- All About You -
"With bloodshot eyes, I watch you sleeping. The warmth I feel beside me slowly fading."
- Tears Don't Fall, Bullet For My Valentine
Disclaimer: As usual, I own nothing but my writing.
Rating: T
Status: One-Shot? Complete? Undecided.
"All you care about is yourself!" She cried, arms waving in rapid, angry gestures. "Have you heard anything you've said recently? It all relates to you. Not once has it been about anyone but you."
The firebender stood there in adamant shock at his friend's abrupt outburst. Korra was giving him a look that could pierce him if bending accompanied it.
"It isn't all about me!" He protested suddenly, stammering on his words. "What the hell are you talking about? Where is this coming from?"
"Where?" Korra spat, drawing out the word like it was something foreign she had never heard before. "Are you serious, Mako? Where is this coming from?"
The Avatar eyed the boy before her, taking in every detail of his features through squinted, antagonizing eyes; his prominent jawbone, the glinting in his darting gold eyes, a strand of his bangs out of place, falling into his eyes.
To put it honestly, he looked like an animal that had just been shot and was slowly dying.
Korra laughed, although the sound was forced and hoarse. "Forget you, Mako. You're not worth my time."
Pivoting on her heel and stamping her foot into the ground as she put it down, she listened to a multitude of gasps as the earth jutted up behind her and then fell once more. She was the Avatar, dammit. If she was mad, the elements might as well be furious too.
"Korra-!" She could hear Mako's hesitant but desperate cry behind her. The tone of his voice rang through her head as she continued walking away, slowly picking up pace until she was running. Dissatisfied by the fact that her audience could still see her, she shot a blast of air at the ground and launched herself on a rooftop, disappearing shortly after.
"Way to go, bro," Bolin admonished, watching his older brother grasping his face rather firmly in what appeared to be agony.
"I don't want to hear it right now, Bolin," Mako growled, shooting a venomous glare in his brother's general direction. Bolin raised an eyebrow at Mako's feeble attempt at looking enraged, and then shrugged in response.
"I'm just saying, you know?" Bolin continued, ignoring Mako's blunt statement. "Korra is a nice girl; you blew it."
"I have Asami!" Mako shot back, turning to face his brother with a face that read confusion and disappointment more than fury.
Bolin sighed heavily and leaned back on his arms. "Look..."
"Don't, bro."
"Mako..."
"No."
Bolin sat up suddenly and leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "Mako."
The older boy looked over, face twisted into an expression that would ordinarily make Bolin laugh relentlessly at his brother. The circumstances killed that opportunity and any humor found in it as he stood up and ambled over to the firebender.
"Admit it; you screwed up."
"I have..."
"Asami doesn't matter," Bolin cut in, withdrawing his hand from where he had placed it on his brother's shoulder. "I mean, she does, but you need to find a balance between her and Korra."
Mako whirled around in a flourish. "Are you saying I should date them both?"
Bolin failed to hold back the laugh that bubbled up inside him at that incredulous statement. Mako's brow furrowed and he frowned at Bolin's response.
"No," Bolin struggled to form the one-syllable word between fits of laughter. Mako did not see the humor in this situation, and was losing his patience for Bolin's antics quickly.
"What, then?" Mako snapped, leaning back and sneering at his brother. "I don't find this funny."
Bolin stopped cackling and stood straight, looking Mako in the eye. "Neither does Korra."
Mako turned away from his brother and shut his eyes, forcing away the thoughts eating at him. The waver in her voice, the anger that warped her face...
"You need to get your priorities straight."
Mako turned back around, looking into his ordinarily light-hearted brother's eyes. Bolin didn't seem amused by any of this.
"I...never mind," Mako mumbled, choosing to keep his opinions to himself having quickly thought better of arguing with Bolin, too.
Korra sat pouting on the ground, back leaned up against Naga and face pressed into her arms as she hugged her knees.
