A/N: Apparently, I'm on a MaKorra kick because this is my second story of the week featuring them. Yay fanfic?
Mako could deal with extremes. He had to. When his and Bolin's parents were killed, he had to suddenly figure out how to take care of himself and Bolin and figure out how to survive without a home. It was sink or swim, and he wasn't about to drown. Maybe it was just stubbornness, but, whatever it was, it worked. It was part of why he was so good at pro-bending. He worked well with his team, but, when the other two members were knocked off and it became 3 versus him, that was when he really pulled through. It was an extreme and he dealt with it. Extremes are Mako's specialty and he's known this for years now.
He got so used to extremes that he can't really handle normal situations anymore. Well, he can handle them, but in his own little awkward way. The only exception was Bolin, but that's just because Mako knew Bolin practically better than he knew himself.
Then Korra came bounding into their lives. Mako kept himself guarded around her at first, but he eventually started warming up to her. She got along fabulously with Bolin, and tolerated Mako. Mako wasn't as horrible with her as he was most people. It worked for the three of them. When things were about to blow up between Korra and Mako, Bolin ran interference. He knew how to deal with the both of them. Bolin was probably the only person able to calm down Korra and Mako when they were a split-second from coming to blows.
So when Korra walks into the training room and throws her bag across the room before beginning to bend earth discs into the net as hard as she can, Mako rolls his eyes and goes back to his warm ups. It's unusual for her, but nothing major.
Mako hears Bolin asking her what's wrong, but what he hears next shocks him into turning back around.
Korra is sitting on the ground and sobbing. Bolin is standing next to her with a look of pure panic on his face.
Mako doesn't even stop to think.
In seconds, he's kneeling in front of Korra with his hands on her shoulders. "Korra? Korra, look at me." She shakes her head, and tries to push his hands off. She's still crying. He takes his hands off her shoulders and puts one on each side of her face. He brushes off a couple of tears with his thumbs and gently makes her meet his eyes. "Korra, it's going to be fine. Okay? It will be. It'll be okay." She stares at him for a moment before throwing herself into his arms.
Mako doesn't even flinch. He simply sits down and pulls her closer. He mumbles quiet comforts to her and has one arm around her back, holding onto her, and his other hand is running through her hair. She's crying into his chest now and clinging to him as if he's the last thing holding her together.
He lets her.
Bolin stares at his brother as if he's never seen him before, but Mako doesn't understand why. After all, extremes are Mako's specialty, and Korra crying definitely counts as an extreme.
A/N: I'm still iffy on the last sentence, but I hope you liked the story! As always, reviews would be absolutely lovely. :)
