Bolin and Asami were in the crowd watching Korra and Mako dance. It was rather hypnotizing. They were both just so good at it, and Asami had had no idea. Korra was unbelievably graceful, not one foot out of time. Mako… Mako looked absolutely flawless and matched her step perfectly. There was a slight pang in her chest as she watched them. It had been so long since they had been together… but still. They had never danced like that.

Bolin noticed her silence. He turned his head towards her and away from the spectacle of the dance. "Hey," he muttered. She turned to him and gave a small smile. "You alright?"

She waved her hand dismissively. "I'm fine, Bolin, just thinking…"

Bolin looked mildly offended. "Thinking? At a party, you are committing blasphemy, my good woman." Asami let out a small laugh. Bolin could always make her laugh, even when she was being silly and sad like this.

He tugged on her arm and pulled her away from the fray. "Where are we going Bo?" she giggled. He just smiled and kept guiding her until they were far away from the Avatar's throng.

"Bo…" He put a finger to her lip and then grabbed her hands.

"My dear, may I have this dance?" she looked a bit taken aback. She didn't know he could dance. She nodded in comply and he pulled her towards him. She gasped aloud as he quickly dipped her and then brought her back up to his chest, closer than she had been before. Her eyes met his and he grinned.

He twirled her out, keeping time with the faint music they could just hear. When he pulled her back to him he bent down to whisper in her ear, "Mako's not the only one who can dance, you know." She blushed furiously as he whipped her around to face him and placed his hand on the small of her back. He gently took her hand as she placed her other one on his shoulder. They danced slowly together in time to the much slower pace of the music.

Mako and Korra were taken by surprise when the music changed. One second they had been moving as fast as they could to keep in time when the rushing music, the next they had stopped, bodies remarkably close to each other, standing still as the music changed tempo and a soft tune drifted over the hall. Everyone else seemed to notice that the spectacle was over and dispersed.

But Mako and Korra remained still. They hadn't moved since the music changed, even though a small part in the back of their minds knew that they should because people could start staring and it would become awkward… but they didn't move.

Someone (and Korra would forever blame Iroh for this, even if he feigned innocence till the end of his days) whistled in their general directions and both of their faces went entirely red. Mako looked up while Korra looked down and both tried to speak at the same time. "Uhm… Korra…" he muttered.

That was all the invitation she needed. She closed the small distance between them and lightly pressed her lips against his. They had done this before and there had been so many more reasons to not to then; it shouldn't have been as hard to do this time as the first time. Mako hesitated for a millisecond then pressed back. She wrapped his arms around his neck and he pulled her closer by the waist. They were like that for a moment, oblivious to the stares of people who had all of a sudden become much more interested in the Avatar again, then another whistle (she knew it was Iroh, and one day far, far into the future, she would get him to admit it) jolted them back.

They pulled apart quickly, both of their faces slowly growing more and more red by the second. Mako, partly to cover his embarrassment, grabbed her by the hand and pulled her away out of the middle of the dance floor to the outer edges, away from most of the prying eyes.

"Do you want… to get out of here…"

Korra's eyes widened. "Mako," she said her tone a bit disbelieving.

His eyes widened in embarrassment, "Oh, no! Not like that, like out… to the balcony."

She blushed again (one day, she swore silently, she would learn to control herself) but quickly recovered. "Yeah," she said brightly. "Let's go!" She pulled him by the arm out towards the balcony.