"Boys suck," she stated, apparently to no one. As if the polar bear dog understood, she whined in response.
Korra closed her eyes and leaned her head back, taking in the scent of the water before her. Everything around her felt serene - the rippling water, the moon high in the sky and glowing brightly - yet she felt quite the opposite.
"Oh hey, Uh - vatar," a voice chimed from behind her, making her leap up and tumble forward.
"Funny," she spat at the boy standing behind her. Tahno grinned mercilessly, having failed to accurately read the expression that was still partially plastered on her face.
Korra frowned deeply at the sight of him for many reasons.
One, he was laughing at her. Two, he looked extremely smug with himself for having successfully startled her. Three, he actually looked good, although he still didn't match up to what he was before he'd lost his bending.
"Oh good," Korra drawled sarcastically. "You found a way to make your hair all shiny-pretty again."
Tahno snorted and laughed behind his hand. "Shiny-pretty? Really Uh - vatar?"
"Shut up!" Korra snapped, turning back around and staring at the water. The sight of the moon glowing in the dark depths helped calm her a bit, despite the bristling feeling Tahno was eliciting from her.
"Calm down," Tahno murmured, rolling his eyes as he walked forward. Naga growled lowly, and much to Korra's delight, Tahno retraced his steps back to where he'd started.
"You were saying?"
Tahno looked at the polar bear dog in disgust, and turned away to eye the back of the so-called Uh - vatar instead.
That...thing made him uneasy.
"What the hell are you out here for at this hour, anyway?"
Korra glowered at the water, her mood dampened by Tahno's questioning.
"Why are you?"
The sudden breeze made the air seem colder than it had already been, like a forewarning of some kind. In all honesty, he was probably over-thinking that a ton.
Tahno wasn't one to believe in mumbo-jumbo shit anyway.
"I'm here because I can be," he retorted snarkily, that malevolent sneer curling back onto his lip.
"Good, the same goes for me," Korra agreed, although it was a pitiful excuse in her opinion.
Tahno dared to step closer to her again, eying the big white beast out of the corner of his eye. "You're here, I'm here - we could spend some time together."
"Really?" Korra emphasized the word to the point that it sounded slurred. A brief smirk pulled at the corners of her lips, amused that she sounded somewhat drunk.
Being drunk would certainly make this situation easier. The one with Mako, that is. Tahno?
...not so much.
The former waterbender laughed, a few feet behind her. "Come on Korra; where's your sense of adventure?"
Not with you... she answered mentally, and wrinkled her nose, attempting to come back with a better retort to actually say.
"It's here," she replied blandly, eyes now fixed on the moon overhead. "People like you just can't see it, since you're so dull."
Korra's eye twitched when Tahno did nothing more than laugh behind her.
"People like me?" He inquired, stepping closer to her. "Interesting."
"Yes, people like you," Korra hissed, turning around and facing him, a finger poking into his chest. Only after she'd come in contact with him did she realize how close he had managed to inch. "You're just as cold and slimy as the swamp you crawled out of."
Tahno looked at her, lips quivering in threat of a smile. He placed and hand dramatically over his heart and mock-winced.
"Is that so? The great Avatar thinks I'm scum?"
Korra's face went blank when the boy opened one eye to look at her, still caught in the middle of his dramatics. Apparently this was humorous; Korra failed to notice.
"Oh come on," Tahno chided, removing his hand from where it lay on his chest. "Don't be a downer."
Korra crossed her arms and jutted out her bottom lip, accompanying both gestures with a cock of her hip. This only made him grin more.
"What do you say? Let's do something; standing here watching the water isn't that interesting."
Korra snorted and turned away. "Maybe to you."
"Yes, to me. Unlike you, Uh - vatar, I can no longer bend. Water was my forte."
