Mako was staring. He knew he was doing so, but he was finding it quite difficult to point his eyes in any other direction.
She was walking away from the table where they were all gathered, the subtle sashay of her hips stealing his attention, his breath, and apparently his ability to control other bodily reactions. He spared a moment to offer his sincere gratitude to whichever fine individual had tailored her clothes. They were more than suitable for the climate, but at the same time cut fluidly to hug to the shape of her body. The dark blue parka tucked in ever so slightly at her waist, curving gently down towards the awfully distracting swaying of her hips. She flicked a glance over her shoulder as she stepped into the doorway of the kitchen. Mako swallowed; he saw the corner of her mouth twitch upwards and a single eyelid fall in a quick wink.
His elbow was nudged then, and Mako remembered himself. Coughing, he turned his attention back to the table. Korra and Bolin, the latter sitting immediately opposite him whilst his girlfriend sat at his side, had paused in their animated conversation about noodles to look at him. It seemed one of them had been calling his name and he hadn't heard them.
"Bro," Bolin began with a curious eyebrow raised. "Were you just staring at Korra's mother?"
Mako's gaze widened before he could stop himself. When he had recovered his composure, he felt warmth rising to his cheeks when he glanced across and briefly met Korra's eyes.
"Were you?" she asked.
"Well, umm…"
They had caught him red-handed. Better to tell the truth – or at least the closest possible thing to the truth – than attempt to wheedle his way out with a lie. Mako wasn't the best liar anyway; Korra would always see through him.
"I'm just amazed at how much you resemble each other, babe," he directed at his girlfriend, smiling abashedly afterwards.
"Oh," Korra said, nonchalantly waving her hand in the air. "Everyone always says that. I really don't see it."
"You do look pretty alike," Bolin said. "Especially the eyes."
Oh, those eyes.
"And you have that same crooked smile," his brother added.
And wow, that smile.
"Come to think of it, you've got the same –"
"Alright, Bo. I get it," Korra laughed. "Like mother, like daughter. I get it."
Like mother, like daughter…
Perhaps that was the reason, then. Senna did indeed bear much of a resemblance to her daughter – and Mako rather enjoyed feasting his eyes upon Korra day after wonderful day. He loved the way of her dark skin dipped and curved into the defined lines of her muscle, and the way the flat pane of her stomach blossomed into the unmistakeable fullness of her chest. He loved to watch her when they were together at the gym. Korra was all but focused when it came to weight training, and so Mako had ample time to just sit there and stare at her deliciously thick thighs as her shorts clung to the meat of her glutes. Mako had never expected himself, then, to be so caught up by her mother's figure.
Where Korra was strong and athletic, Senna was softer, her form decidedly feminine even despite the fact that she concealed her body beneath more clothes than her daughter typically did. Her chest was not as full as Korra's, but the tuck of her waist and the slope of her hips and the enticing swell of her ass demanded Mako's attention, and his feeble attempts to resist were just that. Feeble.
Mako swallowed once more and brought an easy, casual smile to his face as Korra and Bolin resumed their earlier conversation, barely listening to them as they argued over the authenticity of Narook's cuisine compared with Senna's cooking. She had winked at him, and apparently no one else had seen it. What on earth did it mean? Perhaps that was something of a redundant question, Mako admitted. Senna had greeted them all enthusiastically when they turned up on her doorstep, but she had greeted him…enthusiastically.
It being only the second time he had been to the South Pole and stood inside Korra's home, Mako had been shocked speechless to have Senna embrace him rather fondly and rest her lips briefly on his cheek. He coughed once more and hoped no one would see the heat rising to his face as he remembered the way Senna's chest had pressed flush against him. He also remembered her hands very briefly dallying at his sides as she disengaged from him. The ghostly touch of her fingertips set his skin tingling for a few long moments afterward.
"Korra's been telling us all about you in her letters," Senna had said, smiling.
"All about me?" Mako had replied nervously.
"Mmhmm," Senna nodded, her vividly blue eyes sparkling. She had said nothing more as she then turned to greet Tenzin and his family.
"I didn't know you wrote letters," Mako whispered surreptitiously to his girlfriend.
Korra had shrugged. "No telephones here, City Boy."
Mako returned to the present as a child shouted gleefully at the end of the table, followed swiftly by the terse paternal tone of Tenzin reprimanding his eldest son. Something about ceasing his impassioned attempts to shove sea prunes up his sister's nose. Mako wasn't necessarily paying the most attention; Senna had just poked her head back into the room.
"Could someone help me with these trays?" she called.
Mako automatically looked up. Senna's lips were curved into a polite smile, gazing into the room at large and looking between them all for a volunteer. Mako glanced down just before her eyes had the chance to meet his. A moment later, he felt Korra poking him in the side.
"What?" he said, looking up.
"Come on," she said. "You should be jumping at the chance to help your girlfriend's mother out."
Mako balked. What did she mean? But then she said: "It'll look good on your report for when my dad comes back."
Mako's eyebrows arched. "My report?"
Korra smirked. "Gotta make a good impression for Daddy," she said. "Otherwise, he'll take you hunting."
Mako drew in his next breath carefully. "You sound a little too happy about that prospect."
"The entertainment value would be priceless," Korra said with a devilish smile. "Now, get going."
Mako glanced at his brother, Bolin's cheeks protruding from his face as he noisily sucked noodles into his mouth. Bolin gave something of a shrug before angling his eyes back to his food, utensils poised to all but empty the bowl in front of him. Senna, appearing to have heard his and her daughter's exchange as well as seeing Korra pushing Mako to get to his feet, beckoned to him.
"Come on, Mako," she said, smiling pleasantly, "just need you to take down a few things for me."
Mako gulped; Senna had that same way of making her eyes glitter with mischief as her daughter, except the gaze she momentarily fixed him with was so much more intense. Her eyes slowly dropped away from his after a moment in a way Mako could only describe as seductive, sparkling blue pools disappearing beneath curved lashes. The corners of her lips teased themselves into a smile, and Mako had to spare a moment to give certain nether regions a severe talking to. A sense of foreboding unease settled over him as he stood to his feet and made his way over to kitchen.
A/N: Why, I hear you ask? Well, why not?
Review, follow, ogle, laugh at the sheer absurdity, splutter over your coffee while thinking 'dafuq?'. Either way, till next time...