Chapter Text
"Good morning, Mrs Luim," Asami Sato said cheerfully as she pushed her electric, corded lawnmower across her front lawn.
It was early on a Saturday morning, and Asami wanted the lawn mowed before the day got too hot. Not that it would take her very long, for it wasn't a huge lawn, nor was she slow. But she had other things to do on this beautiful Saturday.
"Good morning, Mrs Sato," Mrs Luim called back. The retired woman called everyone by their last names, no matter how many times they insisted otherwise. "It's going to be a scorcher!" the elderly woman called from her side of the street.
"It assuredly is!" Asami answered as she turned her lawnmower and started heading back in the other direction, towards the house, making sure not to run the mower over the extension cord as she did so.
Figuring out which type of lawnmower to get had been a stressful decision, she remembered. Gas or electric. Corded or battery powered.
In the end she had gone with a corded electric mower. She had no interest in getting a loud, polluting gas mower, and the batteries in cordless mowers just didn't last long enough. So corded was the decision.
Her wife, predictably, had been fine with whatever she chose.
Asami frowned as she got to the end of the grass near the house, and turned again. Mrs Luim had gone inside, as she usually did after saying hello. Her husband, when he came outside, usually stayed outside longer. Ostensibly, he was chattier than his wife. In reality, Asami was pretty sure the old lecher was just enjoying the view.
Of course, she knew what she looked like in short shorts and a tank top, so she couldn't really blame him.
It wasn't the thought of Mr Luim's wandering eye that had caused her to frown, however. Instead, it was thinking about her wife that had done it.
Asami didn't think she was asking too much in wanting actual input from her wife, rather than just indifferent agreement.
She got to the end of the lawn, and turned for the last time, as now she was mowing right next to the driveway. A quick flip of the cord to make sure it was clear, and she started mowing the last little bit of lawn.
Less than a minute later and she was done. She unplugged the extension cord, wrapped it up nice and neat, then pushed the mower into the attached garage where they stored it. She folded the handle of the mower down flat, then gave it a shove to send it underneath the workbench that was its home. The cord got hung on the wall.
She turned to look at the lawn. Perfectly straight lines. Not a blade of grass missed. As always. She hit the button to close the garage door, then headed into the house.
Time for her to shower and get ready for the day. She smiled, all thoughts of lawnmowers and joint household responsibilities fading from her brain. Korra was coming home from her business trip today, and that made it a very good day indeed.
Asami looked at the clock on the wall in their kitchen. She had finished mowing the lawn exactly on schedule, so she had plenty of time to get ready before she picked Korra up from the airport. And with the idea she had, it was not like she would have to spend a lot of time to pick out an outfit.
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Business class was not what it used to be, Korra thought with a grimace, as she fended off the advances of the drunk salesman sitting in the seat next to her. Some assholes just didn't understand that 'no' was a complete sentence.
Men, she thought to herself. Don't want to live with them. Can't kill them. Legally, at least. Physically, she was sure she could take the moron out without breaking a sweat.
“I don’t think,” the salesman slurred, “that there is anything wrong with women working, you know?”
For some reason the man was still wearing his tie, even though they were well into the flight, and even though he was blisteringly drunk
Korra couldn’t believe the moron hadn’t been cut off yet.
There was a gap in the seat rest behind the drunk. Korra figured she could grab the tie and feed it through the gap in the seat in less than a second.
Then pull it tight and watch as the fool choked on his own tie.
It was an idle thought, of course. Being a drunken pig wasn’t a death sentence, though this guy made Korra think that maybe it should be.
“You don’t think?” she asked, unable to help herself. Idiot! Don’t engage!
“Yeah,” the drunk slurred. “I don’t think.”
Well, that was one thing they could both agree on, at least.
“But.. But as... as soon as possible,” he continued, “like ASAP, you know? They should stay at home, right? I mean, that’s what... that’s what’s best. Basic biology!”
He pointed at himself. “Hunter!” Then at Korra. “Caregiver!”
She looked over at the flight attendant, who was doing her best to pretend she couldn’t hear what the drunk was saying as she assisted other passengers. No help there.
“I’ll be sure to let my wife know that one of us needs to stay home,” Korra finally replied. “Though which one of us should it be?”
She felt a little better, temporarily at least, as she imagined telling Asami that response. Her wife was far better than Korra was at dealing with irritations like this guy without threatening violence.
“Wife? Huh?” The drunk looked at her with narrowed, watery eyes. “That... that doesn’t make sense. You’re... you’re a woman! I think you are a woman.” He leaned back in his seat to get a better view of her. “You are musc- muscu- you got guns for a woman. You must be the man of the house.”
Are you fucking kidding me?
And just like that, the very short lived good feeling was gone. Korra recollected part of a movie she had seen once. A guy, a bad guy, but still, a pretty cool character, had gotten annoyed with a fellow passenger and had shot a pea or a small nut or something down the passenger’s throat to choke the woman.
Not an amazing movie, the TV reboot had been so much better, but she had never so much wanted to be a fictional character as she wanted to be that guy, right now.
Can’t kill this asshole, I’m one of the good guys.
Fuuuuuuccccckkkkkkk.
The flight attendant finally got up to them. “Would either of you like something to drink? Also, if you preselected a meal, they will start being served soon.”
How the fuck are they still serving this guy?
“What if you didn’t preselect a meal?” Korra asked.
“I’ll be taking food orders after this round of drinks,” the flight attendant replied.
Korra nodded.
“I want... I want another,” the other passenger slurred.
“Of course, sir,” the attendant responded.
Fuck my life. Maybe he’ll pass out. “I’ll take a double rum and coke,” Korra said. “Also, what are the supper selections tonight? Anything with peas?”
She imagined the idiot choking on a legume. It was almost enough to cheer her up. She wouldn’t do it, she knew, but a girl could dream, couldn't she?
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If anyone thought it was odd that Asami was wearing a full length trench coat, completely buttoned up, in the middle of a hot summer, those people wisely kept that thought to themselves. Her legs were bare underneath the long coat, and while she was wearing heels, they were not one of her extremely high pairs, but instead was a pair more suitable for driving.
Not that they didn’t look sexy, and, like any other pair of heels that she wore, made her even taller than her wife than she was already. She bit her lower lip, as her imagination took hold for a brief moment.
Asami liked having her wife look up to her, in all sorts of ways.
She imagined the possibilities as she waited, both at home, and even in the airport in which she was presently waiting. Not that she would do that.
Not anymore, at least.
Both Korra and herself were long past being insatiable teenagers, after all. Or even insatiable early twenty-somethings, as they had been when they had finally gotten together.
Not that they didn’t still have an active, healthy sex life, though. The outfit, if she dared call it that, that she had chosen for greeting Korra proved there was still lots of desire, if nothing else did. But still, dirty airport bathroom sex was only slightly tempting... and not tempting enough to actually act upon.
Not anymore, at least.
The arrivals board updated, and, finally, Korra’s plane landed. Of course, there would be several minutes yet before Korra managed to deplane, but Asami was ready.
Another woman came up beside her without looking at her, dropped something in her coat pocket, and then walked away, acting as if she had spotted her luggage on the carousel as she did so.
Asami sighed.
Fucking work. Always so dramatic.
Then she smiled, because she saw Korra, and she raised her arms to wrap Korra in a huge hug.
Work could wait. She had a wife to greet, luggage to get, a drive home, and then finally get the chance to properly greet her wife.
And show Korra exactly how little she was wearing underneath her coat.