.: butterfly kisses :.
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"Oh, with all that I've done wrong; I must have done something right, to deserve her love every morning and butterfly kisses at night."
"How about -." Mako pauses for a moment, thinking, "Wei."
Korra shakes her head, scrunching up her nose in distaste. "What kind of name is that? Besides, I already told you. Katara told me that it's gonna be a girl. Katara is never wrong." She says matter a factly.
The Air Temple is quiet and tranquil. Mako snuck into Korra's room at midnight, an hour before to wish her a happy birthday, expecting her to be asleep. ("Eighteen years. You're a woman now." Pema had exclaimed over last night's dinner.)
What he finds is, Korra very much awake, reading her (or Aang's; he's not really sure if belongings are passed down the Avatar line as well) air journals to the small life taking refuge in her swollen belly. It took a moment for her to notice him leaning on the door frame watching her, always watching.
For someone who wasn't sure if she possesed a 'mom' gene, Mako thinks she's fairing pretty well. In the past few months she's changed completely, even Tenzin hadn't expected the change. She was less reckless. She ate better. ("Is this rice organic?" Korra asked Pema, while poking into the sticky white rice pads coating the sides of her bowl.) And apparently she read to their unborn child as well. Mako feels his heart swell and thinks it might burst from the overflowing emotion that engulfs him.
Korra finally noticed him after a small knock on the open door. Her lips, plump and red from a bag of cherries (stolen from the kitchen, most likely), turn up into a smile.
"I thought I told you if you needed anything I would get it." Mako scolded, walking closer to her bed. "You shouldn't get up."
Korra ignores him, because she can see through the small irritated frown on his face, she can see into him. Korra opens her arms to him wordlessly and he goes to her without hesitation. Korra is full of warmth and love and home. His home is in the comfort of her arms around him.
"Well, I think I have the perfect one." Mako places the right side of his face onto her stomach, if he listens close enough Mako thinks he can fall through the barrier of skin separating them and beat in time with the baby. As one. "Meiling. We should name her Meiling."
"Hmmmm, I like it." Korra agrees, for once. "Why Meiling?"
"It was my mother's name."
He can feel Korra nod above him;she doesn't press the issue. He squeezes her hand in thanks. The silence between them is thick and comforting like one of Senna's wool blankets all the way from the south pole. ("I knitted them myself." Mako could feel her excitement and hear her high pitched tone through the words on the page of her letter.)
"Mako."
"Hmm." Mako tits his head up diagonally, the moonlight hits the high sculpted arches of her face, the small cluster of freckles perched at the bridge of her nose illuminated by the light.
Korra's eyes soften. "I love you."
"I love you too, Korra." Mako takes her wrist into his hand, placing soft feather light kisses on the heated flesh.
"I know. It's just th -." She cards her fingers through his hair with her other hand, massaging his scalp lightly. "I don't regret this. I don't regret what happened."
What she means is that she doesn't regret the baby. She doesn't regret ending (starting?) their lives early. Unlike the White Lotus. He heard one of the sentries as recently as this morning, "Why couldn't the Avatar had been a boy. Then we wouldn't be dealing with this bullshit." Mako succeeds in keeping the fire at bay and his anger in check, but he throws the man the dirtiest look he can muster.
Mako kisses Korra's rounded stomach. "We'll be fine." He whispers, to himself, Korra or the baby, he's not entirely sure. But he means it all the same.
#
Mako wonders how, after four children, Tenzin was able to hear him coming into Korra's room at all hours of the night, because Mako is sure he is going to need a hearing aid by the time he turns twenty next year.
Meiling is wailing, mouth open wide, shaking her head back and forth, face glistening with tears and snot. Mako tries to soothe her by rocking her, dangling shiny toys in front of her face, even sacrificing his scarf to swath her with. Nothing.
There is a groan from the bed and Mako panics. Since giving birth, Korra has been tasked with returning the bending of Republic City day in and day out. There were always reporters, cameras and a huge crowd of people coming to witness the wonder of the Avatar in the flesh. It was tiring work and Mako doesn't want to disturb her.
