Hey guys! This is a Mako and Korra oneshot. I am a Makorra shipper, but there is no romance in this fic, just budding friendship. Also, I usually write in third person, but this time, I'm going to try my hand at first person because it's good to practice different writing styles, so tell me how I do!
This is going to be in Mako's Point of View! Enjoy!
Edit: This has been sitting in my Document Manager page since the third episode of the Legend of Korra! Why haven't I uploaded it? Whatever, hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Korra.
This take place BEFORE the events of episode 4!
It was three days after we rescued Bolin. Three days after the Equalists rally. The past few days after the incident had been fairly normal.
The night we got home after escaping Amon and his chi blockers, I gave Bolin a scolding about doing things behind my back and he opened up to me about some of his fears. Despite the events of the previous night, the next morning, he was back to his good old, goofy self. Flirting with girls, laughing at his own jokes, teaching Pabu new tricks.
And Korra.
She was still her old hot-headed, tough, cocky, Korra self, and everything was normal. She seemed completely fine, training hard, picking a fight with me every chance she got. Everything was back to normal.
Or as normal as things could get with the Avatar as a team mate.
Well one normal day, I went to training, ate lunch with Bolin and Korra, took a walk, ate dinner with Bolin then went to bed. The day was completely uneventful and ordinary.
That is, until Korra came banging on our door at the ungodly hour of 1:00 AM, which, now that I think of it, would actually be the next day, but that's not the point.
"Guys! Guys open up! Please!" we hear Korra's frantic yells coming from outside the door of the second floor of our attic. After slipping out of our dreams and sitting up, Bolin and I look at eachother, tired and irritated, but curious as to what Korra could want, especially at a time like this.
"Should I-" he starts, but I cut him off by jumping out of bed and quickly throwing on a shirt.
"It's ok Bo, I got it." I tell him as I pull the white shirt over my head. "You just go back to sleep." he nods tiredly in response before dropping his head back on his pillow and seemingly immediately drifting back to sleep. I walk down to the first floor of the attic and reach the door to grant a frantic Korra entrance, having no possible idea why she could be here. What I wasn't expecting, however, was for Korra to lunge herself into my arms, crying into my shirt.
"Thank the gods! You're ok!" she says with relief. I grab her by the shoulders and pull back, eyes wide with surprise as I see her eyes red and cheeks stained with tears.
"What do you mean 'I'm ok'? Why wouldn't I be?"
"Where's Bolin? Is he alright?" she asks frantically looking over my shoulder as I watch her features make an immediate switch from relief to worry.
"He's fine. He's upstairs sleeping." I reply, even more confused.
"Thank goodness." she says as her aqua eyes refill with tears. "I had the most terrible nightmare." she starts. And I immediately know what is coming.
I hated when girls cried. I never had a clue what to do, I knew next to nothing about comforting them. But now, as I watch her stand in front of me looking so downcast and vulnerable and weak, I realize that the only thing I hated more than seeing girls cry, is seeing Korra cry. Yes, I realize Korra is indeed a girl, but she was completely different from any girl I've ever met. So different, in fact, that I've put her in a whole other category! A category where she's always sarcastic and aggressive and confident. Her cocky grin seemingly never leaving her face. But now, it had, and they were replaced with quivering lips and depressed, crying eyes. And I just can't handle that. If there was ever a time that I didn't know what to do, it was now. Korra was too off from her usual self for me to possibly know how to handle her. Heck, I barely know how to handle her when she is normal, let alone when she's like... like this.
"You can come upstairs and tell Bolin." I say quickly before beginning to lead her upstairs to our room. "He's much better at comforting people than I am."
And at that moment, her face fell even more as if I had just kicked her.
'Ok, bad move, Mako'
I figured handing her off to Bolin would be better than trying to help her myself which would probably result in only making things worst, but that little plan only seemed to have resulted in hurting her feelings. My stomach churned with guilt as I walked up the stairs to my bed, though I tried my hardest to ignore it.
"Bo!" I cry, shaking my brother when I reach his bed. "Korra needs to talk to you." I inform him as he slowly sits up and rubs his eyes.
"Oh," he says with a tired smile. "Hey Korra. Are you here to profess your love for me by any chance?" he asks, clearly not completely in his right mind.
"Umm, no. No I'm not." Korra answers awkwardly causing Bolin's eyes to widen, suddenly, as the full realization of his words hit him resulting in a nervous blush creeping onto his cheeks.
"Nice one Bo." I state sarcastically before I walk across the small attic to my bed, smirking at my brother's antics.
"Umm, forget I said that... please. Please forget I said that." I hear him plea as I crawl under my thin white sheets. I close my eyes in an attempt to drift back to sleep, but despite the fact that I was completely exhasted, something kept me up. Maybe it was the guilt of blowing Korra off, or maybe it was the fact that I couldn't quite tune out her and my brother's conversation, though sleeping through noise had never been a problem before (due to dealing with Bo's snoring everynight).
I was laying on my side, faced away from them as I unwillingly listened to their conversation, praying it would end quickly so I could resume my rest.
