Korra found that one day, (after watching Mako and Asami flirt in a disgustingly cheesy manner) she no longer felt pangs of jealousy. She reflected on that as she watched the team captain's face light up as he heard his gorgeous girlfriend's heeled steps click clack through the doorway and towards him. The beam Mako gave Asami no longer made Korra's stomach churn and the warm smile Asami gave in return hardly tried her patience.
Korra smiled proudly at herself and shot a few earth discs at the net in front of her just for fun.
"Hey! Those were mine!" Bolin said indignantly from somewhere off to her right. Korra turned and saw him standing in a footloose earthbending pose, as he had been prepared to launch the earth disks she had carelessly taken from the pile at his feet.
"Sorry." she flashed him a sheepish smile. "I just got tired of waterbending. I hardly even noticed I did that."
"Just make sure that doesn't happen during a match!" Mako called out from the doorway, then he and Asami left the premises after a harried "Bye you two, have fun practicing!" from Asami.
"Yeah yeah, I know, I won't." She yelled back, although she was pretty sure she was out of earshot.
"I don't think he can hear you." Bolin chuckled as he bent the earth disks Korra had stolen earlier towards him.
"That was my point." she shot him a crooked grin. "I figured it'd be better to hold my tongue. I wouldn't be making Asami any favors by upsetting her boyfriend before one of their precious dates."
"Wow, that's slightly out of character. Since when are you two considerate towards each other?" Bolin let the disks fall as he walked to her, a mock concerned expression on his face. "Are you feeling well?"
"Perfectly." she replied. "Why is that so surprising?"
"Well, seeing as you're both usually at each other's throats..." he trailed off and put his hand to her forehead. "You know, you might actually be coming down with something. I don't think you should be in the match tomorrow." Bolin was struggling to keep his face straight. Korra swatted his hand away playfully.
"Oh, whatever." she turned around to face the sandbag Mako had been punching earlier. She tried to give it a few jabs with her bare fists and grimaced in pain as the rough material scratched her knuckles.
"Y'know, you're supposed to wrap your hands. If not you'll bleed." Bolin told her as he paused his exercises for a swig at his water bottle. Korra chose to ignore him and went on punching the bag. She felt too happy over her recent emotional victory to care about the condition of her skin. She was feeling reckless and that led to a wildly swinging sandbag hitting her on the chin.
"OW!" she cried out and rubbed the spot where a bruise was already forming. Bolin tried not to laugh once he had rushed over to see if she was okay.
"Jeez, Korra! I was kidding before but if you really aren't feeling well you should've told me!"
"Spirits, that hurt!" she moaned as she moved her jaw to assess the damage. "I'm fine Bo, really!"
"And now you're using my nickname! That's it! I'm taking you to see a specialist!" he announced as he made to grab her arm and led her out the door. Korra laughed and tried to pull his hand away only to find her strength was no match for his firm grip.
"Really, I'm fine! Let go!" she insisted.
"Nope."
"Oh come on!"
"Shhh." he turned around and gave her a happy grin as he led her up to Mako's and his loft.
"So who's this specialist you're taking me to see?" Korra's grin slipped as her curiosity grew.
"Pabu has magical healing paws." Bolin said, with the most serious expression he could muster.
"Really? More magical than my glowing water?" Korra asked.
"Yes ma'am." Bolin let go of her arm to fish the door keys out of his pocket.
"How is your shoulder, by the way? I know it's been weeks ago since it got hurt but has it healed properly?"
Bolin opened the door and led them inside.
"The bruise is gone, obviously. I'm back to my perfect self." he struck a mock sensual pose with the arm connecting to the once wounded shoulder behind his head. Korra laughed but sobered quickly as she remembered how Bolin had gotten the awful wound in the first place.
"Sorry about that, again." she mumbled as she poked the spot where her water had healed him. Bolin ditched the pose and put on a smile that was too tense to be completely genuine.
