Chapter Text
Asami told me she wasn’t into girls at all and I was wasting my time.
I told her I did not date straight girls anyway, so she shouldn’t bother rejecting me before I had even made a move.
She made a note of talking about her boyfriend all through the evening until I realized she had made half the stuff up on the spot as a sort of shield or dyke-be-gone odour spray. Like the kind you use for dogs that just can’t stop chewing on your stuff.
I grew bored with her in the same way I’d grown bored back home when I was pretending to be anything but what I was.
Turning my attention back to the awful racket unfolding on stage did little to ease my boredom but at least it was something to look at.
However I feel like I’m getting ahead of myself here. It’s quite rude to just jump directly to the point without even bothering with a little scenery.
It was a beautiful evening, stars littered the sky and for once clouds appeared to have better things to do than blur out the splendor of the universe. If I’d been more poetically inclined it could easily have passed as a magical evening.
As it was none of that stuff mattered at all, because I was stuck inside a dingy dive bar. The kind that doesn’t check id’s too closely and in return, expects their patrons to offer the same courtesy to the dust filled corners, the seldomly wiped tables and the off brand beer.
A concrete floor had been badly poured and large patches of grime sat as sticky islands amongst the many hues of overlapping blotches from spilled drinks, blood and all the other unsavory liquids it had soaked over the years.
I had cleverly disguised my identity by shedding my trusted varsity jacket as well as my wolf tails for something more appropriate for the circumstances, yet wildly inappropriate for nearly anywhere else.
My best friend had assured me that this particular get up, a high collared shirt buttoned just right to give the illusion of a cleavage, as well as a pair of skintight black jeans would make up for the lack of years on my ID. He had been right but as soon as I had ordered a beer I discretely fastened another button so I wouldn’t have to worry about leaning forwards.
I stood uncomfortable under the gaze of the regulars. A pack of greasy men with grey stubbles and indistinguishable features, wearing hats of varying styles, neither of them representative of their actual professions or lack thereof. Unless the outskirts of Republic City had suddenly seen a surge in the need for cow wranglers and rodeo riders. Only the trucker caps seemed to be legit.
The tap beer was sour with a bad aftertaste that spoke of cheap hops brewed in unwashed fermentation tanks, poured slightly before it was due. It wasn’t too different from the concoction my dad used to brew himself before the government cracked down on him. He framed that cease and desist order but I don’t know if it made him stop because I wasn’t around by then and he didn’t write to tell me about it.
Or about anything else for that matter.
I was here because my so called best friend had drawn the inexplicable conclusion that his budding music career would benefit from performing live. ‘To get a few under his belt’ he’d said and I guess he had a point because they really needed all the practice they could get. I had reluctantly agreed to come to entertain the bass player Mako’s new girlfriend, Asami, whose father had generously donated a bunch of new instruments to the band. Which in Mako’s opinion warranted some special treatment as well as her own personal escort for the evening.
Which really meant fuck all as she didn’t give me the time of day until the show was nearly over anyway.
Said band was currently running circles around themselves trying to plug in cords and properly align the drumset to Bolin’s stubby little legs. They looked pale, sweaty and nowhere near ready to perform. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Kuvira so frazzled but boy it was good.
Asami was eagerly texting on her phone and paying no mind to me while I slowly descended into the restlessness that comes from waiting on something awful and probably very tedious to begin.
I passed time by taking small swigs of my beer and sneaking glances at Asami.
How Mako had gotten with her was a mystery to me.
Naturally I had heard their ‘endearing’ story about how Asami hit him on her moped but frankly if I had been the one hitting him I would probably just have kept driving. Not because I’m gay or anything, but because Mako is really fucking moody and has quite the stick up his ass. Opal once said that he’s the kinda guy you only get to know through other people, because if you met him directly you’d run screaming in the other direction. I guess Asami must’ve been the self torturing kind to cut out the middleman. Or maybe she just felt bad for him. A poor orphaned boy, doomed to walk the earth alone with only his supportive brother, whip smarts and model tier good looks. The kind of underdog story that really makes the eyes water in the local rotary club.
