She curls into his back, an arm draped loosely across his waist as her face burrows gently into his shoulder. It's a position they've perfected over the past few months, for the nights when the covers aren't enough to keep out the chill from Mako's poorly heated dorm room.
Korra doesn't get cold as easily as her boyfriend; after all, she tells him, when he's bundled up in layers while she's only in a shirt, she comes from a place a lot colder than Republic City.
He, however, thinks it's some sort of magic. It has to be, because he's wearing his thickest pyjamas whilst all Korra is wearing is one of his old Fire Ferret shirts, and somehow she's the one radiating warmth.
He can tell she's asleep by the breaths on his neck, the relaxed stillness of her body; he doesn't want to wake her, but he needs to pull the blankets up because his arm is freezing. Mako slips his arm from under hers, trying not to jog Korra as he searches for the edge of the blanket, desperate to keep his feet covered.
He grips the slightly frayed edge of the blanket, yanking it over his torso whilst making sure he doesn't cover Korra's face – he loves being the little spoon, but there are disadvantages to his slightly shorter girlfriend being wrapped around him.
Not that he's complaining; he'd rather have Korra than a hundred blankets (even if those hundred blankets sound pretty tempting at the moment...). Mako has about three seconds of pride in his blanket-moving success when it curls away from his feet, revealing them to the icy air of the dorm. Mako sighs, realising that the blanket is the wrong way round and won't cover all of him, and thinks that there's no way he can readjust it without waking Korra.
Accepting defeat, he curls his legs up beneath the blanket, his feet brushing against the bare skin of his girlfriend's legs. He hears the hitch in her breath, and his eyes widen as he feels her move to mimic his, curling against him so her knees touch the back of his.
One of her hands worms its way beneath Mako's shirt, pressing gently against his stomach as Korra nuzzles her head against him, pulling herself up slightly to place her head in the crook of his neck.
"You still cold?" she mumbles into his shoulder, her voice thick and sleepy.
"Nah," Mako replies softly as she presses herself closer to him, placing little kisses near his ear. "Aren't you, in that shirt?"
The kisses stop, and he feels her breath against his ear before she whispers "the cold never bothered me anyway."
Mako knows she can't see him, but he rolls his eyes anyway.
"I never should have let you borrow Bolin's DVD."
"Like you could have stopped me, Cool Guy," Korra retorts.
"Very good point," he murmurs; Korra's head slides away from his shoulder back onto the pillow, nudging against the back of his neck.
Korra stretches her legs out away from his, and he can feel her eyebrows furrow when her legs meet the cool air he's tried so desperately to avoid. She lets out a huff of air and sits up, pulling the blanket with her. Mako mewls in protest, a sound which he will deny ever came out of his mouth when Korra inevitably brings it up again. The blanket is removed, warmth disappearing around the two of them as Korra rotates it so it's the correct way round before spreading it back over Mako and herself. She nuzzles herself against Mako, who's basking in the newfound warmth.
"Better?" Korra asks, smug and sleepy.
Mako moves his hand to capture hers, once again around his stomach, pulling it towards his lips.
"Better," he confirms, kissing her knuckles. "Love you."
"Love you too," Korra yawns, relaxing against him as she once again succumbs to sleep.
Mako smiles to himself as he feels her breaths deepen. He feels himself drifting off, keeping hold of Korra's hand as sleep overtakes him, her body lined against his, her warmth seeping through his clothes and into his heart.
She's better than a blanket any day.