays which were due to begin in one week. Mako and Bolin were considering either going to visit their family in the Earth Kingdom or simply staying at university over the break.

Meanwhile, she was going to go visit her family in the Southern Water Tribe. It had been nearly a year since she had been back home and she was itching to get back home but she would miss hanging out with her friends. Due to their extremely busy schedules, they hadn't exactly had a lot of time to spend with each other.

"Guys! You will never guess what!"

Asami had burst into Korra's dorm room with a look of utter excitement on her face while waving one of her engineering magazines. The three others gave her a look of pure confusion as she excitably brandished the magazine in their faces.

"Calm down 'Sami," Korra placed her hands on her shoulders and gave her a smile. Asami soon slowed her breathing and grinned down at Korra. Looking at her smile nearly intoxicated her like it always did. God how she loved her but she forced herself to stay focused on what Asami was saying. It was tough. All she had to do was look into those green eyes and she would lose all sense of where she was or what she was doing. "So, what's this news you are dying to tell us?"

"The Great Exhibition is going to take place in Ba Sing Se! Finally! I have been waiting like months for them to announce it!"

The other three people in the room gave each other looks. What on earth was The Great Exhibition and why was Asami so excited?

"You have no idea what I'm talking about," Asami continued, looking dejected. Her friends all shook their heads. "Okay, so The Great Exhibition is where inventors and engineers get to show off their designs and if they win, they could get a massive contract to produce and build their invention."

"Oh," the other three said. Now it made sense why Asami was super excited. It must be like a kid going to a theme park for the first time.

"So, what are you going to enter?" Korra asked her friend.

"The new Satomobile designs I have been working on." Ah yes, those designs – the one that kept her up to three am designs. "Production has just finished on the prototype and it's getting delivered this week before the show." She looked positively delighted. It was so cute to see her like this. "And I was wondering if you guys would like to come with me for the grand revealing?" She looked like she was about to beg them to join them.

"Of course, we'll come Asami!" the words were out of Korra's mouth before she even had a chance to think.

"Oh, that's really sweet guys! But aren't you going to see your parents Korra?"

Goddammit, that's right. Time to think on your feet Korra.

"I'll let them know that I'll visit after the show. Besides, this seems important to you."

"You're the best Korra!" Asami quickly pulled her into a hug.

Korra had to physically restrain herself not to smell Asami's hair or look too content in her arms. Asami's touch was enough to send shivers down her back.

"Mako? Bolin? You guys in?"

"Sure," Mako said. "We were thinking of visiting our family in the Earth Kingdom. This whole thing could be fun."
"You know what this means?" Bolin waited for his friends to try and guess but when nobody did, he barrelled on. "Road trip!"

"Um, I was thinking of just catching an airship," Asami said.

"But a road trip will be so much more fun! It will be just like old times. Come on guys, let's do one last big trip before we enter our final years at university!"

He looked around at them with puppy dog eyes – the kind that no one could say no to.

"Oh, alright," Mako said, speaking for the group as Bolin did a little victory dance.

"Oh, this means that Opal can come," Bolin said as he stopped dancing. "She would want to visit home. I better go tell her."

He quickly rushed out the door. Korra couldn't help but smile. She turned back to Asami who was flicking through her magazine with a look that reminded her of a little kid going through a pile of sweets.

"I best be off too," she said. "Gotta book those tickets! See you!"

Korra watched Asami leave, exhaling a small sigh as she did. There were times where she wished she could just come out and tell Asami the truth about her feelings but she didn't know how it would be received. Would she tell her to go away or be flattered but say no? In none of Korra's fantasies did Asami ever agree to date her. How could a girl like that fall for a girl like herself?

"Korra?"

"Yeah?" the sound of her name wrenched her back to reality.

"I see what you're up too."

Korra started to sweat a little. Had she been that obvious in her obvious attraction towards her best friend? Sure, she had kept it as down low as she could but had Mako noticed the way she stared at her, the way she examined every inch of Asami's perfect body? Hopefully, he didn't know what went inside her head.

"Yeah, you're trying to escape going home."

Korra internally sighed in relief. Mako was going to make a great detective one day but luckily for her, he was clueless in this.

"No," Korra shook her head. It was the truth. The truth was that she missed her parents greatly but there was also that overwhelming feeling of wanting to be near Asami. "I just want to have some time with my friends. I mean, how much did we really see each other this year?"

"Not a lot," Mako agreed.

"Yeah which is why we should do this trip."

"I understand and I agree but are you sure this is what this is about?"

Goddammit, he's giving her that look again that made her think he knew what was going on in her head. She knew it all too well from when they had gone out. Yep, they had dated for a full six months two years ago before their fights got too intense and they decided they would be better off being friends. It ended up being for the best. They were much better friends than they were boyfriend and girlfriend.

"I am sure Mako," he gave her another look. "Honest!"

"Okay then!" he seemed content with that which only made Korra breathe a little easier.

"Well, I better get ready for this trip."

As he left, Korra took out her cell phone and called her mother. Hopefully, her parents won't be too disappointed with what she was about to tell them. It was probably too much to hope that they would be all for it. Her mother picked up on the second ring.

"Hey honey, you excited to be coming home?"

"Um, about that," Korra quickly explained what was going on. "This is really important to Asami so I think I should go. Besides, we won't be gone long and I'll be home after the event."

There was a small pause. Please don't be mad, Korra thought desperately to herself. She really hated it when her mum was angry.

"Sounds like fun dear," Korra could have made a whooping sound but she didn't. Instead, she did a silent fist pump. Maybe she had been right to hope. "I guess we'll see you when you get here in a few weeks."

"You will mum!"

