I realize this is the first time I'm greeting ya'll. I'm also not sure if this is proper but meh, whatever. Hi. Thank you for reading my story which I have been writing in tears as I watch Bolin suffer more and more throughout the series. And sorry for the late update, I'm on vacation in a little town that lacks internet so….sobs.
"PAAAABUUUUUUUU!"
The fire ferret looked up from his bowl of fruit, startled, and squeaked when he saw Bolin running to him with his arms outstretched and really upset.
"Pabu what did I do?" Bolin asked loudly, picking him up and shaking him slightly. Pabu chattered in protest.
"Sorry buddy." Bolin let Pabu clamber onto his shoulders.
"Bolin? Why aren't you outside with the others? Have you seen Korra anywhere?" Tenzin walked into the kitchen and spotted the boy and his friend.
"Ah! Tenzin! No, no I haven't seen Korra. My guess is she's in her room." He lied in a panic,
"Well she's not." Tenzin crossed his arms, finding the young earthbender's behavior to be very shifty. "Are you quite sure you haven't seen her?"
"I might have seen her near the library earlier." Bolin said, shuffling his feet guiltily.
"Hmmm...I'll look there then. Curious, the monks say she never goes anywhere near there."
"That's what I said!" Bolin exclaimed. He caught himself and put his hand over his mouth. "Too loud. Sorry!"
Tenzin gave him a stern look and turned around to leave the room. Once his generous host was gone, Bolin let out a huge sigh and reached up to scratch Pabu's head.
"Well it's not like I regret it. Nope. Not at all, nope." he frowned defiantly, as if someone were about to challenge his mindset. "I just hope she doesn't." he whispered in afterthought and let his shoulders slump forward.
"You know, you look like a hunchback when you do that." Asami giggled from the doorway Tenzin had just used to exit. Bolin jumped and turned around fast.
"Mako said you were cooped up in the library again. Pleasure seeing you here! So what do you hope Korra won't regret? Some new development between you two, hmm?" she walked in, tapping her nails on the tables as she passed by and smiling at him deviously.
Girls. Why did they have to be so smart? "What are you talking about...? Hahaha...ha." he half-heartedly tried to fool her anyway. Asami raised an eyebrow at him, an amused smile on her face.
"Judging by the blush, your still-heavy breathing and your decision to seek out Pabu instead of your brother... I'd loosely say something just went down between you two." she stated, shrugging nonchalantly.
"I was..." Bolin stopped to think. He couldn't properly explain why he was feeling so wretched without exposing that Mako and Korra had kissed. "I sorta kinda...might have kissed Korra and she might have run away so I maybe don't know what to make of this and I'm confused, Asami. Heeeeelp!" he settled for the simplified truth.
Asami sat down, rested her head on her hand and considered him for a bit. "Was she blushing?" She asked him. When Bolin answered her question with a confused face she decided to clarify "When she ran away, was she blushing? Happy blushing? Or after you two parted, was she shocked, and not violent afterwards?"
"Well she sorta pulled me on top of her right after she gasped..." Bolin started.
"Whoa, go Bolin!" Asami flashed a devilish smile.
"No! It was totally an accident! Then I got off of her and stood and she just stared at me blankly for a bit until I casually told her 'Glad to be of service'. Man, I'm an idiot! Who says that!" he berated himself as he hid his face in his hands. Asami's smile hadn't vanished. He peeked at her from between his fingers and frowned even more. "This isn't funny Asami." he said with a pout.
"You're right, I'm sorry." she composed her face and wiped the smile.
"What's not funny?" Ikki sped into the kitchen on an air scooter. Pabu perked up when he saw her and ran to hide in a cupboard.
"Oh hey Ikki! It's nothing, really." Bolin said to her when she stopped in front of him. Asami nodded in agreement. Ikki looked at them both with squinting eyes.
"I want leechi juice. Hey Bolin! See? I remembered your name! Boooolin. Guess what I found out! It's a secret! Can you keep it? It's about your brother, that one that likes her!" she pointed at Asami. "I found out from Jinora because she says she heard Korra talking to herself one day and she said that Korra and Mako ki-" she stopped talking when Bolin covered her mouth with his hand. She glared at him and licked his hand to try to get it off but it didn't work. Bolin was too busy looking at Asami, terrified that she had figured it out. And judging by her blank look of disbelief, she had.
"Asami I know what you're thinking but-"
"Hey! Asami! Are you still here?" they heard Mako's voice from down the hall. Bolin gave a small squeal of fear at the impending showdown. He let go of Ikki's face (who stuck out her tongue and raced away) and put his hands together to beg Asami "Please don't kill him! He didn't...she didn't..."
"Now I see why you're so upset that you kissed Korra. Did she ask you to?" Was all Asami said. Her face betrayed her calm voice, she looked heartbroken. Bolin opened his mouth to speak but Mako walked into the room right then. He whimpered instead.
"Oh, Bo you're here too! Great! Korra came to find us, saying that the equalists just took out a ton of the police force. The Chief is rallying to go hunt them out in one of their bases. She says they were taken somewhere underground! I think we all know where that is! She wants us all to go help out!"