The fact he hadn’t jumped down from stage and swept the beer from my hand must be something akin to a christmas miracle because I knew he certainly didn’t approve of underage drinking or anything else that broke the law.
Maybe he was just acting cool for Asami’s sake because the girl had her own drink in front of her, every once in a while she would sip carefully from the crusted rim and lick the excess sugar off her lips. As unlikely as it seemed she had managed to convince the bartender to make a cocktail, it didn’t look that fancy but neither did anything else in here, apart from Asami herself and the gleaming lacquer on the shiny new instruments. Shit, it even had a maraschino cherry.
I wouldn’t have pegged her as an cocktail gal myself, she looked expensive and clean cut and much too fancy to drink anything out of a repurposed jamjar. The only fruity thing that oughta touch those lips was the raspberry lip gloss she must’ve used as a child, before she grew old enough for that snazzy shade of deep red she wore now and always. I thought it made her look like a moverstar and she probably did too.
For unknown reasons the bar slowly began filling until every table was occupied. Even the unsanded shelves had someone lounging over them, picking out splinters from their shirtsleeves and eying our empty chairs jealously. I didn’t think it was the usual saturday night crowd, judging by Asami’s smug face and her red glowing phone I was right. A fair few passed by her to say hello or simply waved when they entered but as surely as if she had had a VIP section with bodyguards and special passes only very few of them gave her a proper greeting and nobody asked to sit. Neither did she invite anyone. A cursory glance was passed my way once or twice which I refused to react on. I’m fine being eye candy I’m not here to make friends.
The lead singer and arguably the only one with moderate talent made an awkward little jump off stage and staggered over to the table, Kuvira looked nervous but also excited, which was a rare sight even for me who had known her most of her life. If things went well tonight they’d have a small gig at the harbourside festival to look forward to and I think she was feeling the pressure.
“Just got a text from Opal, says her shift is over and she’s on her way. Save her a seat Korra?” she asked.
“Will do”
Asami had finally put her phone down and she smiled at Kuvira “Knock em dead.”
The singer gave her a curt nod, the standard Kuvira equivalent of a smile, “We will, thanks to you.”
The heiress gave Kuvira a self satisfied grin that made me groan a little internally and turn my head so she wouldn’t catch me rolling my eyes. Kuvira gave me a piercing stare as thanks, she really never was any fun.
I shifted a seat closer to Asami, letting my jacket and beer sit in front of the empty chair so it looked occupied. Asami raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment. Nobody was gonna sit here anyway but it didn’t hurt to be prepared.
So far we had managed to say about three words to each other, none too friendly which made me pretty sure Mako had been running his big mouth about some of the things I normally didn’t speak so loudly about.
In retrospect this was perhaps the turning point of the evening because I realized that no matter what this couldn’t possibly get any worse.
I undid my shirt buttons again, causing Asami to glance away awkwardly. She looked relieved when I stood up and moved to the bar. I smiled all the way up, he must’ve really sold me as some lesbian predator to have her this guarded.
Ordering 20 shots of Tequila and a pitcher of self serve might have caused the bartender to check the age on my id a little closer, but Opal chose that moment to appear and when Opal appears the finer details tend to blur into the background. Kuvira and I had been fighting for her attention for a while but it was really hard to compete when they lived practically in the same house.
She walked, no, Opal didn’t walk anywhere. When Opal moves it is with a natural glide, like there’s always a little upwind carrying her steps. Someone so graceful should have been a dancer because her way of moving commanded your eyes to watch her.
Opal picked up on my predicament immediately and pressed her body against mine in a hug “I was hoping you’d be here” She purred, pressing a kiss to my cheek. She pushed her body flush to mine and her arms lingered a little around my neck, fingers idly toying with a few strands of thick brown hair. The bartender found it hard to concentrate on the tiny numbers in front of him and slid my ID back, his attention halfway between me and Opal and the tray of shots he was already pouring.
