"Dammit, Korra! What do you think this is? Tomorrow is the last match before the championship! We can win this!"
"I know that!"
"Then why aren't you acting like it?" A fireball blast past him, singeing his training pants even more. "If that's how you're going to train you can go home. We already have a firebender." Deep down he wanted to have it out with her. He wanted to take advantage of her being able to firebend, and earthbend, to help him and Bolin train against their own bending styles. But that had to be saved for later. First, Korra needed to learn basic defense. Something she wasn't very good at apparently.
"You're as bad as Tenzin!" She shouted, clearly frustrated.
Sensing the tension and knowing how quickly it would escalate, Bolin came to stand between them. "Why don't we all take a break and come back to it?" Before Mako could protest, Korra had already walked off towards the bench to get some water. Bolin turned to his brother, "What are you doing?" He asked in a harsh whisper. Mako sputtered for a second, still worked up over his fight with Korra, and unable to form words as yet. But he couldn't form anything beyond that because Bolin apparently wasn't done. "I thought you were done with this. That you two were getting along."
"We are!" Mako said in an equally severe whisper. Neither wanted Korra to overhear their argument.
"Well you're not acting like it!"
"She needs to learn how to play the game! She needs more practice and we only have one day left!"
"She's been doing just fine so far." Bolin shot back, clearly defensive.
Mako stared at his little brother, "what's with you?" He asked incredulously, "You've never had a problem with how I run practice before."
"You've never treated our waterbender like this before."
"I haven't had to teach a waterbender how to play the game before!"
"Mako-"
"No, why are you acting like this?" His brother had never been so adamant about him being nicer to their third player, "what, you think because she's a girl she can't handle it?" That was unlike Bolin, who never had a problem treating girls like weaklings. But that caused another thought to occur to Mako. "Do- do you like her?"
Not even giving the question of her gender a thought, Bolin was quick with his answer, "of course I like her!" Mako felt his stomach drop, probably from the idea of him being left behind when Bolin began to spend more time with their teammate. But Bolin continued, "She's the only person beside you I've ever considered a friend."
Mako's eyes widened before he could stop them, "oh, right."
Bolin gave him a quizzical glance, "What did you think I meant?"
Feeling his face heat Mako gave a short, "nothing!" but Bolin didn't believe him, if his smirk was any indication.
"I wouldn't stand a chance if I wanted to, you know?" He turned around and made his was towards Korra before his brother could stumble through an excuse he knew would be a lie. He shouted out, "He promised to go easier on you!" Mako started gaping, "Or I would have to tell everyone a secret of his." Mako knew his younger brother accompanied this statement with a wink from the tilt of his head.
"What secret?" Korra asked, a smile on her face.
"That would defeat the purpose of blackmailing him with it!"