So I saw this picture somehwhere on deviantArt, of little Mako hugging little Boling and telling him to be a good boy. I can't find the picture again, much to my chagrin - it was absolutely gorgeous - so, you know, I figured I'd satisfy myself by writing a story about it. I own nothing.
Mako shivered in the cold, stamping his feet. "Here, Bo, come on. I'll warm you up." His nine-year-old brother scampered to his side immediately, and Mako wrapped his arms around him, concentrating on raising his body heat without actually producing any flames. "Warm?"
"No." Bolin clung on tighter, and Mako sighed, his breath steaming up in the frigid air.
"Just a few more minutes, okay?"
"But I'm cold," Bolin whispered. "You have to stay with me. To keep me warm." He looked up at Mako, his green eyes pleading. "Please?"
"Bo, I..." He swallowed and kept himself from looking away, even though he knew that if he stared to long he was sure to lose his resolve. "I gotta go get us some food, okay? We're out. I'll be back in not even an hour."
"Why can't I come with you?" Mako did look away then, feeling the slightest bit ashamed.
"You know why."
"So what? I'm not scared of the blackmarket people." Bolin tried to look tough, but the chattering of his teeth and his childish pout spoiled the effect. "I can just sit quiet while you get food, you know I can."
"Yeah, but you know how they act. They don't like it when you're there. I don't wanna see you get hurt, okay?" Bolin buried his head in Mako's chest, mumbling all sorts of reason why Mako couldn't go. He couldn't understand most of what he said, until Bolin looked up at him, his lips trembling and his eyes shining with tears.
"You're gonna come back, right?" Mako held his brother tightly, making shushing noises.
"Of course I'm gonna come back. Why wouldn't I come back? I'd miss you."
Bolin hesitated before he answered in a low voice, "Momma and Papa didn't come back."
Mako froze, and before he realized it Bolin was shivering again. "Mako, warm up again! I'm cold." Biting back a curse he had learned from Two Toed Ping, Mako did so.
"Sorry, bro. I didn't mean to." Bolin nodded, hiding his face in Mako's shirt. Mako looked down at him, struggling to find words to reassure his brother, when he noticed with a sudden flash of guilt that Bolin's neck was bare and bright red from the cold and the incessant wind. He automatically let go of his brother to reach up and undo his scarf, then wrapped it around Bolin's neck. His brother stepped back, looking at the scarf with wondering eyes and gingerly touching it with the tips of his fingers, and as he did so, Mako knew what to say.
"It's insurance, see?" Bolin's brow furrowed in thought.
"Insurance?"
"Yeah. It means something that'll make me come back, no matter what happens. Obviously I'd come back to take care of you, but just in case, you have to keep my scarf with you. You know I'd never let anyone keep it away from me for too long, right? So no matter what happens I have to come back and get it, right?" Bolin nodded slowly, then, before Mako had time to react, launched himself back into the eleven-year-old's arms.
"Come back soon, okay?"
"I will," he murmured. "Be a good boy."
"Okay. Because good boys get to go the Spirit World one day and they're always happy?"
"That's right," Mako said, nodding pleasantly and refraining from mentioning that good boys were not always happy.
"And bad boys get zapped by lightning and eaten by dragons."
Mako blinked. "Did Zolt tell you that?"
"Yuh huh," Bolin said, nodding and looking up at Mako anxiously. "The last time we were there." Mako wanted to explode - why did the guy always have to scare Bolin? - but he held it in. They were on Triple Threat territory, and there was no telling who might be listening in. Talking trash about his employer was not a good idea.
"Well, it's a good thing you're not a bad boy, huh?"
"But I tell lies sometimes," Bolin said, chewing on his lip. "And... and we do work for people who aren't really nice." His voice lowered to a whisper. "And sometimes we steal."
"Because we have to," Mako said, forcing himself to smile. "Now I've gotta go get some food. You stay here and be careful, okay? I promise I'll be back soon." Bolin nodded, and Mako gave him one last platypus-bear hug before turning and sprinting off. He had to get to the blackmarket before there were too many people. Food for service, that was the deal, and not too many of the vendors would hire a kid if there was an adult nearby.
"Be a good boy," he called back when he reached the mouth of the alley. Bolin waved and hunkered down inside a wooden crate, mostly snow-free where Mako had brushed it clean for him, to wait until his brother returned.