The factory whistle rang and Mako peeled off his mask. It had been a long day. He trudged out of the factory with his fellow workers. It was pretty quiet as they left. There wasn't any real camaraderie between the men. They didn't know each other beyond first names. They came to work and that was it. They were too poor to really afford to care about anything else. Mako didn't care about the lack of work friends he had, he had his brother and Asami and councilman Tenzin's family. They were enough.
He walked out into the warm afternoon sun. He wrapped his scarf around his neck. It may have made him sweat like a flying boar, but he never really felt quite right without it on. Well, he had felt right once, a few years ago. But that was a special case, and someone special had been wearing it, someone that he had wanted to protect. But she was gone now, so it didn't really matter.
He wandered through the streets, not really ready to go home yet. He knew that when he got there, Bolin and Asami would be being the silly, love-sick kids they were. He didn't mind that his brother had gotten with his ex-girlfriend, but being around couples had always made him feel awkward, and he would rather postpone the experience. He hitched a ride on a trolley and allowed it to carry him wherever it was heading. He found himself going towards the dock. He often found himself going there.
Two years ago, they had been on that dock. Mako had faced her, making stupid excuses for why she should stay in Republic City for just a while longer. She had told him she couldn't, and he knew she was right. She was the Avatar, and the rest of the world needed her. But he couldn't make himself accept that reason. She may be the Avatar, but he loved her, that had to count for something, didn't it?
He hadn't known she had liked him that much until that night. She had kissed him in the middle of his well-rehearsed goodbye speech. It had been so like her, sudden and impulsive and like a burst of fire. He had barely had time to kiss her back before she had pulled away, telling him it wouldn't be forever. She and Naga were on the boat before he could really process what had happened. Bolin and Asami had stared at him in a mixture of amusement and sadness. The airbending family had a plethora of emotions, ranging from mild rage (Tenzin), motherly concern (Pema), confusion (Meelo), and extreme glee (Jinora and Ikki).
He slowly shook himself out of his memories as he wondered around in front of the bay. It had been two years. And all they had gotten were snippets of her doings in the other nations from the newspapers and short, hurried messages from her. He liked to torture himself by thinking she had simply forgotten them all in her life as the Avatar. He would've had a hard time blaming her.
He began to turn back towards the arena when he noticed Skoochy lurking behind one of the boxes at the pier. He smiled, the young teen was sure to distract him from the negative turn his thoughts had taken. He waved and the boy hopped over to him. "Hey, Skooch," he said.
Skoochy wiped his nose and then shook Mako's hand. He made sure to make a mental note to wash it thoroughly later. "Heya, Mako."
"What brings you out to the docks?" His mouth cocked up into a half smile, "It wouldn't happen to be a certain young airbend—"
"No," he quickly cut him off. Mako chuckled at his awkwardness and raised an eyebrow. "Alright," he conceded. "We may have bumped into each other casual-like on accident, but that's it." He glared up at Mako. "But that is not why I am here. I came here to tell you something."
Mako tilted his head. "What is it?"
Skoochy smiled and stretched his arms above his head. "I don't know. My memory is a bit fuzzy."
Mako rolled his eyes and took out a yuan. He wasn't really dying to know what he had to say, but he didn't want the kid to go hungry that night. Skoochy grabbed it eagerly. "Alright, so Jin—my sources tell me that you would be interested to know some information regarding our beloved Avatar."
Mako snapped to attention and forked over a few more yuans. Now he was interested. Skoochy continued, "Well my sources tell me that you'd be interested to know that all that hullabaloo in the Northern Water Tribe has been settled and that Korra will be back in Republic City by… tomorrow."
Mako's eyes widened. He gave the boy a few more yuans and told him to find somewhere cool to sleep that night so he wouldn't overheat. Mako practically ran to his home at the top of the arena. He burst in on a more than slightly awkward time for Asami and Bolin. They were stammering an explanation, but he was too elated to care to really dwell on the scene he had walked in on.
He was happier than he had been in years, and when he finally got around to telling his brother and friend why, they were shouting in glee. It was a long while before Asami left to go home, she chatted the whole way down about how she and Korra had so much to catch up on and how amazing it would be for her to be back. Bolin was elated too, not only would he have his partner in crime back, they could finally get rid of their not so impressive replacement waterbender.
Later that night, when all was quiett, Mako quietly opened his window and gazed over at Air Temple Island. Beyond the small dot of land, he could dimly make out a billowing stack of smoke coming out of the horizon. Korra was coming home.
This fic came to being because of the song My Father's Father by the Civil Wars. You should listen to it with this fic. Or just listen to it, because it is a great song.
Also, I did just go through and fix this up a bit, because good lord the mistakes in here are atrocious. There's probably still some, but meh. I'm tired, I'll fix it later.