When Bolin was younger, to calm him Mako would pick him up, tell Bolin to climb on his back and walk aimlessly around the city telling him stories of their parents, until all he could her were Bolin's soft snores. Stories Bolin has tried to remember but have seemed to disappear with time. Mako isn't sure if the trick works with babies too, but he decides to give it a try.
"Shhh." Mako hushes her, or tries to at least, when he pulls his daughter closer to him, exiting their shared (much to Tenzin's dismay. "They have a baby Tenzin." Pema complained) room. "It's okay. You're safe."
Meiling doesn't seem to care much of safety as she continues to bawl, shifting from side to side, trying to escape the comfort of her father's arms.
Mako groans, "What's wrong, Meiling?" He says bringing her face closer to his, she still cries. "I can't help you if you don't tell me." Mako turns her over to check her diaper. Nope, not that. Mako fed her thirty minutes prior, so it wasn't that either. He wishes he had taken Pema up on her playful offer to teach him baby talk lessons when he had the chance.
Mako starts to hum a melody under his breath, trying to calm his irritation. It was his mother's song. She sung it to him whenever sleep ran from him at night, he wasn't sure how he still remembers the tune, but it never fails to bring him comfort. He could do this. He raised Bolin and h -.
Mako looks down at Meiling who has stopped crying and is blinking up at him with interest. He sees the blue of her eyes through the drying tears, not just blue, but small flecks of gold here and there. The dark skin of her pudgy arm slivers out of his scarf, reaching for him.
"Would you look at that." Mako smiles and stops walking. Meiling blinks at him and tilts her head (so much like Korra) before sruching her nose and opening her mouth wide. The wails are louder than before. Mako hears motion from the room next to him and starts to walk ahead. "Okay, alright. I get it. Keep humming. I can do that. Hmmm, what were the words again." He ponders, bouncing his daughter up and down, disturbing the pattern of her cries.
"Your face sketched in the trees puts my mind at ease."
Meiling yawns, snuggling into his arms, the tone of his voice quelling her cries.
"To a world without limitation. Rock me patient, slowly."
Mako twists his head to the side and sees his daughter finally, finally, asleep on his shoulder.
"Thank Spirits."
"You're doing an amazing job with her."
Mako jumps slightly when Pema comes up behind him, her voice warm and sweet. Like a mom.
"Thanks. I think I can be better b-." Pema holds up a hand.
"You could do much worse." She looks at Meiling and her face softens. "When I had Jinora I was no where near this good." She stops, contemplating her words, almost afraid of saying the wrong thing. "Mako."
"Yes." Mako answers, walking closer to her.
"I am very proud of you." Pema surpsies him when she pulls him into a hug, taking care not to wake the fragile bundle perched on his shoulder.
Mako hears his choked sob before he realized he's crying. To her credit, Pema doesn't say anything, nor does she pull away. She rubs his back and hums a calming lulby in his hair. Mako cries harder.
#
When Katara ventures into her next adventure in the afterlife, Korra takes it the hardest. Senna said she was expecting it. She looks a little bit ashamed, but honest, when she talks to her son-in-law about Korra's former mentor.
"Katara was like -." Senna moves her head back and forth, "She was a mother to Korra. She was always there when I couldn't be. For years Korra wouldn't listen to anyone but her." Senna laughs without humor. Mako shifts awkwardly, unsure of what he should say, if he should say anything at all. He looks around and wonders when Korra is going to be finished greeting guests with her fake smile, nodding slowly at their condolences.
He is saved when Tonraq appears, placing a hand on Senna's shoulder, muttering a brief thanks as he steers her away.
Mako finds his daughter kicking tuffs of snow a small ways from him. Meiling turns away when he comes closer. Mako kneels down behind her, twisting her around to face him, using the fur lining of his winter coat to wipe her cherry red nose clean.
"What's wrong?" Suddenly she's in her father's arms and she's crying. Mako soothes her with the sound of his voice and his hand in her brown hair. (Like her mother, so much like her mother)
"Why is mommy mad at me Daddy?" Meiling asks innocently.
