Work Text:
For once in what seems like months (but is actually three weeks), Asami is finally able to clear her schedule for a weekend. With a free schedule she can finally do what she’s been putting off for so long. Wash day.
It has been way too long since she has been able to wash her hair and her strands are paying the price. After the first week, product buildup had become more prominent, making her hair a greasy mess. To try and hide this, her hair has stayed in a high bun until now.
Looking at her products in front of her in the bathroom she has to take a deep breath and mentally prepare for what is about to transpire next. After months of testing products and creating a routine, wash day for Asami is a walk through the park. Even after so long, the routine is still like second nature to her but still feels like a full body exercise.
But that brings up the question, why didn’t Asami wash her hair for three weeks? That, my friends, has a very simple answer:
No one knows she has curly hair.
Okay yes, she usually wears her hair in long waves, but that's not her natural hair type at all. Instead of loose waves, Asami’s hair type is more like tight springs. It’s not like she doesn’t like her natural curls- she’s very neutral about it- it's just so much to deal with and with running a whole company, she just doesn’t have time in her schedule to do her hair. So she straightens her hair and curls her hair in the way that can be brushed up at the end of the night.
No one knows of this of course, and she plans to keep it this way. But of course when you're dating the avatar, things don’t always go according to plan.
And that's where we are now. Asami is combing conditioner into her hair, watching the strands extend and spring back, when she hears a knock at her door.
“ASAMI!!”
Shit.
Shit shit shit. Korra is not supposed to be here, at her front door, while her hair is dripping wet and making $30 conditioner fall onto the floor.
Unfortunately Asami didn’t have time to figure out a plan since Korra is letting herself in and looking around the house for her.
“ASAMI? I KNOW YOU’RE HOME. YOUR ASSISTANT SAID YOU WERE HOME TODAY”
Well there goes her plan to pretend not to be here.
“I’M HERE. SECOND FLOOR BATHROOM” Asami responded, trying to hold back her fury. She’s not too sure who she's mad at though. Her assistant, for letting Korra know she’s home, or herself for giving her a damn key to the house.
“OKAY I’LL BE DOWNSTAIRS”
At Least Korra didn’t come up for her. But now she had another problem: how the fuck is she going to wash her hair and straighten it without Korra noticing?
She has been dating Korra for about a year now and even though they have been intimate in- ahem- other ways, this is another level of intimacy that Asami doesn’t know if she’s ready for.
“ASAMI ARE YOU OKAY? YOU’VE BEEN UP THERE FOR LIKE THIRTY MINUTES”
Honestly she has no idea how to respond. It must’ve been too long without a response because Korra was at the door to the bathroom knocking.
“Asami? Are you okay?”
No. She was not okay, thank you very much. She was on the verge of having a panic attack. How would Korra react if she knew the truth. Would she think of her as a liar? Would she look at her differently? If Korra knew what her natural hair looked like, would she deem her untrustworthy and break up with her? In the back of her mind, Asami knew this was unlikely, but that didn’t stop her thoughts from spirling.
But Korra did not have to know that. Infact, Korra did not need to even be here. Yet she was and there was nothing Asami could do to change that.
She didn’t want to change that.
She loves Korra, and trusts her. She trusts her with her life.
And so putting all her doubts aside, Asami opens the door.
“Hey Korra.”
“Asami wha- ARGH” In hindsight, she really should have thought about this reveal more. As soon as the door opened, splatters of condition flew off of Asami’s hair and into Korra’s eye.
“Shit, Shit, Oh my god are you okay”
“Yeah, Yeah, I’m fine”
A beat passes
“You can’t open your eyes, can you?”
“... No”
“Come here Korra.” Asami sighs and pulls her girlfriend into the bathroom, punching all the hair products to the side to care for her.
Once they get the conditioner out of Korra’s eye and Asami leads them both downstairs, she finally gives Korra the chance to look at her. More importantly, her hair.
Korra takes one look at her, and for her usually obliviousness, she catches on pretty quickly.
“Your hair.”
“Yeah”
…
Korra reaches towards it, “I like it.”
This leaves Asami in shock. Again, she doesn’t hate her hair, she never creates a positive or negative look on her natural hair. But for someone to see it in a positive light, she just doesn’t know what to do with herself. It takes her a while to snap out of her shocked state to notice Korra rambling.
“- I mean any way you wear your hair is nice. You could shave it and I still think you’ll look pretty. NOT That you should shave it though I was just saying that I really like it like this and-”
“Korra” Asami interrupts.
Korra immediately stops and looks up at Asami.
“Thank you” she says, and emphasises with a kiss on her lips.
“For what?” Korra asks.
For not hating me. For not seeing me as a liar or untrustworthy. Thank you for showing my doubts and fears wrong. Asami doesn’t say all of that though. She simply says:
‘Thank you for not judging me”
Korra looks up at her again, her eyes softer than before. “Baby, I would never judge her. Even if you secretly had snakes for hair, or your hair was bubblegum pink. I love you, and all of you.”
No Asami was not tearing up at this, thank you very much.
Overwhelmed with too much emotion, Asami softly presses her lips to Korra’s, hoping to express of her feelings into a kiss.
Sometimes she wonders what she did to deserve such a great girlfriend. What could she possibly have done for the universe to bless her with someone like Korra. As she lays on the couch with freshly washed hair and Korra lightly wrapping a finger around one curl two hours later, she thinks , maybe I can see my own natural hair in a new positive light.