#willowtree3

               4 years ago Korra would have jumped at the chance to clash with a bunch of bending gangs.  But present day Korra had better things to do, and spending time with her beautiful girlfriend beat out fighting street punks every day of the week. “Tough day today sweetie,” Asami said knowingly, she didn’t have to be a genius to know that Korra had a bad day, but it didn’t hurt that she was.  

               “I don’t want to talk about it right now,” Korra said though her voice was muffled due to their positions.  

               “That’s fine,” Asami said kissing the top of her girlfriend’s head, “but you’re going to have to let me get up if I’m going to spoil you to make you feel better.”

               “No,” Korra said with half faked petulance, “spoil me from here.”

               “But I can’t reach the phone to place your favorite order from Narook’s if you don’t let me up.”

               “You’re a genius, can’t you invent a phone that can be carried so you don’t have to abandon your distressed girlfriend in her time of great need,” Korra said laying it on thick as she nestled in a bit more.  

               “I’ll get right on that, but for right now I need ot get up and walk over to the phone,” Asami said gently pushing Korra’s head off of her lap.

               “What’s the point of having an amazing super smart genius inventor girlfriend if she can’t just make the impossible devices i come up with off the top of my head a reality,” Korra said as she pouted a bit.

               Asami just bent down and placed a soft kiss on Korra’s lips that lingered for a moment more than it had to, just like always. Then she walked out of the room to get the phone and place their order, “fine,” Korra shouted.  “I guess the avatar, bridge between worlds, will just sit here in here alone since her girlfriend doesn’t want to comfort her.”

               “I love you,” Asami shouted, it was unclear if she actually heard Korra’s complaining, or if she just knew the love of her life that well.

               “Love you too,” Korra mumbled as she moved to lay back on the couch alone.  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, filling her senses with Asami instead of ruminating on her horrible day.  It worked, Asami was her favorite thing in the whole world so it made her feel good to think of her.  The way she smelled of motor oil, ink, and jasmine, it shouldn’t be a pleasant combination but somehow it was.  The way her lips tasted like Asami, Korra couldn’t find another word perfect enough to describe Asami’s taste.  

               Asami…, the best word Korra could describe Asami was soft, well actually beautiful was the best word to define Asami, but everyone who was in love thought their lover was beauty defined.  Just because everyone else alive and who ever lived and Korra was right didn’t mean it was the only word to perfectly describe Asami. When the two of them had met for the first time back at the gala Tarrlok had thrown in her ‘honor,’ beautiful was the first word that came to mind when they were introduced.  When she saw the beautiful girl on Mako’s arm the next word that came to mind was soft.  

Back then it had been an insult, because she was blinded by her attraction to Mako that she refused to see Asami as anything other than an obstacle between them.  After all soft was something that didn’t exist in the South Pole, soft things were weak and they died in the cold.  But through Asami’s determination to befriend her and fighting Equalists together, the way that Asami aided her without question against Unalaq,  she managed to forge a bond with Asami that didn’t involve Mako.  

Korra never stopped thinking of Asami as soft, but the meaning of the word changed.  Asami was far from weak as Korra realized, the first time she realized that Asami wasn’t the prissy beautiful rich girl she had initially believed the heiress to be was on the track where Asami showed off.  She would later claim that she wasn’t, but in that way that teasing just screamed ‘I’m lying,’ that both of them loved so much. It was in Hiroshi’s hidden workshop that Korra learned about how strong Asami really was, when she shocked her father and single handedly defeated Amon’s Lieutenant to get them out of there. Looking back, Korra knew that that was the moment that she started to fall for Asami, even if she was still blinded by her attraction to Mako.  When Tarrlok arrested Asami because of her ties to the equalists Korra almost snapped right there and would have torn the man apart if she didn’t have everyone to look out for.  The way that Bolin described Hiroshi’s mech ready to finish off Asami when she was on the ground after the war with Amon was over made the avatar’s blood boil despite her feeling weak after what Amon did to her.

No, Asami Sato was far from weak, Korra knew that better than anyone now.  The universe seemed to take Asami’s survival despite everything against her as personal challenge and just did its best to break her down twice as hard.  Yet Asami didn’t break, not only had the CEO survived, but she thrived despite everything in her life trying to tear her down.  And above all, Asami never lost her softness, the softness that Korra associated with her now.  The way she took care of the crippled avatar after Zaheer poisoned her, the way she forgave instead of hating, she showed Korra that soft wasn’t weak. That it took far more strength to be soft and warm instead of closing yourself off hardening your skin and making yourself cold.

“Food should be here in an hour,” Asami said though Korra could feel her nearby even with her eyes closed, “if you wanted to get cleaned up or take a nap beforehand.”  

She had a point, Korra was still covered in soot and dust from today’s rumble, but she didn’t want to shower, not yet.  “I’ll take the nap first if you don’t mind,” she said opening her eyes.  To this day she couldn’t help but stare at Asami whenever she saw her.

“Alright,” Asami said giving Korra a quick kiss before lifting the avatar’s head onto her lap.  “Sleep for a hour and then we’ll eat.  After that though I’m going to spend the whole night spoiling you so be sure to rest up.”