She waited for the sun to rise.
Her feet ghosted over the wooden floor as she attempted to sneak out of their room, again. These impromptu sleep overs needed to stop. It wasn't that she didn't like being around them, it was the simple fact that if Tenzin didn't see Korra in her room when he came around, usually an hour after the sun rose, he wouldn't let her off of the island for a while.
She'd been going to visit them a lot lately. They were really the first friends she had made while in Republic City. Not only that but they needed that team bonding. Bolin was always the mediator of the feuds that went on between her and Mako. Like just last week…
"Why do you keep doing that?" Korra screamed as she pushed his body against the wall. She held his right shoulder to the wall with her left hand, her right hand was jabbing into his chest with her index finger. Her eyes were a liquid blue fire, her brows were drawn together and if looks could kill, well, Mako would be a pretty dead man. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said as he stared down at her with his look of'this happens everyday, I don't even care'. Her finger only jabbed down harder. "Don't act coy with me, cool guy, okay? You know what I'm talking about. Stop it." Her voice was steel, and she said it all through clenched teeth. "Again, no idea what you're talking about, avatar," he said, adding the moniker because two could play at that game. "Ugh! Mako! Stop taking hits for me! Stop getting in front of me during matches! I can do it myself!" she yelled, exasperated, was he really so dense? "I'm not-" he started to say, but Korra had cut him off, "No! Stop, you are. Ask Bolin, He sees it too!" And Bolin, who was standing to the side, quickly nodded his head. "I'll do whatever I think is best for the team," he replied, still so level headed, still sounding like he was so right. Korra shot him a glare and threw her right hand back to punch him, but Bolin caught her hand. "You guys…." he whined.
And that's how it always went.
Korra tip-toed her way to the door, and her hand was about to grab the handle when her foot stepped on a loose plank. Crap. She tossed her head back to see if she had stirred the two, or Pabu awake, and luckily, no.
She gripped the door-knob, turned, and crept out and down the stairs.
"Korra," she heard a voice call out to her by the time her foot had reached the floor of the hallway. She turned her head to the side and she saw Mako there. Wait, how did he even do that? She didn't even hear the door open. But before she could dwell on the thought that Mako was really good at sneaking around… he tapped her shoulder.
"Oh! Hey… Mako," she started, and it felt a bit like déjà vu. "Let's talk," he said. Korra could only furrow her brows and nod.
"Look," he ventured, and he bit his tongue for a moment to think about what to say. He knew, oh yes, Mako knew fully that they were neck and neck, just about everyday. It wasn't healthy and he's never met anybody quite like her. He recalled just last week, she had pointed out that he always fought for her to in matches. Only because she's new, he reasoned with himself. But he also knew that she caught on during their first practice match, and had her game perfected by their second match. 'Where's your great reasoning now, Mako?'he could hear Korra's voice say in his head. He took a deep breath.
"We've been fighting a lot," he said, and she gave him that look of hers that said, tell me something I don't know. He ignored that, though. "It's just a natural thing for me," he attempted to explain, but his thoughts immediately denied his statement, 'You never did that for Hasook.' He groaned. Korra was just looking unamused now. "I just-" but before he could finish his thought (was he going to anyway?), Korra had him pushed against a wall again, this time, it was only her left hand that pressed on his chest with a firm hold. This situation needed to stop occurring because he was starting to get less and less annoyed with it.
"Mako, I know," she said, and her eyes stared right at his. Her eyes were a liquid blue again, but lacking the fire and anger. "Give me a chance."
To say he was taken aback woud have been an understatement. What was she talking about? Give her a chance to what? The only evidence of his confusion was the slight quirk of his brow.
"Let me prove myself. I can do it," she said, and he saw the how earnest she was. "Don't… don't protect me like that, okay?" she said and his mouth set into a small frown. This was not what he expected to hear. Kind of.
Mako found himself upset. A bit too upset, more than he imagined he would have been, should have been. He found that he liked protecting her - he was partial to seeing her get his and knocked around, which was odd because he didn't want that for Bolin either, but he let him do his thing.
"I want you to trust me, okay?" she said. This was a trust issue?
"I want you to believe in me, Mako. I want you to see that I can do this without help, I don't need it," she paused to collect her thoughts. "I just want you to believe in me."
Korra knew, knew that it was a lot to ask from him. She's heard Bolin's stories, and she can just tell. Mako didn't open up often, it was already a lot that he had accepted a virtual stranger onto his pro-bending team so last minute. Korra wanted to prove herself though, but how could she if he wouldn't let her?
And she soon realized that she had never tried so hard to please anybody before, to try and prove herself worthy. "I want to give you something else to believe in. You can trust me. I won't let you down."
Mako stared blankly. For some reason, her words left him in a stupor. He trusted in nothing but Bolin and their own skills. He relied on nothing because as he grew up, he learned that people and things just were not reliable in the end.
But he looked at her and her eyes pled. And for some reason, he wanted to believe in her, wanted to have something new to rely on, especially her because she had brought a hurricane of fresh air into his life. She brought change.
He found himself nodding his head, kind of sub-consciously.
There was a bright smile on Korra's face and she jumped up and down before she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him.
Mako's brows raised and eyes widened. Not only that but he was sure there was a blush spreading across his cheeks. 'What happened to that cool under fire?' his thoughts poked. That went ignored. After a few moments of his head reeling, Mako finally, tentatively, wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Thank you, thank you Mako!" Korra cried, "I won't let you down!"
He responded with a grunt.
'I never thought you would' was the response in his head.