Title: Seven - Reunion
Rating: K
Notes: Mako and Asami reflect on Korra's return in the most BroMasami way possible…which involves confessions, fluffy towels, and lemon shochu.
Something silly and cute for wanbender! I love your list. :D And also because I [also] thought the restaurant scene was a bit…idk…and I wanted MOREEEEE makorra. Oh well. Woohoo, material!
—
Mako steps out of his borrowed suite, his hair still damp from the shower. He's wearing the spare clothes of someone from his family—he's not sure who—but they're comfortable and they fit. It's actually nice to be rid of the stiff collar of his uniform, for once.
He's about to head downstairs when he sees Asami staring out the window. She's standing in the hallway, wrapped in a long, plush robe as she works her ebony locks with a fluffy towel. When she hears his footsteps, she beckons him closer.
Mako sighs as he walks over; it's been…a long day, to say the least. He feels weary; all of him, both body and soul, but it's his soul that's bearing the majority of the burden. When he reaches her side and looks down to see what—who—Asami is watching, his breath gets caught in his throat and his heart throbs uncomfortably within his chest.
It's Korra, of course. She's wearing her own clothes because the benefit of being a water-bender as well as an air-bender is to be perennially clean and dry, whenever she wishes. She's standing outside, on a balcony a floor down, hopefully staring into the horizon, basking in the last rays of sunlight for the day.
"So? Does it feel weird that she's back?" asks Asami, rubbing the towel through the ends of her hair.
Mako sighs again, his shoulders slumping, "…Yeah, it does. I mean, I'm glad but it feels…kind of awkward," he confesses, "I thought I played it cool at first, but at the restaurant…I don't know."
Asami hums in understanding. "It's okay, I didn't do any better. It's kind of understandable after this sort of thing…Three years is a long time."
"…Why didn't you tell me that she wrote you? Why didn't she write me? I wrote her all those letters and…" He says, letting his words trail off. He turns his head in her direction, but he doesn't look her in the eyes. He can't.
"…It was…hard, for her, to write to me, even," Asami answers quietly. "She was going through something rough and sometimes, it's just easier to talk to another girl."
Mako shrugs and says nothing, but he understands. There are things that he'd rather discuss with Bolin than Asami, any day. He returns his gaze to the window and stares at the girl downstairs. She looks the same, for the most part, and this is confusing yet comforting, all at the same time. She's only 50 feet away, why does it feel like the distance between then is measured in miles?
"And, I don't think she wanted you to see her, to hear from her, like that. She felt broken, Mako. And I'm getting the feeling that she still feels like that."
After a few moments of silence, Mako places a hand on her shoulder before he turns, walking away. "I'm going to go check on Wu, let me know when—"
Asami cuts him off, "Wait—aren't you going to go talk to her? She's downstairs, alone—this is perfect timing!"
Mako swivels on his heel until he faces her again. His face is scrunched up and he feels pressure in the bridge of his nose; he feels like he's been making this exasperated expression a lot, these days. "Really? What am I going to say—'It's been three years and I'm still in love with you and while you were gone, I missed you so much that it hurt and I'm also kind of pissed that you wrote your best friend instead of me but now I kind of get it and great! It's good to see you welcome back!?'" His words blur together in a rush, dripping with sarcasm and helplessness, all at the same time. Asami stares at him for a bit, and slowly, the corners of her lips start to curve upwards.
"Yes. Exactly. And to be fair—you're her ex-boyfriend. Even if you two still have feelings for each other, I think it technically bumps you after me, best friend," she says matter-of-fact, walking over and turning him around. He protests about technicalities but she gives him a little shove towards the staircase. "Just don't kiss her, I think that'd be too much."
"What? Why would I kiss her? She just got back—-"
She rolls her eyes. "You don't remember? That one time we went out and you drank too much lemon shochu? I guess you wouldn't—"
"—What? What are you talking about? I don't—" He's indignant but he's bluffing; he's pretty sure that he knows the incident that she's referring to.
"Okay, let me quote you," Asami puffs her chest out and squares her shoulders. Her eyebrows furrow together as she speaks gruffly, "When Korra gets back, I'm going to grab her like this—" Her hands turn into claws and she hugs herself firmly,"—And I'm never gonna let her go cause I'm an idiot! I'm an idiot."
Mako grimaces as Asami bursts into laughter; he trots down the stairs but pauses on the landing as she comes to lean over the rail. "…That…didn't happen," he says, unconvincingly.
"Oh yes, yes it did," she smirks. "But that's not even the best part!" She resumes her Mako persona once more, "And I'm—I'm gonna kiss her so well, she'll see stars and she'll never leave again!" This last bit is too much for Asami, her sides ache so much, she can barely breathe. "You know, on second thought—maybe you should kiss her," she muses, "I mean, stars are cool and all—-wouldn't that hurt? But then she'd be stuck with us for a while. Then we could catch up…get some coffee, or something."
Mako rolls his eyes and groans as he retreats down the staircase further, to avoid the blush that's madly coloring his face. "Let's… never speak of this, again."
"Sure, Mako, sure," she calls after him, "Tell Korra I said hi!"
—
A/N: My favorite part of this fic was writing that super long run-on sentence. I can imagine him just blurting it out and Asami just…blinking. Hahaha, *sigh* dorks.
And yes, I really did skip 4, 5, and 6. Idk, I liked them but I wasn't inspired…Was that how you guys felt as well? I wrote other things instead. ;]