My second oneshot. Again, English isn't my first language, so if you found any grammar mistakes, feel free to tell me.
"I'm hungry", Bolin said and started to poke his older brother that was already sleeping. He came "home" (if you could say that abandoned building is their home) a few minutes ago and he already fell asleep. His head was resting on Bolin's shoulder, and it probably looked funny. Mako was 15, and he was way taller than his 2 years younger brother. Since their parents death, when Bolin was only 6, his brother was all he had. And all he needed. Sometimes Bolin was even jealous of Mako, because it seemed like he remembers their mom and dad more. And at the same time, it was probably harder for his older brother to deal with it. Bolin could swear that sometimes he heard his brother crying in the night. Often, like tonight, they didn't even talk. Mako was working all day to buy them some bread, or something to drink. His younger brother admired him for that, he was pretty sure he couldn't do that. Bolin came back to reality when he noticed that the other boy was slowly waking up.
"Mako... I'm so sorry, but I'm really hungry. I can't sleep.", he whined. Indeed, he was starving, but at the same time he felt guilty for waking his brother up.
"Sorry... we don't have anything. You'll have to wait until tomorrow morning, I have money but it's too dangerous and late to go out now. We can't afford to lose it to some rogues.", after a while he responded and sighed deeply. It wasn't because he was mad at Bolin for waking him up. It was because he felt powerless. He felt like that a lot, he felt like he can't do anything to make his and his brothers' lives better. He loved him, he would do everything to see him happy. But he couldn't. Mako patted Bolin's head, hoping that it would comfort him. It was their thing. Instead of saying 'everything will be okay', they patted each other. Mako wouldn't admit it, but it was because he was tired of saying that everyday. Especially at night. Bolin was trying to be tough, and cheer Mako up, make jokes and laugh, but when the night was falling, the roles were reversed.
"I wonder where would we be right now if your parents... you know...", Bolin couldn't finish this sentence. Their parents were murdered a few years ago, but they still couldn't say it out loud. They both already knew it was one of these slepless nights, so why shouldn't they talk? After all that was what kept them close.
"I... I don't know", Mako answered after a few minutes passed, even though he knew the answer. They would probably be normal teenagers, going to school, hanging out with their friends... but he didn't want to make that night any worse for Bolin.
"You know... sometimes I see those people on the streets. Those rich people. They have everything. Mansions, cars, expensive clothes... and we barely can afford food. They never had to experience hunger like we did.", Bolin said, close to crying. His older brother was shocked how talkative he was. And how he's showing actual emotions. Usually Mako was the sensitive one, while Bolin acted like he didn't care, like he was fine with everything that happened to him. But he guessed that one way or another, the hidden emotions found their way out somehow.
"Yeah, we did experience hunger. When we needed food. But rich people, or people in general... they sometimes experienced even worse fate"
"Is it possible to face anything worse than what we had to endure?", Bolin asked with curiosity. He never thought about other peoples' problems. He always thought that nothing worse that happened to them can't happen.
"Hunger for love. Often when people work, to afford their families the best they can, they forgot who they're working for. The money is all what they can see. Their families are falling apart, this person is getting lonely, and when it's too late, he realises that money can't buy you love. They have everything you could possibly dream about, but they don't have what we have.", it took Mako a few minutes to came up with his answer. He tried his best to explain everything to Bolin, and he hoped he understood what he meant.
"What?", he asked again.
"Love. You have me, and I have you. As long as we have each other, we'll never experience love hunger. Sure, we might experience the regular hunger but... as long as you have somebody that cares about you, it's all right.", Mako answered and patted his brother again. He could see by the look of his face that he was slowly understanding what he had said.
"I... I never thought about that. Thanks for caring about me.", Bolin said, still a little stunned that he has something special, something that a lot of people don't have. He has his brother.
"No problem.", Mako responded and smiled. Suddenly, Bolin didn't feel hungry anymore. He felt like everything is going to be okay. After literally few seconds, Mako could feel Bolin's head resting on his shoulder. For the very first time, he believed that really everything would be okay. As long as they have each other.