AN: This here is the first installment in a series of oneshots, mostly involving Mako/Tahno (or Mahno, as I call it, dohoho~). I ship these two so hard it hurts ;_; And seeing the lack of Mahno fics gives me the sads.

So, I figured I'd write my own! I'll be using prompts that I find on the internet, but if anyone has ideas, I'd be so happy to hear them! Leave them in a review or send me a PM, I can never have enough ideas!

For now, I'll try keeping the oneshots at a T rating, but I might change it later, depending on how utterly depraved I feel, haha~


Chemistry

"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed."-Carl Jung


"You gonna head up soon, bro?"

Mako was startled out of his daze by the sound of his brother's voice, his familiar green eyes peering at him through the open door of the locker room.

"Oh, yeah," Mako replied, now realizing how late it had gotten. In his daze, he had forgotten to change out of his pro-bending gear. "You and Pabu can go on ahead without me, I just... have a lot on my mind, is all."

Bolin's brow creased suspiciously. "Are you sure you're all right down here by yourself? Don't need to, ah, talk about anything?"

"No, I'm fine. Just get some rest. I'll be up in a bit."

With that statement, Bolin's brow twitched, relaxing as he slipped away, shutting the door behind him. Mako sighed heavily, sitting forward on the bench and resting his elbows on his knees.

Despite his insistence that he was "fine, really", Mako was anything but fine at the moment. The whole situation with Asami and Korra had him feeling more worn-out than normal.

Not that he was inexperienced with women- he so wasn't. While he'd never had a girlfriend before Asami, having busied himself with looking after his brother, he wasn't stupid when it came to romance. He just had priorities.

No matter how much he tried to convince himself otherwise, Mako found it difficult to truly believe that. He had to face it- all he knew about was how to take care of his brother. Bolin had so completely consumed his time that he never learned anything about women. That was what made this situation so utterly hopeless.

"I thought I smelled something in here."

Oh, great, Mako thought, glaring at the floor. Just what I need- someone to give me more shit to worry about.

Mako looked up to see a raven-haired boy around his age leaning against the door frame, a smirk twisted on his lips. He recognized him as the leader of the White Falls Wolfbats. Based on the pompous comments he made towards the Fire Ferrets after their qualifying match, Mako could tell that he wasn't going to enjoy this guy's company at all.

"Tahno, was it?" Mako asked, quirking an eyebrow. "What are you still doing here; I thought everyone had gone home."

Tahno chuckled. "I thought I'd stop by to see who else I was up against, since I already met the Uh-vatar and her boyfriend... you're the firebender, right?"

"And what if I am?" Mako replied icily, looking him straight in the eye. "You trying to intimidate me?"

Another dark chuckle. "Oh, of course not. I could already tell that you're not the kind of guy who gets intimidated easily. I was merely curious, you see," Tahno strolled casually over to where Mako sat, standing in front of him with that saucy smirk. "Which reminds me; why are you here so late?"

"I live here," the firebender retorted, placing his hands on the bench and leaning back, never breaking his gaze. "I've just been in here thinking for a while, that's all."

"Thinking, hm?" Tahno parroted, his tone smooth and condescending. "Now, why do I have a hard time believing that someone like you would spend all this time... simply thinking?"

"Beats me," replied Mako, finally breaking eye contact by leaning his head back and closing his eyes. "I don't see anything wrong with a little thinking. You should try it sometime if it's so hard to believe."

Mako suddenly felt a hand on his knee. Snapping his head back up, he discovered that Tahno was bearing down on him, his light blue eyes cold as ice, his face only inches away from his own.

How the hell did he get so close? Mako's thoughts screamed. Wait, that's a stupid question. The real question is why is he so close?

"Aren't you sassy?" Tahno murmured, his breath fanning across Mako's face. "You know, you're not as uninteresting as I first pegged you to be."

Right then, Mako did the first thing that came to his mind. He took his hands off the bench and shoved the waterbender away, watching him stumble back towards the doorway. Despite this, Tahno's smirk didn't falter, regaining his balance and standing up straight.

He gave another chuckle. "Strong, too. I can tell we're going to get along swimmingly."

"Just-" Mako started, feeling his face heat up slightly. "Just what the hell's your problem, guy?"

"I don't have a problem," Tahno replied, his tone still smooth, but with an added flirtatious inflection. "Not anymore. I'll be seeing you, hotman."

With that, he left, giving Mako a wink before shutting the door behind him. Mako tried regaining his composure, his mind reeling.

Heaving another sigh, Mako muttered: "As if I didn't have enough to worry about... now I have to deal with this creep."