Korra glanced out the window, did a double-take and shouted, "Look!"

"You can't distract us, Korra," Mako said, quirking an eyebrow and continuing his barrage of fire blasts. She dodged, frowning and blocking his attacks with a stream of water.

"No really, look! It's snowing!"

"Really?" Bolin ran to the window, pressing his nose to the glass. "It is! The first snow of the season!"

Korra looked at Mako with puppy dog eyes. "Can we please go out an play in it? We've practiced a lot already today."

Mako groaned. When Korra looked at him like that, he had to keep reminding himself that he was with Asami now, and his heart wasn't supposed to pound like this around Korra.

"Yeah, Mako," Bolin chided. "We've been at it so long we got kicked out of the training room and had to come up here," he motioned to the boys' apartment around them.

"What are you even going to do? There's nothing on the ground yet."

Bolin and Korra shared a look. "Um," Bolin said.

Korra scoffed. "I'll make my own snow. I challenge you two to a snowball fight! I'll show you how the water tribe dominates in the snow!"

"Just wait another hour until there's enough snow on the ground and we're done here." He crossed his arms.

"Mako," Bolin whined, "You know the snow never sticks to the ground here. It melts when it hits the stone."

"Yeah Mako, please?" Korra joined in Bolin's plea, the two of them looking at Mako with such longing in their eyes that Mako finally gave up.

"Fine," he huffed and the two beggars cheered. "But that means extra practice later on!"

They didn't hear him - they were too busy pulling on coats and gloves and racing down the stairs.

0/0/0/0

"Alright, Korra," Bolin grinned once they were all outside. "Work your magic and make it snow!"

She nodded confidently and began to move, twisting and turning and pulling the falling snowflakes around her. Her hair and clothes spun around her as she danced, her eyes closed in concentration.

The two boys watched, mesmorized as she moved in the fading evening light. The street lights were just beginning to glow and the snow began to pile up around them.

Once Korra was satisfied with the snow banks she'd built up, she opened her eyes, a wicked light flashing in them as she used her bending to shape a snowball in her hands. She tossed it up, playfully asking, "Are you ready?"

Mako shook himself out of the trance she'd put him under. "Wait, no water bending. We wouldn't stand a chance."

Korra pouted, but conceded. "Fine. No water bending. I don't need it to cream you two anyway."

"Oh it's on!" Bolin shouted, gathering up armfuls of snow.

Mako immediately took cover behind a particularly tall snow bank and started building up a stock pile as his brother and Korra lopped snowball after snowball at each other, laughing and getting soaked.

Mako didn't like getting wet, and he liked loosing a challenge even less.

Especially if that challenge came from Korra.

He waited until the other two started to wear down, slowly building his ammunition pile higher and higher (and occasionally taking breaks to warm his poor hands). Then he heard Korra ask, "Hey, what happened to Mako?"

"I don't know," Bolin replied, sounding out of breath. "He probably snuck back inside. He doesn't like the cold. I'll go look for him." Mako heard footsteps crunch through the snow heading back inside.

Korra muttered to herself, "Why that little – oompf!"

Mako took his shot, taking advantage of her distraction and landing a perfect shot right in the middle of her back.

"Mako!" She shrieked, "What the – hey!" Another snowball hit her shoulder.

She started moving in a familiar pattern and Mako shouted back, "No water bending!"

"No ambushing, then!"

"It's not an ambush! It's a strategy!"

She made a face in his general direction before retreating behind a snow back of her own, Mako's snowballs pelting her back the whole way. A particularly wet one caught her neck and slid down her coat. She shrieked again, glaring back at the firebender who peeked over his bunker to smirk at her.

They volleyed back and forth until their ammo ran low and the snow was more slush than anything else. Then the verbal volleys began.

"You call that a shot? I thought you were supposed show me the dominance of the water tribe!"

"It's not possible to dominate someone who won't come out and face me like a man!"

"I'd face you if I knew you weren't going to cheat!"

"It's not cheating, it's taking advantage of my strengths!"

"Then let me use my strengths and I'll crush you!"

"Fine! You can use your bending if I can use mine!"

"Water only!"

"Fine!"

In the blink of an eye, both fighters leapt from their protection and attacked in an explosion of fire and water.

Korra took the lead first with a series of quick, icy jabs. Mako blocked her, spinning to come at her from behind. She spun again, but his kicks threw her back away from the heat of his flames.

They continued to circle each other, both grinning and breathing hard, both certain of victory.

"You have to admit defeat eventually," Korra panted.

"I think you have that backwards," Mako returned, trying to ignore the breathless sound of his voice. "I can go all night."

"I think you're missing one crucial detail," she smirked and glanced up at the moon, rising high in the sky. "It's night now, and I'm at an even greater advantage."

She sprang forward, fists first, and he grabbed hold, locking her in place so she couldn't use her hands to bend. She shifted her weight, using his grip against her to pull him down and dropped down, kicking his legs out from under him. She flipped over him, leaving him on the cold stone ground and her straddling his chest and holding his hands in place above his head.

"Had enough yet?" she asks, her voice as smooth as silk.

Mako swallowed his pride, as well a lump that somehow worked itself into his throat when he realized the position they were in. Korra straddling him - while something that he was sure he'd see later in his dreams that night - was not a good position for him to be in.

"Fine," he groaned. "Get off me. It's cold."

She laughed, but let stood up, reaching out a hand to help him as well. When he grasped it, it was very warm.

He looked at her suspiciously.

She shrugged and winked. "I thought you might need a little extra warmth."

a/n I can't write fights, I'm sorry. I just needed something after it snowed in the last episode.