There was a daily routine.
She gave herself the limit of three tries an hour, to try and make Mako laugh. Not even just that, she would try to make him smile, blush, turn red in the face from anger, scream from being scared, anything. Korra had been at this for weeks. It started out as a joke of sorts, where he just so happened to arrive at Air-Temple Island while she was training with those. They had already been spinning and when Mako approached, Korra had accidentally tripped him. He had fallen into the ever changing maze, but he caught himself. Korra had waited with anticipation, would he be mad? Hopefully.
Moments had passed and the two spinning boards that he had fallen between stopped. She watched with her mouth agape. He… he had stopped them with his hands. Why hadn't she thought of that? But what really made Korra's eye twitch was the fact that there was not a single spec of dust on his body, no bruise-to-be was found. Her bottom lip jutted out in a pout.
All she wanted was a little emotion.
She had tried so many other things since then. Knocking him off of the arena when they were on the same team -practice only. Buying his red scarf-look-alike and setting it on fire. Pretending that Bolin and her, hated each other. Pretending that Bolin and her were in love. Stealing his scarf. Invading his personal space. Staring at him like a sex-crazed fangirl. Teasing him about his eyebrows. Coloring in his eyebrows to look like Bolin's while he slept. The list went on.
Korra capped her number of tries per hour to three, because if she didn't, she knew she would drive herself insane. Today marked her twentieth day. With fifteen or so hours dedicated to the cause a day, she had about three-hundred hours under her belt. But, even after three hundred hours of plotting, planning, and acting, she had no results.
She arrived at the training room ten minutes late, as usual. Empty? Wha- "Finally decided to show up?" a voice said from behind. Korra whipped her head around and found Mako leaning against the wall. "Ohh, hey… Mako!" Korra said, awkwardly rubbing the back of her head. Damn, and she was planning to fill his locker with stuffed animals and glitter.
Mako lifted himself from the wall and approached her. Korra eyed him like with a deer-in-headlights expression. She took a step back with every step he took forward, towards her. Korra eyed the entryway and she was about to make a mad-dash for it when her back hit a wall, and Mako's arms trapped her in place. "So I've noticed something," he said, and Korra's thoughts began to run a million miles an hour. What did he realize? That she thought about him a bit too much? She liked to knock him out of the ring because she liked seeing him wet? That she wanted his attention? That she may or may not find him awfully attractive? Korra bit her lower lip. She noticed that his face was still stoic, even though he was pinning a girl against a wall. Of course.
"I've noticed that whenever I see you now, you're either thinking really hard, or you're doing something weird," a pause, "The second part is nothing new, but the first part? You thinking? You're freaking me out a little here, Korra."
'Why'd you have to go and turn to ice?'
Korra tried her hardest to keep her mouth avail. Her mouth formed a big 'o; shape, before her wide blue eyes turned into a glare. "Sorry Mako, I thought you were finally going to say something that didn't make you sound like a jerk. Way to prove me wrong." She shoved Mako, and he stumbled backwards a few steps.Three hundred hours put to waste.
She took her training gloves off, set them on the floor and made her way to the door. Mako put his speed to good use. He recovered quickly from the stumble and her reaction, and sprinted to the door to block her path. "No, sorry, it wasn't supposed o come out like that. Well it was but, you were supposed to laugh because I was trying to make a joke and…"
She tuned him out. Mako trying to make a joke? Mako joking with her? Korra burst into a fit of giggles. She keeled over on the floor and held her stomach. What had been a few laughs had turned into a full out, roll on the floor and pee your pants moment. Mako stared at her with disbelief. "Is it really that funny?" he asked when she sat herself and began to calm down. Korra nodded as she wiped the tears from her eyes. He looked at her for a few moments before the corners of his mouth lifted up into a smile.
Korra took a few moments, but when it finally hit her, she stood, tackled him down and grabbed his face. Caught off guard, Mako didn't catch himself as he fell. They both landed with a thud. "Mako, Mako, I don't know if you knew this but your face was doing something weird!" Korra began to pinch his cheeks and pull them around.
"I jus- smile-, Korra, you ac- li i's a big -eal,' he said through it all. It sounded like he had a lisp. "That's because it is, Mako! Do you know how long I've been trying to make you do something other than STOIC for the past half-a month?" she exclaimed. Aww crap. She stood up and backed away from Mako. "I-uh… I mean… no, no! Smiling is no biggie, nothing at all, happens all the time!"
Mako massaged his cheeks and quirked his oddly shaped brow at her stuttering and antics. Then he too, stood up. He stared at the wide eyed Korra and ran what she had said through his mind again. Mako started to laugh.
Korra did another double take. Were the spirits trying to ruin her today? First Mako tried to joke, then Mako smiled, and then now he was laughing.
While Mako laughed, Korra made her over to Mako and hugged him around the waist, burying her face in his jacket clad chest. She could feel the rumbles of his laughter as it slowly died down. "Korra..?" he asked, confused at the sudden contact. She felt the reverberations of that too.
"I know I'm dreaming right now, but please don't wake me up," she breathed into his chest. A light blush freckled across his face as he put his arms around her back, hugging her as well -stiffly, but still a hug. "You're not, but okay."