Legend of Korra isn't mine, just bored.
Timeline: Post Season 1 Finale.
What We Share
It had been a week and Mako isn't sure how Korra is able to stand up. After returning to Republic City, she'd been tireless in her quest to make sure she restored everyone's bending. She'd been insistent, demanding they leave practically the moment after she'd restored Lin's bending.
Mako along with Tenzin and Bei Fong had asked Korra to slow down, warning her that Equalists could try and stop her. They tried to warn her that just because Amon was gone didn't mean the movement was dead. Korra wouldn't listen, biding her parents and Katara goodbye, saying this was her duty, as the Avatar. Mako accepted it, he knew the only person who could stop Korra was Korra and he had no right to go against her wishes.
There Korra stood, the love of his life in a healing room in the Air Temple restoring yet another person's bending. Hundreds had been affected and they seemed to come in a never ending stream, a pilgrimage to Air Temple Island to find what they had thought lost forever.
The first two days had been the Metalbender police. Priorities were priorities and they were needed to help restore the city to normal. They had been trained to protect the streets and the United Forces army had been doing well, but they weren't trained as a crowd control force or for police work. Amon hadn't depowered them all, but it had seemed like it as Korra restored each one after the other in a seemingly endless wave.
After restoring the power of the Republic City police single-handedly, Korra had managed to walk back to her room before falling down on her bed. Mako had made sure Metalbenders and White Lotus were guarding her before he turned in himself. He'd been her sentinel the entire time she'd been restoring people's bending, almost nearly attacking two people who were thanking her because he thought they were Equalist assassins.
Mako was up before Korra on the third day and sighed as he looked outside. There had to be fifty people already outside the Air Temple, waiting for their chance to get their bending restored. He knew Korra would do anything to help them, but he also had seen the toll that restoring bending non-stop took on her.
"Tell her no one is here yet. If she knows, she won't even eat and collapse before she's even helped five people." Mako had warned her guards as he went off to the kitchen to prepare her breakfast. If Korra was not going to look after herself, he would. That's what he did. Bolin hadn't always been able to look after himself and sometimes still couldn't. That's what he did. He understood Korra, others came first when the need was great and you look after yourself later.
The third day had been about just giving the bending back to anyone who came and there had been many. Mako kept count and a watchful eye, but no hidden Equalists were among them. Korra had slowed down towards the end of it and later he'd needed to help her to her room. He'd brought her soup and insisted she finish it before sleeping. Korra had made a face at him and called him "Mom" but he didn't care. That night he slept in her room next to Naga, her other protector. Naga didn't seem to mind, content that Korra had additional protection.
The fourth day and fifth days had not been anyone's idea of fun. Many benders were too traumatized by having their bending taken away at the Air Temple to visit. Korra had declared if they couldn't come to her, she'd go to them. Bei Fong and Tenzin had tried to stop her but it was the same response each time "I'm the Avatar and I have to help these people." With Mako trailing her like a shadow along with Bolin, and a full compliment of Metalbenders as escorts, Korra ventured forth into Republic City.
Mako hated Korra's drive at that moment. Despite the infusion of United Forces troops and the restored Metalbenders, they didn't know where more than half the Equalists were. That wasn't the real problem though, the Triads had stepped back in during the power vacuum, they'd gone to ground during the Equalist revolution and stayed out of sight. Now they were trying to carve up the entire Eastern half of the city. It was made worse by a number of Equalists falling behind a start-up leader and essentially forming their own Triad as well.
They managed to go mostly without incident on the first venture into the city, the second day was much harder. Triads had gotten wind of what Korra was doing and wanted to grab her and force her to restore the bending of their comrades. They had run into a rather immovable force in Mako, who had gone through half a dozen Triple Threats before anyone else had even joined in on the action. The fight wasn't overly tough for the combined forces of Metalbenders, an Avatar and her teammates but Mako knew Korra didn't need to expend more energy than she already had.
The sixth day was what did it. Korra had about completed her quest to return the bending of anyone who needed it. The problem was an Equalist splinter group who had changed their directive to 'kill all benders' set a Waterbending school on fire while it was filled with children. Korra hadn't blinked, she'd run into the school like the Avatar she was and put the fire out before anyone else could join her. She'd walked out of the school with crying children, and promptly collapsed.
"We're taking her back to the island. Now." Mako didn't really have the authority to order around the Metalbenders, but apparently as Bolin told him later he practically had lightning crackling out of his eyes when he said it.
Korra was taken back to rest, but that didn't last. The next day she was up, there was a meeting to discuss how Republic City was going to deal with what had happened and Korra insisted she had to be there.
It was also at that meeting that Mako began to admire Korra even more, which he didn't think was possible but it happened nonetheless.