"Who else is going besides Asami?"

"Bolin, Opal and Mako."

"Mako?" Oh no, here it comes, she was going to ask more questions about this trip now. "Are you sure that's a good idea? He did break your heart sweetie."

"Mum, that was two years ago and I'm over it." Not to mention completely heads over heels for someone else, she added in her head.

"Mako is a nice boy though." Oh boy, she knew where this was going. Her mum can really go from one extreme to the other whenever they discuss Mako. First, she warns her around him and then suddenly she's all Team Mako? She nearly rolled her eyes but her mum always liked Mako. He had been her first serious boyfriend and love. Sure, she had a few dates with other guys but they had never gone anywhere. Then she had to fall for the one person she probably could never get; Asami Sato.

"Mum, Mako and I aren't getting back together. We're just friends."

"Okay love."

Korra shook her head. "Goodbye, mum. I love you."

"I love you, honey!"

Korra hung up the phone and let her thoughts drift back to Asami. Argh, she groaned as she collapsed onto her bed. Why was love this difficult?

Asami pressed the 'add to cart' button. She was currently on the website for The Great Exhibition currently buying tickets. It had been a toss-up between the All-Access Pass and the VIP Pass (seriously though, she couldn't make out the difference between them) but she settled on the VIP Pass as that seemed to allow the most access (apparently?).

When Korra had offered to come, her stomach had done a somersault with joy. A small part of her had been hoping it was just going to be Korra and herself. She squirmed with guilt at the thought of leaving Mako and Bolin behind. Well, maybe she would be able to score some alone time with Korra during this trip.

All year, she had been trying to pluck up some courage to tell Korra how she truly felt about her – about how her heart increases its beat every time she laid eyes on her or how she gets utterly memorised by her smile and yearns to see it. Asami could have knocked her head against her keyboard. Ugh, she sounded like a lovestruck teenager but then again, she was completely lovestruck.

Asami entered in her credit card details and pushed the button that said 'Pay Now'. As she waited for her transaction to be processed, her thoughts returned to Korra. She had decided that during this summer she would tell her how she felt. If she would ever get that courage she needed.

To keep her thoughts from constantly drifting to her dark-skinned friend, she forced herself to think about The Great Exhibition. The excitement from before returned and she could feel herself shaking. This was the first time in years she would be able to go. The last time she went was with her father before he went to jail. A scowl appeared as thoughts of her father came into her head. She hadn't exactly spoken to him in several years ever since his involvement with a terrorist group had been made public. She didn't know if forgiveness was in the future but there was a small part of her that hoped one day her father would see the wrongs he did.

The door then opened and Asami looked behind her and gave a smile at the person who just entered.

"So, Bolin said something about a road trip?" Opal took a seat on Asami's bed.

"Yeah, we are heading off to Ba Sing Se and checking out some other places. Maybe we could even head to Zaofu to see your family."

"That would be nice, I haven't seen mother and father in a while."

"Yeah, it will be nice to see Su."

"So, who else is coming?"

"Oh, just the gang, you and Bolin, obviously, Korra and Mako."

"Mako huh?" Opal wagged her eyebrows at her. Asami shot her a look which made Opal quickly resend her earlier comment. "I was just teasing, sorry! I'll stop! I promise!"

"You know very well that Mako and I haven't dated in like three years!"

The whole mess of dating Mako and being part of a love triangle was something that Asami would rather leave in the past. She and Korra behaved quite badly and that was something she regretted. At least her friendship with Korra never suffered any consequences which was something she was grateful for.

"I know, I know," Opal looked like she regretted teasing Asami but she still launched into her next sentence as if she didn't. "So, talking about romantic relationships, is there anyone you're interested in?" she wagged her eyebrows again.

"N-no," Asami felt her face going red. She quickly turned away, hoping that Opal didn't see but she was hoping in vain as Opal let out a small giggle.

"There is!" she cried. "Tell me about him!"

Well for starters it's a her, Asami mentally replied but decided against telling Opal anything. She didn't feel like gossiping about her love life with anyone yet – well not until she knew how Korra felt anyway. Besides, her love life was private and none of their business. Her silence made Opal pout, almost begging for a reply but none came. Asami was saved having to explain anything by the door opening and in walked Opal's boyfriend.

"This trip is going to be awesome," Bolin threw himself onto the bed next to Opal. He gave her a small kiss on the cheek before continuing. "So, what are you ladies discussing?"

"Just chatting about the trip," Asami said before Opal could open her mouth. "Just seeing what we could get up to."

They continued to chat until Bolin and Opal decided they had to leave and celebrate the end of exams. Asami didn't want to know what this entailed so she just waved goodbye. This left Asami in her room looking at her screen and the confirmation for her tickets. Her phone buzzed and she looked down at it and saw that it was a message from Korra. Grinning to herself, she opened up the message.

Can't wait for this trip – it will be fun to hang like old times.

Old times, they seemed so far in the past. University really has placed a damper on their social life especially with the last month being taken up by exams. Asami quickly typed out a reply.

Me either, it's going to be cool. Tickets have been purchased and we are good to go!

Nice one Sami! I call shotgun in the car!

Already booked that seat for you.

Yes! Take that Mako!

Asami had to suppress a laugh. Korra could be so cute. Her fingers hovered over the keypad of her smartphone. She was tempted to ask Korra for some time to talk but then decided against it and instead, she placed her phone by her computer. Inside, her heart started to beat faster and she could feel the sweat on her palms. She, of course, had to fall for the one person that she knew was impossible to get; the superstar of the university sports circuit. The one that everyone cheered for.

Argh! Why was love so difficult?

A/N: So this is a little idea I had for Korrasami. More to come!