"Hey, it's okay. No need to feel bad and bring all that silly stuff back up again." he assured her. Korra smiled back sadly, choosing not to voice how obvious the hurt in his eyes was. But more than that, the acceptance and forgiveness in his soft green eyes was too much to bear.
In seeing her expression darken, Bolin silently cursed himself. She hadn't even mentioned the more dramatic part of that day. She was probably only apologizing for her bad technique and focus during the match that had inadvertently caused him the bruise and almost the match.
"But hey!" he said in a lighter tone, trying to cheer her up as she had been before, "We're all a lot better now! There'll be no more distractions from now on, right?"
He didn't think he could make her look more uncomfortable and put down, but apparently he had done just that.
"Of course, not that you- I MEAN WE- were distracted before. It's just that a lot was going on BUT NO ONE'S TO BLAME...uh, I mean... I'll just shut up now." he walked away and slumped dejectedly on his couch. After a few seconds, Korra steeled herself and went to join him, bending some water out of the sink as she went to heal her chin.
"I know I'm to blame." Korra said as she stood over him, making glowing water swirl all over the bottom of her face. Bolin bit back a laugh, but not fast enough, Korra had seen him almost giggle.
"What's so funny? I'm trying to be serious here!" she asked, affronted. She let the water splash down on his lap and was pleased to hear his indignant yelp.
"Nothing! All that you said wasn't funny! It's just hard to take you seriously when you're bending yourself a beard made of water!" he stood up and tried to wring the water out from the front of his pants.
"Oh." Korra said, smiling at his efforts. She let him continue until he looked up at her, half glaring, half imploring. She chuckled and lifted her arms in a lift and sweeping movement to remove all of the liquid. She twisted in place and deposited it in the sink.
"Thanks." Bolin tried to mumble grumpily but his ever constant smile gave him away. "So, what's on your mind? Anything troubling you?"
"The opposite, actually." Korra's voice regained its usual loud cheeriness. "I mean, Amon hasn't caused any problems recently, Tenzin says my airbending is really improving and also, a priestess from the Northern Water Tribe is on her way here to try to teach me how to connect with my past lives and get into the avatar state!" she said all of this very rapidly but Bolin had no trouble keeping up.
"That's great Korra!" he said and sat back down, patting the space next to him, welcoming her to sit. She obliged and gushed about all the different techniques she had been learning in efforts of talking to Aang. Bolin just sat and listened to her, occasionally letting Pabu hunt his fingers.
It was calming to talk to Bolin, Korra thought as she prattled. She let her thoughts stray to the night of their date. Really, why hadn't she ever considered liking Bolin? He was kinder to her than his brother. He was just as talented if put under pressure and he was always there to help. Korra glanced over slyly at the boy who was racing his hand along the armrest of the couch, having his fire ferret chase it around. He was sweet and kind and it didn't hurt that he WAS as gorgeous as he only half-jokingly claimed.
"Hey, Bolin." Korra said without thinking, "Why did you cry?" And as soon as the words left her mouth, her eyes widened and she regretted it. Bolin froze, giving Pabu the chance to leap on his arm and lick his hand.
He gave a weak laugh. "I was just being stupid. It doesn't matter."
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I was just curious because you and Mako let it all go so quickly and I'm not good at all of this emotional stuff and I...I'm just no good at any of this." Korra blushed and ducked her head to hide behind her bangs.
"Truthfully, you're not." Bolin said in a kind voice as he turned to face Korra. "But it's okay. You're still learning and neither of us will hold anything against you. Weren't you like, raised in practically a prison?"
"I wouldn't say prison...or raised. I trained there yeah. And I wasn't allowed to leave a certain perimeter but I never really had a reason to complain." Korra's reply was hesitant, like she was trying to convince herself.
"I still think it's pretty awful." Bolin sighed and stretched out on the couch, putting his arm around Korra's shoulder. She raised an eyebrow at him and he offered her a wolfish grin. She found herself relax in his casual embrace. It wasn't so bad...
And that's when a disheveled and teary Asami stumbled through the door.