Korra found herself staring at the water, and felt a pull in her stomach as if it were the tides the moon controlled. "I didn't mean it like-"
"Forget about it," Tahno stated, waving his hand dismissively. Korra was unsure if the gesture was intended to dismiss her or the poor choice of words she had made.
"I'm sorry."
The pale boy looked over at her from his peripheral, eying her curiously.
"If you feel bad, you can always make it up to me."
Tahno laughed at how expressionless Korra's face turned when he made a comment like that.
"Get your head out of the gutter," he muttered, turning to walk back into the city. "Not everything I say is an innuendo."
"So you're admitting you're a pervert?" Korra squeaked in a bit of a hushed cry. Tahno laughed in response to this, too.
"No, I just happen to know more than you do. That doesn't make me a pervert."
It amused him that Korra had altogether missed his point, her face turning a different shade. While he would have liked to think the comment had made its mark and the redness in her cheeks was a blush, he had seen the look on her before; a look that screamed irritability, competitiveness, and arrogance.
"Oh yeah, pretty boy?" Korra shot back, puffing out her chest. "You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?"
Tahno turned and looked at her, taking in the sight of the Avatar trying to be intimidating.
"If you want to prove me wrong, be my guest," he told her happily, a wolfish grin loping from his face. "Your place or mine?"
Korra's face went blank again. "What?"
"Your place or mine?" he repeated, emphasizing the words more as if she hadn't heard him. Korra blinked at him, mulling over the words like he'd rattled something off in tongues.
The ever-powerful Uh - vatar was perplexed at his words, enforcing the point of her naivety. Tahno watched gleefully as her face began to heat up once more, red spreading from the apples of her cheeks to barely below her eyes.
Apparently, Korra was just enough informed to understand his reference.
"You...you are a pervert!" Korra cried, stomping her feet like a small child. Tahno flicked his hair dramatically and turned to face her.
"Come on, Uh - vatar. I thought you said you knew more than I did."
Korra clutched her hands together at her chest, looking fearful at the notion of something she had never dabbled in. She had to look ridiculous; feet and knees pressed together, hands clutched and pressed against her chest like a rabbit about to dart.
"Not like that!"
Tahno snickered, and Korra found herself contemplating her earlier words; slimy really did fit him.
"Maybe you should pick your battles better, hm? You wouldn't have this problem if you weren't so impulsive."
Korra's posture loosened, arms crossed at her chest and head tilted to the side, a combination of a frown and a pout pulling at her lips. It irked her that Tahno apparently thought he knew everything.
"Yeah, pretty boy?" Korra mocked, a sneer of her own marring her lips. "If you're so prodigal, why don't you show me the ropes? I'm a fast learner."
Tahno actually cackled at this. At the moment, he looked more like Bolin than he did himself; hands on his knees, shoulders shaking while he laughed uncontrollably. Eventually his uncontrollable laughter crawled to a fit of broken laughs, and then altogether stopped. Once he had collected himself, he turned to look at her only to lightly snicker again.
"You? The Avatar thinks she can play in the big leagues now? The virgin Avatar?"
"Who says I'm a virgin?" Korra challenged, although she knew there were many things that pointed straight to that. Tahno had a shit-eating grin plastered on his face.
"Feel free to prove me wrong," Tahno advised, shrugging as if he could care one way or another. Korra watched his back as he continued walking in the opposite direction, and decided she would have a little fun of her own and spoil his game.
"You're leaving?" She called, climbing up onto Naga's back. "Well, have fun with your hand pretty boy! I was actually thinking we could have fun together, too."
Tahno stopped and turned around, looking at her with a hint of a smile in his eyes. "Really now? Oh how blessed I am to have the Avatar herself offering to give it up to me."
Korra glared at him, this accompanied by a snarl from Naga.
"Have a nice night, Uh - vatar," Tahno called, turning back around. "It was nice chatting with you."
Korra called after him, feeling impulsive and distinctly bitter, momentarily remembering Mako's face earlier. "I'll make a deal with you."
