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Korra winced as she shifted her weight delicately to the side, making to stand from where she was sitting in the lotus position. Traditional as it was, sitting on the hard stone ground wasn’t all that comfortable. At least she had the salty sea breeze blowing her hair back from her spot that overlooked the vast ocean on Air Temple Island.
Meditation helped to clear her mind and ease her mental state, definitely, but it unfortunately did nothing to dull the insistent nerve and muscle pain of her lower back.
After a grunt and a failed attempt, Korra took a breather and slowly, carefully, reached forward to grab her cane that rested just by her knees. A quiet, involuntary sound slipped from her throat and she internally wanted to slap herself for being so pathetic.
No, she stopped herself, wanting to silence the other harsher voice in her head before she let herself spiral into believing those lies. It’s not pathetic. It’s just a bad back day.
Eventually she managed to stand with the help of her cane as she grit her teeth. Jinora had hand carved it and gifted it to her a few months after Korra and Asami started dating. Korra had made sure to hug the girl who she considered her little sister very thoroughly after that.
Besides, continued the nicer voice in her head. Your body thinks it’s poisoned again anyway.
It wasn’t very hard to think about the new ink that her body perceived as a threat since it was currently contributing significantly to the pain in her back. Her muscles felt like they were on fire for multiple reasons and she wanted nothing more than to get a massage and scratch the hell out of her itchy skin. Of course she decided to get the tattoo on the entire expanse of her back, making it feel like her bones were being hammered away with an ice pick every time the tattoo gun went over her spine or ribcage. At least it looked cool.
Well. Right now her skin was red and irritated but it will look cool. Korra rolled her eyes at herself as she hobbled back into the temple.
Asami was supposed to be arriving soon and while she couldn’t wait, she was also, stupidly, nervous. She didn’t want her girlfriend to see the tattoo yet. Thankfully almost all of it was covered under her shirt, but she hoped that Asami wouldn’t notice the pointed, matching black blots on the back of her shoulders.
Asami had been away for a week — devastating, she knew — on a business trip. The CEO had mentioned a new satomobile, one that was sleek, aerodynamic and fast. ‘Sporty’, the word Asami used.
Opportunistically, Korra took advantage of that week and paid a visit to Air Temple Island to get the tattoo that she had been planning for months. She wanted to give it enough time to heal before Asami saw it. Apparently it wasn’t enough though, which she should have expected. She didn’t exactly have the best track record with being on time. Korra didn’t let her mind wander down that path.
Instead she focused on how she was going to hug her girlfriend until their souls melted into the same entity. How she was going to pepper kisses all over her beautiful face until they were both laughing, and not on how every step that she took made searing hot pain race up and down her back and into her legs like some kind of twisted speedway.
A gentle hand on her upper back pulled Korra out of her thoughts as she finally made it into the housing part of the temple. Her brows lifted slightly as she looked to her left only to be met with Jinora, and she couldn’t help the smile that appeared on her face.
“Hi, Jinora,” Korra greeted softly as they walked, the comforting hand on her back staying rooted where it was.
“Hey. How are you feeling?” The young airbending master asked with a little concern, as she knew exactly what the situation was. Korra appreciated the sentiment.
“I’m…” Korra breathed out, “…yeah.”
Jinora gave her a pointed look and Korra rolled her eyes, but there was no real annoyance. She checked over her shoulder to make sure Tenzin wasn’t around, then, “Physically I feel like shit.”
Jinora laughed softly and rubbed a singular circle with her hand. “I thought so. But what about in here?” She poked a finger into the waterbender’s chest.
Korra chuckled and searched her head, her heart for anything that was amiss. She recalled a few thoughts that could’ve lead to mini spirals, but she didn’t let it get to her, not too much.
“I’m… good, actually.” After a pause, leaning on her cane to adjust, she continued. “Were your arrows this itchy when you got them?”
Jinora giggled at the older girl and removed the hand that she had at her back, effectively reminded that it probably wasn’t helping with the itching situation.
“Yeah, I actually got them about two weeks before the ceremony. Dad made sure I stayed hidden away until then. Thankfully the one on my head cleared up a bit faster, but my back was still kind of scabbed.”
Korra made a tired sound — she was well aware of the scabbing. It was all over her back and it sucked ass. She couldn’t wait for it to heal.
Jinora was silent for another moment while they slowly walked through the temple as Korra managed to finally pick up some momentum. Then, with a sly smile, she eyed her big sister figure and gently pat her shoulder.
“You know, Asami is here.”
Korra’s eyes lit up immediately. “She is?”
Jinora grinned knowingly at her. “Mhmm. She’s with mom in the dining room.”
Excitement fueled Korra and she managed to limp a little faster. Her heart began to jump joyously at the mere thought of her girlfriend and a dopey smile bloomed across her face. The airbender stayed by her side and soon enough they slid the screen doors open to the communal dining room. Sure enough, Asami and Pema were sat on the cushions, sharing fond conversation and a plate of veggie dumplings.
