—

She shouldn't be doing this.

She shouldn't be sneaking out this late at night, not even taking Naga with her as she swam through Yue Bay. She shouldn't be meeting him; she knew this was forbidden and frowned upon and for spirit's sake, the Avatar should not be affiliated with a Triple Threat.

But she did it anyways. She did it because she hated being told what the Avatar could and could not do. She did it because she liked the excitement, the fear of getting caught, the rush. She did it because she liked the spunk he put in her life; he didn't treat her like she was special, and while that irked her, it fascinated her at the same time. How could anyone ignore the oh-so-powerful aspect of Avatar Korra, and instead view her as just Korra?

Korra frowned as she burst up onto the platform of the city's dock, quickly drying herself before pulling a hat on. No one could see the Avatar roaming streets this late at night, so she had to be disguised. Korra's hair was out instead of tied, and her usual water-tribe clothing was switched for the more common City style. No one would recognize her.

Korra wandered down the streets of the downtown section, trying to find the place where the alley was. She could see why he would be here. Downtown transformed in the night; there were bright lights advertising casinos, strip clubs, and the like. Women walked around in short dresses, feathers decorating their hair and pearls falling from their necks. Men of the worst kind were drinking, gambling, flirting everywhere. Some of these men even approach her. Korra shrugs them off.

She slips through a crack in the walls, entering the dark alley she had become so used to. This was their meeting place, their hidden spot. Quietly, Korra pull her hat off, squinting in the dark as she searched for his figure.

"You came."

A teenage boy appeared from behind the garbage bin, his usual smoke balanced between his teeth. Korra wished he would stop smoking; but it was a bad habit of his, and who was she to scold him on bad habits when she had plenty herself.

"I don't know why you sound so surprised. I always come," she responds, making her way to the boy. Stopping right in front of him, Korra put her hands on her hips as she met his eyes with a glare of her own.

He chuckles, moving to put his hands on her hips, letting the smoke drop from his mouth as he gently kissed Korra's cheek- out of character for him, really, since he didn't treat girls gently at all. "We've got to stop," he murmurs; but they said it every time. It was a useless phrase, something they never followed through with. Both of them knew they couldn't stop. They didn't want to.

Soon their clothing was discarded and nothing had to be said except for breaths and whispered moans.

—

"There's been some Triads messing with the citizens. I need you to capture them."

Chief Beifong's strong voice boomed through the room as she addressed Korra. The Avatar tried to hide the lump that had formed in her throat.

"I have a list of some of the suspects," Beifong continued, slapping down a piece of paper on the desk. "These are some of the more notorious triads. Capture them and we'll have all of the Triple Threat's secrets. It's your duty as Avatar. Fail this, and you fail the city."

Korra scanned the paper, hoping, praying she won't see his name on the list.

Her prayers are futile. Mako's name is written, plain as day.

—

They meet in the alley again, and there's no pretending. No teasing, talking, or messing with each other. She embraces him immediately, saying nothing. A moment later, and he hugs back, burying his face in her hair.

"You knew this was coming," he says, his voice tight and shaky. "You're the Avatar. I'm a criminal. We're enemies, naturally."

"I didn't know I'd start falling for you," she retaliates quietly, still buried in his chest.

She hears his breath hitch, and the next moment he's pulling away, shock evident in his eyes.

"F-falling?" he quietly whispers.

She nods. There is no use in pretending anymore. They were only supposed to be fuck buddies, just a release for each other- but when did 'friends with benefits' ever work out that way, really? Feelings always got tangled up in the mess.

"I'm a monster. No one could love me. Not even my own brother." Mako glances down, running a hand through his hair.

"Yet I do." Korra steps back, picking her hat up again. "I should go."

"Korra-wait."

Mako grabs her hand and pulls her in for one last, lingering kiss, filled with more love then he had ever shown to anyone before. All his hidden feelings, and all of hers, are expressed, one last notion before they meet again on the battlefield.

"I fell for you too," he whispers against her lips.

—

She recalls a conversation she once had with him. One of the many they had when they were naked in his bed, all walls down and just the two of them together. Pillow talk, he called it.

He had asked her a question, a random one really, about fate.
"Do you think we would have met if I hadn't been a triad?" he asked, staring up at the ceiling.

Korra couldn't help but think how odd it was, to see the transformation from the façade Mako played, with his smirk and his smoking and drinking and man-whore attitude, and then seeing the real Mako, the one who was damaged and hurt and human.

"…Yeah," she responds after a while, looping her hand with his and staring up at the ceiling too. "I think…there are some people you need to meet in your life, and the Spirits make sure it happens. So if you were a triad, or if you were a monsoon, or even if you were a probender-" she chuckles a bit, and he has to laugh too, because the idea of pro-bending Mako is so absurd, "-I think we would have met."

"So I'm some special guy in your life that the Spirits think you need?" he jokes, smirking.

"Shut up," she groaned, smiling despite herself.

"I wish the circumstances were different, either way," Mako mutters to himself, so quietly, but she hears. He doesn't know, though.

Me too, she thinks. Because maybe they would have had the chance to be together.