Korra had been adamant, although it had helped Tenzin backed her. Korra insisted the Old Council had failed and Amon had been successful on their faults. No non-benders on the Council had created a disastrous public image she insisted. If the Council was to represent Republic City, there had to be Non-Benders on it and to start with, she named Asami.
That had begun an uproar until Korra had almost Earthbended someone into the floor, than stopped herself and reminded them they all owed Asami and needed her. She was the heir to Future Industries and Future Industries was too important to the city, too many people worked for them and worked in jobs that were supported by it.
It had been long, and hard but Tenzin had a certain amount of clout after essentially being right about everything and she was the Avatar. Asami would sit on the Council, as would four other new members. There would be five Benders and five Nonbenders from then on.
Mako wasn't sure about the new setup, did it have to come down to benders and nonbenders? Wasn't it just important to find people like Tenzin, or Asami to sit on the Council? Those who knew what was right? He said as much to Bolin, who just shrugged and said if it became a problem, Korra could fix it.
Mako voiced his concerns with Korra and Tenzin, who agreed in principle but said at present, the image of equal representation on the Council was the best way to help calm the city down. Bolin seemed okay with everything, albeit he was too busy congratulating Asami on being named a member of the Council.
Korra had excused herself to talk to Asami privately for a few minutes. Mako had dreaded such a moment but it seemed very amiable, but he couldn't overhear what was said. Korra seemed upbeat after she was done though and he was glad, the last thing he needed was his ex hating the girl who had become the love of his life. Mako paused for a moment and wondered how he'd gotten into that situation.
Mako sighed upon the thought, he wasn't a 'player' and he hadn't meant for it to happen. But he couldn't help it, Asami was great but Korra… she was a force of nature. She'd swept him up and even if he hadn't known it at first, he'd fallen in love with her. He'd come to understand why later on but it didn't change things. Perhaps it would've been different if he and Korra had known each other longer first, or she hadn't thrown herself at him to let him know how she felt but it wasn't.
Mako still felt he owed Asami several more apologies before he could be around her and not feel guilty but that was the state of things at present. Semi-pleasant smiles and small talk would have to do in the meantime. He had bigger concerns at present, Korra was running off again, headstrong as her Avatar duties led her back towards the rougher side of her duties.
There was a full blown riot in Agni Ki Triad territory. The riot itself wasn't even a straight affair, it was really a three-way pitched battle. There were the Agni Ki Triads getting revenge on the Equalists. These particular Equalists called themselves Separatists, they wanted to carve out the Western part of the city for nonbenders only. Then of course were the metalbender police along with United Forces troops trying to restore order.
Korra had dove in to the fight, Mako right behind her. At one point they'd been alone in the chaos, together. Back to back, weaving a path of dominant bending that no one seemed to be able to counter. They set the Agni Ki running straight into the police who were all too eager to put more Triads in prison. The Equalists had broken up when they'd see an extremely irate Avatar and her self-appointed protector blowing through their right flank without seeming to slow down.
The battle was won but Mako's focus on Korra had him take several punishing blows before it was done. Mako hadn't planned it, he hadn't thought about it but Bolin had noticed what his big brother had been doing and wondering it was he was able to stand up after a week. Which Mako couldn't quite do, he fell down, a poor attempt for a guardian as he was covering Korra while she caught her breath and was out like a light.
Mako didn't remember much of what came after, the next thing he knew he woke up in his room on Air Temple Island to a very familiar voice. "I'm the Avatar, and you're an idiot."
"What?" Mako asked wondering what had happened.
"Don't 'what' me Mako. You're on me for how long I can keep up with what I'm doing and what are you doing? You've been so wrapped up with trying to protect me you're sleeping and eating half as much as I am? Plunging into danger before I can and taking the worst of any fight? Did you think making yourself my bodyguard meant you were invincible or something?" Korra poked him right in the chest and he flinched Agni that hurts! Mako could still feel the blow he'd taken there during the riot.
"Korra, I'm fine. And how do you know what I've been doing anyway? You've barely blinked this week trying to do your Avatar duties." Mako tried to shunt the conversation away from him, he didn't need Korra worrying about him. She was the Avatar, she was the priority. Mako had always managed to look after himself.
Korra poked him right in the chest with a glare. "Yeah, Bolin sold you out. Believe it or not, your little brother is smarter than you give him credit for and notices when his brother is sleeping 3 hours a night and not eating." Mako tried to push her hands away, his ribs hurt enough as it is.
"Korra, you're the Avatar. You're doing things no one else can do right now. You're the most important person in the world right now. If Republic City isn't on fire this month because you're being the Avatar its worth it if I don't sleep and get beat up a little." Mako didn't want this to be about him. He always managed to survive, Korra was the Avatar, and the world needed her a thousand times more than it could ever need him.