I cringed inwardly when he sliced a lemon and placed it in a bowl at record speed and I halfway expecting them to be stained with red.
Opal gave me another slow kiss right at the corner of my mouth then took the tray of shots, lemon and salt and left me with the pitcher, bill and a dumb grin all over my face.
She took my seat while I slinked back into the one next to Asami.
Some girls just have that ability, with a wink or a tiny piece of sudden intimacy they render you totally incapable of thought or basic math. I slapped my money on the bar and hurried after her.
The heiress was eying me with mistrust, Asami clearly wasn’t used to anyone refusing to serve her and took some offense to me and Opal’s underhanded tactics.
In an effort to diffuse the tension Opal waved the band down, and dispensed a shot, a tawdry ‘slice’ of lemon and a pinch of salt to everyone.
“To the Fire Ferrets!” She proclaimed and all six of us grimaced as the cheap alcohol burned our throats. Opal pecked Kuvira on the lips and Mako gave Asami’s shoulder a somewhat awkward squeeze. He was never one for PDA. In fact I don’t think Mako was very into any kind of displayed affection, public or not. He’d probably been telling Asami to wait until they were married too. That’s the kinda misplaced romance he would be into.
The trio took the stage and the atmosphere in the room changed to mild anticipation.
I groaned “So it begins” and handed out another round of shots, alcohol was going to get me through this, one way or another.
Six awful songs later I was getting pretty tired of hearing Kuvira sing about broken hearts and all the other emo shit Mako had word vomited on his paper during their one solitary song writing session. The shot tray was empty and a very tipsy Opal had taken to the floor where she was swaying and making googly eyes at Kuvira.
What a lightweight.
Asami had that self satisfied content smile on her lips again and I knew then that this girl, for all her beauty knew nothing about music.
Even so, when she looked at me she looked pretty bored as well so maybe I shouldn’t be so quick to judge.
“He’s pretty good on that bass huh?” I lied in an effort to break the ice between us.
“He’ll get better.” She sounded quite sure about that. “He really puts effort into everything he does.”
“That’s our Mako, he’s like mister effort. Never takes a day off.”
“Sounds familiar.” She said and I thought she sounded kinda sad, but it could have been the alcohol. In fact I was pretty sure that it was, Asami hadn’t held back either and when I really looked at her her eyes seemed somewhat unfocused. “So what’s the deal with those two.” She pointed at Opal and Kuvira, the latter was on her knees, singing directly to Opal whose hands were resting on Kuvira’s thighs rubbing them in a rather salacious way.
“They starting dating a few years ago, give or take. The two of them have been in love with each other since we were children.”
“Oh.” She frowned. “It’s just… From the looks of it I thought she was into you. You seemed really friendly before.” She said that in the most non-committable way possible and I recognized the sentiment behind it, fucking Mako and his big blabbermouth.
I shrugged. “It’s not as easy getting served as a minor in here if your name isn’t Sato. It was just a distraction. But now you mention it yeah, there used to be something, that’s why it took so long for them to get together. We kept getting in the way of each other until I just backed off.”
Asami nodded a bit longer than what was necessary. I wasn’t sure she’d heard a word I just said.
“Mako never knows when to back off. I tried taking him to see my dad and he was just… He basically didn’t stop pushing until dad had to admit he wasn’t such a bad person. It was really impressive.”
“Mako doing something impressive?” I scoffed “Well I guess there is a first time for everything. If only your dad could have bought him some songwriting lessons instead.”
Much to my surprise that made Asami laugh.
“I’m gonna get another round of shots, you want anything?”
She shook her head. When I got up and the blood rushed to my head leaving me a bit unsteady, I hadn’t planned on getting drunk but I figured it was better to ask forgiveness than permission. My guardians would probably be in bed when I got home anyway, and my parents were living halfway around the world, not that they would care either way.