When he agreed to spy on the newly appointed King Wu, dressing up as the opposite sex was surprisingly left out of the job description. He had done similar disguises in the past, although none had required having his ribs and sides bound in a damned corset. His partner huffed behind him and used her foot to knock against his leg. Having heard about the job offer, Korra practically bullied her way into accompanying him to the Earth Kingdom. Not that he would have wanted anyone else by his side. They had been on more missions together than he could count.
"You know, you should have considered that before volunteering for this. I would have been perfectly fine with this-"
"You would have complained just as much." He interjected.
"-but you just had to suck up to the boss again." Korra grumbled under her breath, gripping the drawstrings tightly in hand and placing her foot at the bottom of his back. Mako had both hands braced against the table, his face flushed in embarrassment as he caught a glimpse of their reflections in the mirror.
"That was before-"
"Suck it in!" It was the only warning he got before she pulled the strings with a quick tug. He let out a choked gasp, fingers digging into the sides of the table he clung on to with desperation. How in the hell did women wear these things? Forget being quartered or getting lashes, having to be fitted into a corset was absolute torture for anyone to experience. He would gladly accept anything else rather than wear this abomination should he be discovered as a spy.
"Too… tight!" He managed to get out, lifting his head up to look at her in the mirror. There was a fleeting expression of sympathy in her face before she wrapped the strings around her hands.
"You signed on for this job. Stop your blubbering before I give you something to truly cry about."
"Korra, I honestly can't breathe in this." He said in a strangled voice. His partner quickly fastened the strings in place and sighed.
"If I loosen it up you're going to slip out."
"If you don't I'm going to pass out." He countered, slowly straightening himself upright and looking down at the fabric around his middle. Korra snorted next to him and smacked his arm.
"Well at least you will do so with those lovely curves the king appreciates."