"Well guess what tough guy, that isn't how it works. I'm here to protect everyone, even if I have to protect you from yourself. I know you think you have to put everyone else first but I'm not going to see you fall apart protecting me." Korra caught his chin with her hand and stared into his eyes.
"And I'm not going to watch you fall apart trying to save the city and not do anything. You're the Avatar, and I love you. Either would be enough reason to do what I'm doing." Mako stared back, he wasn't backing down on this.
"And as the Avatar I'm telling you to knock it off. You're not going to be any help to me like you are now. So now quit being an overbearing, hyperprotective boyfriend and take your shirt off." Korra poked him one more time in the ribs, Ah! Stop doing that! Mako grunted, than noticed Korra was doing it to prove her point.
"What?" Mako was trying to brush her off as he picked up on the second half of what Korra had been saying.
"Oh don't be a baby, you're hurt and you could use healing. Now lose the shirt." Korra made a face at him and started tugging at the bottom of his shirt.
"I'm fine, I just need to sleep." Mako pushed Korra's hands away.
"And you'll sleep a lot better if I've given you some healing. So quit being a baby." Korra managed to outmuscle Mako at the moment and started to get his shirt off, than stopped as she spotted some very big scars.
"Mako, what are you hiding?" Korra asked as he avoided her gaze.
"It's nothing." Mako tried, but he knew he'd lost.
"Show me or I swear we're done right now." Korra threatened as Mako tried to hold her hands off.
"You wouldn't..." Mako tried, but Korra was practically bending fire with her eyes at the moment.
"Try me tough guy." Korra uttered as she hooked her hands under his shirt and pulled up. "Now let me see what's under there..." Korra forced than stopped as she saw what was under his shirt.
"Mako… who did this to you?" Korra whispered as she looked at the old scars that marked up a good part of his chest, ignoring the fresh bruises.
Korra catalogued the scars against what she'd learned as a healer, she knew scars that only bending would cause when she saw them. A diagonal water whip scar traced from Mako's right pectoral to his abdomen. A notable burn scar, definitely from a Firebender hung over his lower left ribs. Along his stomach, there were two very nasty tears that looked like they came from jagged Earthbending discs.
"They're old, they're not important. I'm alive aren't I?" Mako hated the interrogation, the scars weren't important. He'd taken them to survive, so Bolin could survive, that was what mattered.
"By sheer luck! Do you have any idea how close this one came to killing you?" Korra traced her fingers along one of the Earthbending scars, it had come perilously close to opening up his entire stomach.
"Mako, what kind of trouble did you get into when you were on the street with Bolin?" Korra knew these scars were years old and had to be from his earlier years on the street.
"Before we were old enough to do Pro Bending, we had trouble getting money for food sometimes, or getting a place to sleep indoors when it was cold so I kind of did underground bending." Mako grimaced, he hadn't wanted to tell Korra about this. He'd never even told Bolin about it.
"What's underground bending?" Korra was curious, she knew Mako had done things he hadn't been proud of to survive and look after his brother but the scars Mako carried, and she felt sad looking at them.
"Let's just say the referees are there to call a fight before you're dead, and that's about it. It's 1-on-1, or 2-on-1 if you really need money. 3-on-1 if you're certifiably insane." Mako traced his fingers over his Firebending scar.
"Mako, you didn't…" Korra felt a tear drip down her cheek.
"Yeah, my first hat trick wasn't in the Arena, it was in my fifth underground fight. It's how I got half these scars. I won, which is also when I first bent lightning." Mako looked away from Korra. That wasn't a pleasant memory, he had been scared after the fight he'd killed
"Lightning's not allowed in bending matches." Korra started, until Mako interrupted her.
"Like I said, it's not exactly a tightly refereed game. Bolin was sick, he needed medicine and hadn't eaten in three days. I hadn't eaten in a week. My father knew how to bend lightning and he warned me before you could use it you had to be clear of purpose, clear of mind and have perfect focus. In that moment I knew what I had to do. I had to survive to save Bolin." Mako flexed his fingers, thinking of that moment all over again, the energy surging through him.
"They were just about to finish me when I blew one of them away, I had the second one down before they could react too, than I just blew the last guy away with fire." Mako went over what he remembered in his head, which wasn't much when he actually had bent the lightning and won.
He'd been fifteen, going up against three men all at least ten years older than him. He figured rage would get him through it, he'd been wrong. It had been the single-minded focus that he had to survive to make sure Bolin was safe. That had been his focus before, and ever since, just further intensified.
"I got the prize money, Bolin got better, we both got to eat and we got to stay inside for the worst part of winter. I'd do it again if I had to." Mako looked at his scars we survived, that's what matters.