She's only six, Mako thinks, pushing her face into his chest, she's not well versed on her mother's complex disposition. Korra has been distant, closed off, cold almost. It was a defence mechanism, one he knew well. Korra would shut everything off so she thought of nothing and she felt nothing. Becoming an empty shell that couldn't feel pain.
"Mommy isn't mad at you." Mako reassures. "She's just sad is all."
Meiling sniffs, "That's it?" Mako nods.
Korra walks out of her parent's home then, in search of Naga no doubt.
"Hey, why don't you go and try to cheer mommy up with the new tricks you showed me yesterday?" Mako suggests.
He stands up, watching Meiling run to her mother, tripping over snow hills once or twice.
"Look Mommy." She shrieks, trying to turn her wrists the way she's seen her mother do it for years. It's nothing much, nothing but a small vapor of water but Korra smiles and his heart swells because it's not the polite forced smiles he's seen her give all week. No, it's real.
Korra grabs Meiling, hugging her tight. Korra cries because she's happy and sad all at once. Her shoulders shake while her sobs are loud and heartbreaking. Meiling touches her mother's face, a comfort. Korra laughs through her tears, placing her larger hand over the tiny one framing her face.
#
Mako stares into Korra's eyes, he wants to drown in her ocean. Her lashes are a thick kohl on her cheeks, her lips are plump and full, and she smiles as he tries to connect the dots of the tiny patch of freckles collected at the bridge of her nose. Mako kisses her cheek, then her forehead before finally searing his lips at the corner of her mouth.
"What is it?" Korra laughs, the sound calms him. Korra is home and she's smiling, he feels at ease for the first time in weeks.
"I just really love you." Mako leans into the power crackling under her fingertips as they push through his hair.
"Well, I know that." She says jokingly, tugging his hair slightly, brushing her lips against his. "I love you too."
It's a soft sweet kiss that ignites his senses and burns him all the way down to his bones. He places a hand on the side of her face, pushing his face closer to her, feeling her legs part slightly to accommodate him. He feels like he can't breathe as he drinks her in, so he breathes through her, becoming one when her mouth parts and her tongue slides across his bottom lip.
"Daddy." Came a small voice as they heard their door creek open, revealing Meiling wiping her eyes.
Mako pulls away from Korra, making a space in between them, patting it. "Come here, sweetie."
Meiling jumps on top of the bed and curls up between them. She falls asleep a few minutes after, curled up within her parent's warmth.
When Mako wakes in the morning (rising with the sun and all that) he smiles. He's not sure how long he sits there, watching his girls sleep. All he knows is that if he could see this every morning when he opens his eyes, for the rest of his life, he would consider himself very lucky.
#
Sometimes, most of the time, Mako muses on why Korra chose him, when she could have anyone.
"Dad." That's right she's too old to say daddy now.
"Hmm," Mako glances at Meiling as they walk together. He sees her school in the horizon, pretends not to notice her agitation.
"What are you thinking about?" Meiling asks, a contemplative frown (He loves seeing small parts of himself peek through her, even if they are few and far between) "You have your thinking face on."
"I wasn't aware I had a thinking face." Mako smiles.
"Yup you sure do. You use it when ever you're trying to prove mommy wrong." Mako laughs now, and ruffles her hair. ("Dad, stop!")
"I'll tell you later." They come to a stop before the school gates, Mako leans down to give her a kiss.
"No." Meiling pulls away from him, looking around frantically.
"What?" Mako frowns.
"I'm too mature for kisses."
Mako stares and Meiling wrings her hands into her skirt.
"What's wrong?"
"People make fun of me." Meiling mutters.
"Why would they do that?" Mako asks. Is this why she complains about her schooling? Why she always wishes to stay home with him?
"They say because mommy is away all the time it's because she doesn't love me."
"That is not true. Look at me." Mako pulls her face towards him. "Your mother and I love you very much. Mommy hates every day she isn't home to see you. Don't listen them, okay? Okay?"
