Title: Escape
Author: AishiteSubete
Rating: T
Summary: The only place Korra can find solace is in Tahno. Tahorra, Masami.
WARNINGS: Smoking. References to sex. Mako-bashing. Episode 7 spoilers.

~[]~

Korra had never pegged Tahno as a smoker. "It's a dirty habit," he remarked with a wry grin before wrapping those lips around a cigarette. "Don't try it, Avatar." She wouldn't have wanted to in the first place, watching the smoke radiate from the tip and circle around the ex-waterbender; he puffed it from his mouth in thin, wispy rings. Tahno had reclined on the couch in his lavishly rich apartment, propping his feet up on the arm, while Korra sat on a chaise lounge across from him.

"You look remarkably sexy, lying there like that," Tahno purred, extinguishing the cancer stick on an ashtray beside him. Remarks like that would have made Korra feel exposed, perhaps even a little uncomfortable, but from Tahno she took it unfazed. She didn't feel vulnerable under his stare, not like she did with Mako and Bolin these days. "Kind of like some deadly cat. It suits you."

Ever since Mako, Bolin, and Asami moved to Air Temple Island, Korra only spent enough time there to train and sleep, if she even hung around for that long. Her three friends had more than monopolized the island, and Korra felt uncomfortable around them. She had no problems with Asami-none at all. To keep the record straight, she considered Asami to be one of her closest friends, even more so than Mako and Bolin.

The Fabulous Bending Brothers. She was in Tahno's apartment, and he was making those eyes at her. Normally, she would never dream of thinking about the firebender and earthbender she left back at the island, but tonight was different. She had heard Mako and Asami that afternoon, when the airbending family was out in Republic City and Bolin went to meet with some old friends. Korra herself was supposed to be meeting with Tarrlok and the task force, but he cancelled the meeting shortly after she arrived in the city.

When Korra made it back to the island, she was greeted with the lascivious sounds of sex from Mako's room.

"What's wrong, honey?" Tahno drawled, sitting upright and giving Korra a concerned look. "Something on your mind?" She nodded, and he patted the seat beside her. "Come talk to me then." Korra shuffled over to him, dropping herself beside him, not reeling back when he put both of his arms around her, encouraging her to lay her head on his chest. "Now, what's wrong?" He kissed her hair.

"I heard Mako and Asami today," the Avatar mumbled quietly, ignoring the tears that pinpricked at the corners of her eyes. "Whatever was left of my heart was broken then."

Tahno stroked her cheek, taking the time to feel her soft skin under his fingers. "Mako's a jerk," he stated smoothly, letting that same hand run down to caress her arm. Korra instinctively leaned into the touches. "I mean, think about it. He never apologized after being such an ass to you about the Hiroshi-Sato-is-an-Equalist thing. He's an arrogant prick to think that you would throw around Equalist accusations because you were jealous."

Korra chuckled, smiling inwardly as Tahno leaned down to kiss her cheek, his lips traveling downward to claim her own. It was things like that that kept Korra coming back to his apartment almost every night-the romance, the conversation, and trust she had with him in comparison to what she had with Mako and Bolin. Tahno had offered her a room once before and asked her if she needed to stay, but she had politely declined the offer; she was reconsidering. When the two of them broke apart for air, Korra gently smiled and whispered, "Tahno, thank you."

"For?"

"For being here for me when no one else really was," she muttered. "I never would have thought we would be this close."

Tahno only smiled warmly, moving to kiss her again. "The offer to live here still stands; I could always use a flatmate...or a bedmate." He added the last part with a lusty wink, and Korra could only laugh.

"I think I'm going to start reconsidering it now."

Tahno chuckled. "Go for it."