"I know you would. The same way I know you'd follow me into a fight with a crazy Bloodbender. This isn't about what you'd do for me Mako, or for Bolin, or what I'd do for you. This is what we share most Mako, that we'd do anything to protect others. I'm not asking you to stop being you, I'm just asking you to try not to kill yourself doing it." Korra rested her forehead against Mako's.
"I could say the same thing to you." Mako rubbed at a bit of dirt on Korra's cheek from the fighting earlier.
"I'm the Avatar, it's kind of my gig." Korra replied as she willed some water from a nearby water glass and began to heal Mako's bruised ribs.
"I'm the guy in love with the Avatar. That means making sure you don't get hurt is my gig." Mako sighed and relaxed as the healing water relieved his pain.
Korra smiled a bit as she noted on the futility of their situation in some ways. "So we're kinda stuck then aren't we?" Mako smiled at that as she continued to minister to his wounds.
Mako relaxed under Korra's care and nodded. "Yep."
Korra finished up, Mako was still sore but not nearly as much as before. There was a pause. Korra sighed and touched Mako's scars, carefully as if they might suddenly reopen. Mako pulled her hands away, than kissed her palms. Korra smiled and kissed his cheek, than pulled him into a rather serious liplock. That went on for a while until they both became a bit short of breath.
"Wow…" Mako mumbled, it wasn't the first, second or even tenth time they'd kissed at that point but the sensation was hardly getting old for him. Korra had a way of just making him forget about everything but her when she got this close to him.
"Not bad yourself." Korra grinned and kissed his nose.
"So… promise not to get yourself into too much trouble for the next little while?" Mako tried as he pulled Korra into his lap and began kissing her neck.
"If you can promise that you won't act like my mother." Korra murmured as she enjoyed the light kisses.
"Your mother? Really?" Mako broke off and shook his head at that one.
"You're right, my mother was much more understanding than you are about my Avatar duties." Korra smiled and mussed up Mako's hair.
"You're impossible sometimes." Mako sighed as Korra kept having her fun with his hair.
"Would you have me any other way?" Korra smirked as Mako shook his head.
"No, but I figure if I kiss you often enough it might serve as a bribe of some sort to stop being so impulsive." Mako leaned in for another kiss.
"You're good Mako…" Korra got out after Mako's first kiss. "but you're not that good." Korra managed to finish after his second.
"I had to try." Mako shrugged sheepishly as Korra laughed and kissed him back.
Korra drew her fingers across Mako's cheek and smiled. "I hope you keep trying."
Mako yawned. "Am I boring you?" Korra asked, than yawned herself.
"No more than I'm boring you. I think we're both pretty tired." Mako yawned again, it was hard to stay awake, but that had been the case all week for him.
"Than I suggest you close your eyes and lay back. I'll be here in the morning." Korra gently pushed Mako onto his back, going down with him.
"Here, here?" Mako asked, surprised at what she was suggesting.
"It's not the first time we've slept next to each other." Korra reminded him. "Let's just not try to panic when we wake up in the morning."
Mako smiled at that, but then thought about the consequences. "I'm more concerned with Tenzin starting a tornado that sends me into the bay when they find us in the morning. This isn't really appropriate, you're the …Avatar and we're not married or anything."
"Yes I am the Avatar, which means I'm empowered by the spirits to do what's best. And right now, what's best for both of us to get cuddle time since we're obviously not going to get any time to ourselves when we're awake." Korra rested her head on Mako's chest as he idly stroked her hair.
"I don't think it works like that." Mako mused as he thought about how Korra might throw the Avatar weight around in the future.
"I seem to get by on it." Korra was fumbling with her hair bindings with Mako's assistance until her hair was finally free.
"Korra?" She looked up at her heart's desire who touched her cheek as his amber eyes just took in her beauty. "I love you."
"I love you too." Korra whispered back as she closed her eyes and went to sleep, Mako managed to enjoy her warmth against him for a moment before falling asleep himself.
Rest came easy for the young couple that night, even though they knew their rest wouldn't always come. Korra was the Avatar and her life would be about self-sacrifice of her own wishes, she couldn't base her life around one with Mako. Any time she stole with him would be hers, but she knew the world would always have to come first. Privately, Korra knew that Mako owned her heart.
Mako knew holding Korra that while he had this time with her, he'd never have as much time as he wanted with her. She wasn't his, she wasn't anyone's truly but she acknowledged that as the Avatar, she belonged to the world. He'd be there for her, like he was for Bolin and if Asami would let him back in, he'd be there for her as well. They lived their lives for others, but he took comfort knowing in their hearts they'd always belong to each other.