Makorra Week: Day Two

Prompt: Noir

Summery: "You know, the main character's a lot like you. Serious, brooding, no fun..."

Genre: Friendship/Romance

Rated: K

Noir

A Tribute to Makorra Week

Mako couldn't believe it. Never in a million years would he actually think this possible. It nearly defied the order of nature.

He had decided to come to her room and ask if she wanted to practice their fighting with him, Bolin and Asami. He knocked on her door, and when there was no answer, he had opened it anyways, and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when he saw her.

Korra was reading a book.

Mako blinked several times, as if to check if this was real. Sure enough, as he blinked, nothing changed. She was lying on the bed, eyes darting back and forth as she took in the words.

"I . . . uh . . ." He coughed into his elbow, clearing his voice. He stole a glance at her, now diverting her attention from the book to the Firebender. She was smiling rather smugly and one eyebrow was lifted almost casually. His face became hot- he knew it, she knew it, and Korra knew that he knew it.

Agni, he hated acting like that.

Quickly she shook his head, clearing the mess with it. "I never took you for the reading type," he finally said.

Korra closed the book with a resounding thud! and sat up. "I read from time to time." She looked at the book's bleak cover and an adventurous sparkle gleamed in her eyes. "Really good so far. It's noir."

Noir . . . he remembered the definition after a moment's thought. He had seen a noir-themed play once.

"You know," she continued after deciding that he wasn't going to say anything, "the main character's a lot like you. Serious, brooding, no fun . . ."

Mako's eyes flashed. "I can be fun when I want to, and you know that." His voice was icier than usual.

"Prove it. Let's go somewhere, tonight, just the two of us."

The Firebender immediately lost all iciness. Instead his face paled. "But what would Asami-"

He didn't have to finish the sentence. Korra realized her mistake very quickly. "Oh no, not a date . . . just . . . a little friendly outing!"

By the way her voice got more and more awkward as she said it, she had clearly intended it as a date.

Mako decided he'd deal with that at another time. He gave a sigh of resignation. "All right. Let's do it."

The Avatar sprung into the air, fist rocketing. "YES!"

"As a friendly outing, remember?"

"Right . . . a friendly outing."

Mako's head veered from side to side sadly. Great. Now he had to think of something fun to do with Korra by the evening. "This isn't until later though, so let's focus on practice right now."

Practice. The word sent relief trickling down his back. He could use the chance to clear his head a bit.

"Sounds good!" Korra ran to the door, only stopping to tease Mako, "By the way, the 'let's focus on practice right now' bit really didn't help your case."

She vanished down the hall before he could say anything, ponytail trailing behind her like a streamer.

Mako stood there in furious silence, the only sign of the emotion being his eye twitching. At last he collected himself the best he could and walked out of the room, closing the door a bit forcefully behind him.

"I swear, that girl's insane," he muttered.

And that's why you love her, said an unwanted inner voice.