A smile tugs at her lips slightly. "Yes, daddy." She kisses him on the cheek before she runs through the gates, waving at him, flailing her arms when she reaches the entrance doors. Mako waves back, grinning to himself, because maybe he'd be able to keep his little girl little for a while longer.
#
"I don't like him." Korra rolls her eyes. "Don't look at me like that."
"Like what?" Korra says, he knows she's mocking him from the slight crinkle in her eyes and the patronizing amusement dripping from her voice.
"He looks like bad news." Mako exclaims, glancing away from the doorway to see Korra with her arms crossed, eyebrow cocked, "He does, Korra. I don't want him coming over anymore."
"You're overreacting." He's thankful that the, as usual, goes unsaid, but it doesn't matter because he can see it in her eyes anyway. "They're only studying Mako."
Mako scoffs. "Likely story. We both know what he's here for. All boys his age want the same thing."
"And what's that?" Korra asks.
"To - to you know."
"No, I don't know." She was really going to make him say it wasn't she. "Enlighten me."
"To have sex Korra." Mako exclaims melodramatically, his eyes wide. "To do stuff."
"Did you want to do 'stuff' with me when we first met?"
Mako ignores her question, turning back to the two teenagers 'studying' in their living room. They were getting too clo - were they kissing? Mako moves to walk into the room only to be pulled back by collar. He looks at Korra helplessly.
"Korra you're gonna just let this happen, in our house."
"I recall us doing much more than that when I was seventeen."
Mako concedes, with a pout.
"Besides, I can think of much better things for us to do with our time." Korra says, placing a kiss on his collar bone, pressing her fingers into his throat. She smiles when he groans underneath her.
Mako looks back once more locking eyes with Meiling. She looks guilty for a moment, then disgusted as she sees her parents' clasped hands. She yells her complants when their bedroom door slams shut, Korra laughs.
#
Mako isn't sure how he, a orphaned street rat with nothing but memories, has gotten so lucky. Or when his daughter transformed into a woman right before his eyes. Korra sticks her tongue between her teeth, pushing small flower pins into Meiling's hair. ("Mom, gently, please." "Oh suck it up.")
Meiling notices him staring, "What are you thinking about?" He quirks an eyebrow. "You have your thinking face on."
"I'm not sure." Mako says. He feels happy, but it's bittersweet. Today was the day. Korra steps back, placing her hands around her daughter's bare shoulders and kisses her softly.
"Everything is re -" Asami opens the door, clucting a hand to her heart when she sees Meiling. "You're a vision."
"Isn't she?" Korra remarks proudly.
"Okay okay." Asami says, back to business. "Places everyone." She pulls Korra out, (not before one last kiss).
Mako offers his arm to Meiling, who takes it with a laugh and a curtsey.
The tears come as they round the corner, pricking his eyes. He's not even sure why he's crying.
Meiling notices him from her peripheral vision, she pulls her lips together, marring her makeup. "Oh daddy." She wipes his tears away and kisses his cheek. He's reminded of childlike giggles, red ribbons and millions of firsts. "I'll always be your little girl."
He grips her tight against him, Meiling snakes her arms around his form and they stay like that long after the music starts playing.
"Are you ready now?" She looks up at him with a smirk. (All Korra, so much like Korra)
"I should be asking you that." Mako pulls away from her. Meiling shrugs, looping her arm through his again. One last time.
#
Meiling laughs when Bolin slips her in and out of his arms, through the dance floor.
"I told you your Uncle Bo had moves." Meiling laughs again, throwing her head back, her dress falls around her, echoing her movements.
Mako observes the honey coated texture sticking to the rim of his champagne flute, when a shadow overcasts him. Mako moves over a bit when Korra sits down next to him, never taking his eyes off of Meiling.
Korra rests her chin on his shoulder, placing a kiss on the heated flesh of his cheek. "You did good, City Boy."
Mako looks down at her. "You think so?"
Korra nods. Mako places his left arm around Korra's shoulder, tugging her into him, molding their bodies together. Korra threads their fingers into one and he feels at ease. They sit there smiling at their daughter proudly.
Mako might never know how he's gotten so lucky, but he's not going to complain.