Why am I so in love with this paring?
Korra bolted upright in bed, gasping for breath. "It was just a dream," she told herself. "just a dream," She pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them. Just a different version of the same nightmare she'd been having since she met Amon. This was the worst so far; instead of watching helplessly as everyone she knew got their bending taken away, she watched them being killed.
She shuddered as she heard Naga's howls of pain echo in her head. She looked over and saw her best friend sleeping soundly in the corner of her room. Korra didn't want to wake her; she had already woken her twice with other nightmares.
Korra wanted to be held. To fall asleep with loving, protective arms wrapped around her, like her father always did when she had nightmares when she was young. But her father wasn't there. It would be too weird to ask Tenzin, so who else? Mako would never, but Bolin…
He was always the one who cheered her up, his big smile was contagious. He was always there for her. He gave the best hugs, too. Just thinking of falling asleep in his strong arms made her smile.
She shook her head. She liked Mako... right? But Mako would never do something like that, and anyway the big jerk face was with Asami; he fell for that pretty face before he knew anything about her. What's likeable in someone like that? Bolin's never done anything to make Korra not like him.
Korra shook her head again. She didn't want to think about this right now, it was too confusing. And anyway, she was the Avatar; she should be tough enough to deal with nightmares on her own. If there was no one to help her sleep, then she wouldn't sleep. She would go to the arena and train and if she was lucky, very lucky, maybe Bolin would hear her and cheer her up.
While common sense told Korra to take the ferry, she didn't want to walk down any of Republic City's dark, deserted streets. So without a second thought she dove into the freezing bay, still wearing her pajamas. The nightmares weren't letting her think straight.
Some easy waterbending launched her up to the ground where she dried herself with a little more waterbending and blew some fire into her hands to warm her up. Then she opened a side door of the Arena and walked down the sparsely lit hallways to the gym.
The lights were on, so she walked over to the piles of earth disks. But she stopped herself; that would be too loud. Ramming her fists into the overused punching bag got old and tiring quickly, so she decided to test her luck and shoot some fireballs at the target on the wall. That was fine for a few minutes, until her eyelids started to droop. But Korra kept going.
Suddenly Amon dodged a fireball and came running towards her. Korra shot another, but he dodged again and reached out his hand to her head.
Korra's eyes shot open at her own scream. There was nothing she could do. Amon could come into her dreams and even haunt her while she tried to stay awake. She gave up and went over to a training mat and curled into a ball, her back to the door. She was too tired to go back to the island.
"Who's there?" A familiar voice called from the doorway, Korra would know that voice anywhere. "Korra? What's wrong?"
She lifted her head to see Bolin running towards her. His hair was a mess and he was only wearing shorts and a tank top. "Hi," Korra mumbled and sat up.
"Are you alright? What happened?" He sat down on the mat next to her.
"I couldn't sleep, so I thought I should stay awake. Didn't work." She turned to look at him, his bright green eyes filled with worry at her fake smile. "I'm sorry, did I wake you?"
He shook his head. "Nah, I couldn't sleep either, I've been having a lot of nightmares lately."
"You too?"
He nodded and put an arm around her. She felt a butterfly-moth start to flutter in her chest. "You wana talk about it?"
Korra sighed and gritted her teeth. "Everyone died. Everyone died and I couldn't do anything!" She felt tears sting in her eyes. The Avatar wasn't supposed to cry, but she couldn't help it. "I was all alone, I failed, I lost everyone…"
Bolin pulled her into a hug and she buried her face into his chest. "It'll be alright," he said, stroking her hair."That'll never happen," It was nice in his arms, just like she thought. Even his scent was comforting. "I'm right here,"
"I know," She said, and she knew it was true. Bolin had always been there. "thank you,"
"Not a problem," He said and hugged her tighter.
Korra lifted her head to look at him. "Bolin, can you… can you stay with me?"
He smiled sweetly. "Of course." He lay back onto the mat, bringing her with him. His arms wrapped around her and she put her head on his chest. As his steady breathing and heartbeat began to lull her to sleep, she realized that this was what she needed. Korra was a stubborn, headstrong firecracker, and while Bolin was a complete goofball, he knew when to be steady, patient and protective. And that's what Korra needed; Mako could never give her that.
She lifted her head and looked at his smiling face. "Thank you," she said again. Blushing, she awkwardly craned her neck to kiss his cheek. He blushed, but his look of surprise didn't last long before he broke into a wide, crooked grin.
"Anytime," he said, kissing her cheek in return. "And I learned some new jokes that'll definitely cheer you up in the morning," She smiled; of course they would, and returned her head to its place on his chest. "Good night," he mumbled into her hair.
"Good night," she repeated. Still smiling, she drifted off into the most peaceful sleep she'd had for weeks.