"Who does? Korra or the chief?" Asami asked, keeping her voice steady.
"Korra. The chief wants us nowhere near them, but we can get there first if we hurry." Mako said, motioning for them to follow him, and didn't look back to notice Asami had her feet firmly planted.
"Mako, sweetie.." her voice was sad, "What can you do? You can't firebend."
Mako froze and looked around, hurt at her implication. "I can still fight."
"So what about me? Are you saying you'll let me fight with you? You know how good I am." Asami asked, voice still sad, and Mako was beginning to notice.
"I'd prefer if you didn't... You could get hurt. But if you really want to, you don't need anyone's permission. Asami, what's wrong?" He turned around to look at her.
"Nothing." she brightened her voice, "I was just afraid you weren't going to want me by your side." Mako smiled at her reassuringly and resumed walking.
Bolin looked up and saw that her cheery voice was betrayed by her eyes.
"Bolin, please don't lie to me. Were you there?" she whispered.
Bolin nodded. "It was right before... Well I thought we were going on a date." Pabu came out and perched himself around his neck comfortingly.
"Who kissed whom?" She asked. Bolin stayed quiet.
"Why're you doing this to yourself?" he finally spoke up as they started following Mako, who was too far to be in earshot.
"I'm sorry. I know it hurts you too but...I need to know if I should start forgiving him."
"Korra kissed him." he whispered.
"I'm sorry. Thank you." she said. In afterthought she added, "Did he kiss her back?"
"Enthusiastically." he muttered with a hint of bitterness.
"Oh." Asami whispered and took a deep breath. Then she rushed off to catch up with Mako.
Bolin walked after her leisurely. It wasn't really his fault that she had found out, but he still felt he had betrayed Mako somehow. Now he had to give his brother the heads up that Asami knew. He should also probably tell Korra. He looked up from his musings just in time to see Asami freeze on the steps leading to the road. Mako and Korra were speaking, heads close together as they pored over a map on Naga's resting back.
This was his chance. He ran ahead, taking Asami's immobility to his advantage and reached the pair before Asami made it down another step.
"Bo! What took you so long? Is Asami with you?" Mako said. Korra just looked at him, not trusting herself to speak.
"Okay guys, shut up and listen to me. Don't freak out but Asami knows what happened that one night you were unfaithful, Mako."
Bolin stared at them both, waiting to clamp his hands over their mouths lest they start yelling, but they just stared at him, mouths agape and shocked.
"Guys?" he asked, waving his hand in front of their faces.
"So, how're we going to catch the bad guys?" Asami asked from behind Bolin. He flinched and looked around at her. The other two seemed to be too busy gathering their wits to answer her.
"Well we've got Naga and your bike for transport. We can do partners if necessary." Bolin offered.
"Alright, but who goes with who?" they heard a voice ask from their right. Jinora left her book on the bench she was sitting on and walked up to them. "I mean, one non-bender and a bender would make a good team, right? So, Bolin with Asami, and Korra with Mako?"
All of them replied with a resounding "No!" but Asami's voice was the loudest.
"Thanks for the input Jinora, we'll definitely consider that." Korra told her kindly. Jinora smiled graciously and left.
"How about Mako stays with me?" Asami suggested sweetly, almost threateningly. "Or, I can go with Korra and the boys can stick together."
"No, I think you and Mako would be fine together as long as you're careful." Korra raised her hands in self-defense. She seemed to forget she would be stuck with Bolin.
"So... Mako and Asami take the bike...Korra and I will take Naga. You guys can use the manhole entrance in the slumps and... We'll make a tunnel or something?" Bolin said. Korra's eyes widened when she remembered and he noticed.
"Hey, why do we have to be in teams in the first place?" Bolin laughed nervously, going back on what he had said before once he thought it over. They all responded by giving him uncomfortable looks, but they decided they would have to deal with it.
"Naga doesn't like carrying more than three people unless absolutely necessary and two fit on Asami's bike so…" Korra replied, already climbing onto Naga's back. Asami mounted her bike and Mako followed suit.
"This can be taken as a necessity…" Bolin said quietly as he climbed on behind her and felt her tense up. He pouted and decided to think about something else than what had transpired in the small scroll room to avoid further awkwardness. He watched as Mako and Asami sped away on the motor bike, and noticed that Mako's hands were holding tightly onto Asami's waist.
"I don't have to hold your waist I'll just hold on to the saddle it's okay, don't freak out!" Bolin said loudly, throwing his hands into the air as he realized that once Naga got in motion, his usual method of keeping balance was out of the question.
Instead of freezing up even more like he thought she would, Korra chuckled.
"You can hold onto my waist if you want. It's no big deal. Mako does it." Korra said in an off-handed way, trying to ease the tension. She urged Naga to stand and soon they were racing after the now distant bike.
But her remark only made Bolin freeze as he was reminded that she had wanted a comparison and he had yet to know the outcome. The whole situation was completely unfair. Or was he just once again not good enough? Too stupid to realize that he'd done something wrong?….Had he done something wrong?
While lost in thought, he hadn't noticed that they were already aboard the ferry and making their way to Republic City.
