"Bo!" Mako calls out, obviously tired. His voice rings through the empty apartment. "Bolin!" he repeats, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Are you here?"

He isn't answered with a response. All you can hear is the sound of the busy streets below, despite the fact that it's nearly midnight. Mako scans the apartment one last time when he spots the small, long figure sitting on the table- Pabu. So Bolin had been here, and, for some reason, left his prized fire ferret. But where is he now?

Mako wants to give up looking for his brother, anyway. He's tired and stressed and just wants to collapse on the couch. But Pabu keeps staring up at him with a questioning look, and Mako, for some reason, can't seem to make himself break eye contact from the animal.

It almost seems as if Pabu is questioning him, asking him why he's so stressed and tired and grumpy. He seems to have the face that Mako's mother would have when he would come home from school some days, whining about how Tena ripped up his drawing of a dragon or how Kai accidentally burned his hand firebending. And, of course, in the back of his mind, he's insisting that this stupid ferret isn't doing anything, that Mako's going crazy and Pabu couldn't care less about the fire bender.

But perhaps he needs someone to talk to, because, before he knows it, he's sinking onto the couch and is opening his mouth to complain.

"Life has just gotten so complicated." he groans, running a hand through his hair. "Bolin has been a mess, this whole pro-bending crap, the tournament, all the drama..." he slams his hand to his side. "Ever since she got here! The dumb Avatar! Ever since she came, things have been so screwed up! First, she pulls along Bolin, and then kisses me! And I'm dating Asami! She knows that! Bolin is just barely recovering!" he glances at his temporary "therapist", who seems to be looking at him with a look that reads "really-Mako". He sighs defeatedly. "I mean, yeah, I kissed her back, and I told her I kinda like her and everything, but she started it! She just drives me crazy!" he squeezes his eyes shut tightly, imagining that maybe, if he tries really hard, all this drama will go away. But, when he opens his eyes, he's not surprised to see that nothing has change. "I mean, I like her and everything, I do, and that kiss..." he sighs as dreamily as he can get. "That was a pretty nice kiss. But there's Asami and everything... I really like her." Mako stares up at the ceiling as if the answer to all his problems along with the cure to chickenpig pox would appear in the grainy wood.

"Whatever, Pabu." he sits up, rolling his shoulders. "I have to go find Bolin. Maybe he's at the gym, or that one noodle place he loves. Thanks." And, with that, he gets to his feet and shuffles to the exit and down the stairs, as silently as possible.

It takes him a few moments to realize he just confessed all his feelings to his brother's pet ferret and even took the extra distance to thank him for the "counseling".

Maybe he should get some sleep...

A/N: Heh. Oh, Mako...