"A deal?" Tahno was facing her now, his attention fully hers. It was something she would no doubt regret if she went through with this, but it sounded somehow...opportune.
"If you come with me for a ride on Naga, I'll...well, you know."
The boy smiled, an expression that was nothing shy of malicious.
"Sure thing. How hard can it be?"
Korra was getting great fun out of this; Tahno had grabbed onto her the moment Naga had started running, only to let go and attempted to regain part of his dignity.
The street lights flashed by rapidly as Naga tore through town, which was surprisingly dead, even at this hour. Usually there were still a nice mull of people ambling throughout the streets, despite the fact that the reasonable citizens of the city would have been in bed or at the very least, home.
"Where are we going?" Tahno borderline groaned from behind her, able to speak now that Naga had slowed to a nice trot. Korra didn't need to turn around to know that he probably looked rather out of his element, not only by the expression on his face but by the state of his hair.
"Wherever Naga wants to," Korra replied over her shoulder, turning back to focus on whatever happened to lie before them. She had neglected to include the fact that home for her was under the roof of the son of the great Avatar Aang. Tenzin would not be likely to accept visitors regardless of age, gender, and bending.
Tahno scoffed, and glared at something aimlessly. "You're nothing but talk."
"I'm so sorry," Korra sang, not feeling apologetic in the slightest. Tahno being uncomfortable on top of disappointed was victory enough for her.
The boy behind her fell quiet, watching anxiously as Naga slowed further, moseying down the street now.
"Can I get off this thing?" Tahno asked uneasily, looking at the ground below and wincing slightly. Naga gave a growl in response.
"Naga can let you off if you want," Korra told him, back still turned, "but it isn't going to be where you'd like. Take it or leave it."
Home wasn't exactly close, now that this beast had gone sprinting through the streets of Republic City. Where he had found Korra standing had been much closer to his apartment, and quite frankly, he wasn't interested in walking.
"If I stay?"
Korra contemplated this, turning Naga down a dimly lit street and watching a man stare openly through his window as the great polar bear dog meandered by. She smiled, proud of hers and Naga's effect.
"I don't know, we can work something out," she said thoughtfully, although there was no way it was going in the direction he wanted. Tahno grumbled something incoherent, and then agreed.
"Fine," he hissed stubbornly. It was suddenly clear he had made his own compromise; his arms had slid around her waist, and his chin rested on her shoulder.
"You're touching me," Korra stated, as if it needed to be heard aloud. The sight of his arms around her made her uneasy, but the feeling of his breath on her cheek made her heart speed up.
"No shit," Tahno muttered. "Are you telling me no one's ever hugged you before?"
"You're not hugging me," Korra deadpanned shifting uncomfortably within the older figure's grasp. Tahno smirked, enjoying her being on edge.
"How would you even expect to give it up if you can't accept being held?" It was a humorous thought, especially to him. How long had it been since he was in her position? Then again, even when he was, he couldn't remember being shy and hesitant about it either.
"I wasn't expecting to, or did you not get that by now?"
"I did," Tahno acknowledged, allowing his breath to fall lightly on her neck, and reveling in his triumph she tensed up and chills ran down her back. "I'm just thinking that you should reconsider."
"Give me one damn good reason," Korra challenged, turning around just enough to feel his lips on her jaw.
"I can give you everything your firebender boyfriend could only dream of."
Oh, don't mind me...just shamelessly shipping Tahnorra.
Again.
Mind you, I have nothing against Makorra and actually appreciate it. I just find Tahnorra 10x more amusing and intriguing.
At this point, I'm unsure...should I end it here, or be a horrible (lol who am I kidding?) human being and continue? xD
Review and I'll make a decision from there.
Yes, by the way, I do believe my writing to be shitty. If you notice any grammatical errors, please feel free to let me know. If something is worded poorly, just disregard it...I'm too lazy to proofread at the moment. So sorry (;