Korra felt like she was smacked in the face when the door was opened, because spirits, Asami was so beautiful. Korra thought it every time she looked at her. She was drop dead gorgeous, with her long, thick waves of jet black hair, tall, strong frame, and green eyes that could pierce through Korra’s skin, bones and soul. But most of all she was so brave, so kind, with a presence that commanded attention and respect while also being the softest, warmest thing Korra had ever felt.
She couldn’t wait to kiss every contour of Asami’s face, and her red painted lips, and her jaw, and the tip of her nose, and—
“What are those?!” Korra squeaked.
Everyone turned to look at her, which gave Korra the opportunity to get a better look at the round windsor glasses that Asami was wearing. They were nearly identical to Hiroshi’s, which Korra was sure wasn’t a coincidence, but they were making her absolutely swoon.
Korra didn’t miss the small frown that tugged down at Asami’s lips when the taller woman presumably caught sight of her cane, and she wanted to right it immediately. She was in pain, but she was fine. She just wanted to see Asami’s smile again, and what better way to do that than to wobble over with vigor to fawn over her girlfriend’s new glasses? Glasses! She couldn’t believe it.
Asami stood from the cushion on the ground and met her half way, which Korra was grateful for. The engineer scooped her girlfriend up in her arms as soon as they embraced, and Korra melted into her touch. There was so much tender force behind it, so gently passionate as they cuddled in the middle of the room, unbothered by the kind eyes of Jinora and Pema on them. They were so entangled that neither noticed as both mother and daughter quietly left the room, cheeks rosy with smiles.
Korra was barely able to stop herself from pressing all her weight into Asami, but Asami just pulled her closer. Even when her right leg briefly went limp, Asami never budged. She loved her so much.
Korra lifted her head from the crook of her girlfriend’s neck to look at her gorgeous face and her cute little glasses. Even Korra herself could feel the love pouring uncontrollably out of her gaze as she found Asami’s green eyes that glowed with care and adoration. It made funny things dance around in her stomach.
She kissed her.
Asami grinned into it as Korra’s hand slowly slid up to cup her face, and they both let out a long sigh of relief. Asami responded by dragging her more calloused hands up Korra’s hips, then sides and back, holding her impossibly closer. It caused the fabric of the waterbender’s shirt to rub uncomfortably against the healing tattoo, but Korra couldn’t have been bothered by how much her skin burned to be itched because she was kissing her entire world.
They parted for breath after a beat, eyes sparkling and skin burning and hearts pounding ecstatically. An emotion verging on cute aggression welled up in Korra’s chest and it was physically impossible to stop herself from pressing her lips to the tip of Asami’s nose. A huge grin spread across her face, mirrored by Asami.
“You—” A gentle kiss to Asami’s pink cheek, “You got glasses!”
The nonbender let out a cute little sound and lifted a hand to adjust said glasses, pushing them back up. It was adorable. Korra wished so badly that she could pick up her girlfriend and twirl her around to hear that giddy laugh that she loved so much, but she knew that couldn’t happen in her current state.
“Yeah,” Asami said, almost breathless. “I finally got my prescription. I can see distant shit without a blurred line around the edges, it’s wonderful.”
For a moment Korra just stared, lovestruck. How was it that she got to spend so much time with this incredible person? Even more so, how was it that with all they’ve been through, Asami chose her? She thanked the spirits that they were even born into the same age.
Asami must’ve noticed her dopey stare because she giggled and reciprocated her earlier nose kiss with one of her own. Korra’s lopsided grin grew somehow brighter.
“I love you,” Korra blurted.
Without missing a beat, Asami nuzzled her girlfriend softly. “I love you, too.”
With a deeper blush settling over her tan skin, Korra rubbed a thumb over Asami’s cheek. “I have something to show you later,” she shyly admitted.
Asami lifted a brow and curiosity danced in her impossibly green eyes. “Oh yeah?”
Wordlessly, Korra nodded and cuddled bashfully into the crook of the other woman’s neck, smile wide against Asami’s soft skin.
“I look forward to it.”
—
Later in the week, Korra laid on her stomach, shirtless and back completely bare because she couldn’t find it in herself to wait any longer. Asami traced the thick, blacked out designs of Raava tattooed into the lines of the waterbender’s physique with the pads of her fingers and warm lips. The ink spilled from her muscled shoulders, across the expanse of her toned back, and down where her spine dipped down to her rear.
“Beautiful,” Asami had rumbled reverently as she kissed the diamond shaped center of the tattoo, goosebumps erupting across Korra’s skin as she did so.
Korra made a soft sound from where her face lay smushed overtop her crossed arms, red coloring the tips of her ears.
As Asami gripped her hips and attached her mouth to the tender spot of the southerner’s neck, just behind her ear, Korra felt herself melt into the sheets more and more throughout the night. Through the slow but steady build of her ecstasy, she couldn’t help but constantly recount how lucky she was to have someone who fully embraced her nicks and imperfections, who kissed her scars. Someone who knew just how to press into her to liquify every rigid muscle into warm, tender flesh that oozed honesty. Someone who learned, listened, and partook in the long story that danced under the black ink sprawled across her back.
How lucky she was to have Asami, and for Asami to have her, wholly and fully.