To Waffles Risa - Aww, you caught me! I purposely didn't include their ages because I haven't set the timeline for all the scenes in my head. That, and as far as I can tell, the writers for the show haven't yet disclosed how far apart in age Mako and Bolin actually are, so I wanted to leave some room for fudging when their ages do get announced. However, I imagine Mako to be about 13 or 14 in the last chapter, and Bolin to be at most two years younger. In this chapter, they are significantly younger. Thanks for the review! (It's my first ever, and I will love it and hug it and treasure it forever.)

Usual Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Avatar: Legend of Korra, or any intellectual property derived therefrom. I do not derive any income or other benefit from posting the story below.

Chapter 2

Every day, after classes, the parents who didn't have work stopped by Harmony Blossom Elementary School to take their children home. Some students, those who were nine years or older, were allowed to leave on their own, to walk or ride the wire trolleys home. The rest were stuck until their parents came by in the evenings. Every day, after classes, they gathered in the schoolyard, shuttered from the street behind tall green gates, vaguely overseen by a rotating schedule of teachers on late duty. The teachers didn't do much, really, other than sit by the gate and make sure no one left without permission or parent. The children had to find ways to keep themselves entertained.

The youngest kids had a playground near the gate, where the teachers could watch over them from the seats without having to move. There were a couple of tables so the kids could do their homework while waiting, but no one ever used them, of course. Instead, those too big for the swing set and too young to leave spent their time playing games on the Field. It wasn't really a field, since it was paved, and it was officially the Assembly Ground, but everyone called it the Field, even the teachers. The Field was a dusty place, trampled grass and weedy stems growing in sparse, sad clumps through cracks in the pavement. As this was a school with bender children, there were a lot of cracks.

Mako was only eight, but he felt older. With a little brother like Bolin to watch over, of course he was more responsible than the average eight year old. Not that it mattered to the teachers. He wasn't nine yet, so he couldn't leave by himself. And even if he was, he'd still have to wait for Bolin.

He and Bolin were always among the last to get picked up, since their parents couldn't leave work early. He didn't use to mind staying late, since most of his friends did too. But two months ago Saizen and Dochay had both turned nine, and last month it was Anka. So now, every day after school the three of them would wave good-bye to him and walk out past the gates together, leaving Mako alone with the younger kids. Instead of having fun with his classmates, he had to wait with Bolin's friends.

It would probably have been okay if they had something interesting to do while waiting. But lately, the game had always been exactly the same. He blamed the girl.

Yath was the youngest in their group, and the only girl, but she was by far the bossiest. She always took charge of their games. Mako hadn't cared, in the beginning, but it was getting to be Too Much. Whenever they played cops and robbers, which was most days, the two cops were always Yath, and either Bolin or Zuni. Never Mako.

"Zuni and I will be the cops and you two will be the robbers." The girl pointed her finger first at Bolin, then at Mako.

Mako crossed his arms. "I want to be a cop this time! I always get stuck being a robber!"

Yath rolled her obnoxiously green eyes at him. "You can't be a cop, stupid. You're a firebender!"

"What? That's not fair!"

Yath snorted. "There's no such thing as a firebender cop. What would they do, set the criminals on fire?"

"They could fight the firebender crooks!"

"Yeah, and set the city on fire instead. Great plan, genius. Can't believe the Chief didn't think of that one." Mako sensed he wasn't winning this point, but he wasn't about to give in.

"But Zuni can't bend at all!"

"Yeah, but there are lots of cops who can't bend. You know that. 'Sides, he's the oldest. He gets to be the cop 'cause he's the oldest!" Behind Yath, Zuni shrugged.

"Zuni's only a week older than me! That doesn't count!"

"Yes it does! He could be only a second older than you and he'd still be the oldest!" Yath stomped her foot, creating yet another crack in the abused pavement.

Bolin grinned lopsidedly. "Don't worry, Mako. Being robbers is more fun anyway."

Mako glared. As usual, it had no effect on his brother.

"Besides, big bro, you're the fastest. If you're a cop the game would be over in a couple minutes."

Mako opened his mouth to retort, but paused mid-breath. That gave him an idea. "Not if you have a head start...?"

Bolin raised one hand and tapped his chin, trying to look thoughtful. To his older brother, who was all too familiar with his terrible acting, it didn't look at all convincing. "Yeah...that would work." The boy grinned again. "I'll bet I can get halfway across the Field if you count to twenty!"

"You're on."

It was Yath's turn to protest. "He's still a firebender, and firebenders still can't be cops! It's not right!"

It's not right? What was that supposed to mean? Mako clenched his fists, but Bolin spoke up first. "So he won't firebend. He's pretending to be a cop. He can pretend to be a non-bender too. Or, 'unno, throw rocks or something."

"Pff, I won't need to throw things, little brother. I can catch you just fine without any bending."

Yath threw up her arms. "Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Awesome!"

Zuni just shrugged again.

[Edit: Due to The Revelations, I've had to change the ages of Mako and Borin in this chapter, and make a couple other minor edits. Sadly, now I think they might be a bit too young for these interactions to be believable. Oh well. I know eventually I won't be able to massage my story to match LoK and I will have to diverge from canon, but I want to keep it consistent for as long as I can! My original author's note is below, for posterity.

Sadly, other parts of episode 3 have thrown a monkey wrench in the next scene I had planned. I originally was going to guess that one of Mako and Bolin's parents had died or left early, but apparently (Spoiler!) it was a Batman-style loss. Hm, Mako as Batman. Yes!]

A/N: Yath is what her teachers would call "precocious." I think Bolin would also be rather fast on the uptake for social situations like this argument, since he's clearly the more social of the two brothers. But what do you guys think? Did I write their behavior age-appropriately? I'm not sure that at the rather tender age of 9 (almost 10) [now 8] that Mako would be quite mature enough to come up with the head start solution, but it's been a long time since I was 10[8].

Thanks for reading!