"So anyway," I hear Bolin continue awkwardly. "What has you up at this time of night?" I hear Korra sigh and the sound of a bed creaking, which I assume is her sitting on the edge of his bed.
"Well the thing is, after we saved you from Amon, I've been having nightmares." she confesses.
"You were scared? You're so brave! I never would've guessed you were afraid." he praises, his voice soft and comforting, but laced with amazement.
"Yeah, but my dream tonight was different, it felt so much more real! So much scarier! And this time you guys were involved."
"What happened?" he asks. I hear a slight shift, and I assumed he put a comforting hand on her shoulder, since Bolin tended to do that when trying to make people feel better.
Korra went into great detail about the events that took place in her dream. Apparently we were going out for lunch after our training session and we were attacked by Amon and his chi blockers. She described how he took her bending away and killed Bolin and I right in front of her. I couldn't help but sympathize with her as I remembered the gruesome scene of my parents being murdered right before my own eyes.
As she continues to describe her nightmare and how it made her feel, I hear the bed shift a lot before Korra's voice becomes slightly muffled. I assume she is hugging Bolin, crying into his shoulder. My stomach churns with a feeling that I can't recognize as I imagine Bolin hugging her, rubbing her back, whispering soothing words into her ear. Perhaps guilt again?
'Why should I care?' I ask myself defiantly. 'She's not even my friend anyway.' I assure myself stubbornly.
Yes, it sounds harsh, but no, Korra is not my friend, she can't be. Ever since my parents died, I had to work hard to get Bolin and my life back on track. The chaos of my parents' deaths forced me to grow up fast and take control of our lives. I've worked too hard and sacrificed too much to let it all be in vain. I can't let little things get in the way of Bolin and I living a normal, happy life. Befriending the Avatar, especially during an Equalist revolution, was exactly the way to live the opposite of a normal, happy life.
Korra was the Avatar, and I couldn't let her throw my completely under control life out of whack. Unfortunately, kicking her off team Fire Ferrets was not an option. Korra has selflessly been sacrificing time spent on airbending training to be on our pro-bending team. Not only would kicking her out be selfish and rude, but it would also be stupid. There's no way we would be able to find a replacement in time for the next match. So my only other option is to make sure all bonds with her are either nonexistent, or broken immediately. Friendship usually leads to a sense of obligation. An obligation to the Avatar means an obligation to all the danger that comes with her. My main goal in life is to keep Bolin safe and if safety means making sure that at all costs, Korra means as little to me as possible, then so be it. Bolin's safety is much more important to me than 'a new pal'. I'm comfotable with my current lifestyle, and I don't want anything or anyone to change that.
Still, as I lay in bed, unable to sleep, listening to Korra cry to Bolin, I can't help but feel that unwanted obligation. Like her comfort is more important than mine. I have walls up for everyone but Bolin, but I can't help but want to make Korra the exception.
'Of all people, why would I wan't to open up to the Avatar?' Honestly, I can't even answer my own question. Maybe it's because our daily interaction caused her to grow on me, or because she'd become such a big part of my life that if I ever had to let her go, I know there would be an empty void where she left.
I seem to be moving against my will as I sit up in my bed and turn to my brother and the crying girl, sitting exactly the way I had predicted. My heart breaks as I see the usually snarky and headstrong girl broken and crying. I realize now that I can't not be friends with her. I can't not feel an obligation to her, because there are certain feelings and parts of our lives that we can't control, no matter how much we want to. And I can't control how I feel about Korra.
"Korra, as I already told you, I'm not very good with this whole comforting thing." I start as I clear my throat and see Korra lift her head from Bolin's shirt and look up at me with wide eyes. "I just wanna let you know that you're not alone. You can... you can count on us." I smirk before saying my next words.
"And will you please stop crying. I'm trying to sleep, and it's weird not seeing you as your usual obnoxious self." I add playfully. Happy to see Korra smiling at the words.
"You know, Mr. Hat Trick, you're not as bad at comforting people as you think." she complimented.
"Yeah well, don't get used to it. Especially if it means you're going to be banging on our door at such ungodly hours of the night." I jokingly warn as I turn back to facing away from them, though I still felt Korra's eyes on me.
There is a long silence before I hear a silent thank you from Korra. I hear the bed shift again and footsteps leaving before hearing her leave through the front door.
"Wow." Bolin sighs as he stares at me in awe. "You guys are always fighting, yet I've been up for more than an hour comforting her while you were able to calm her down in a minute!" I shrug at his comment.
"Whatever, I just wan't to sleep." I declare, glad to know that my body seems satisfied with how I dealt with Korra since it finally let me drift to sleep. It was strange, to say the least, opening up to Korra. My walls have been up to her and everyone else but my brother for a majority of my life. But tonight I realized I'm willing to let someone else in. And despite the adventure and chaos she'll more than likely throw into my natural scheme of things. I realize now I'm willing. My walls are up, but...
I'll let them fall for her.
One-shot done! I'm dissappointed though! I wrote it one way, but then I lost about half of what I wrote and I had to rewrite it and it didn't come out as good the second time. Oh well. Tell me what you think in a review!
Edit: Still don't know why I never uploaded it. Oh well, it's here now! I hope you liked it!
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