Series of one shots surrounding Mako and Bolin's life in the Probending attic. Follows 'Dented Tresures' but can be read alone.
Mako and Bolin were damn good benders. It wasn't apparent at first and honestly, Toza wasn't expecting much but they surprised him with their self taught skills. Well, mostly self taught. Toza was able to pick up that Mako had someone showing him the ropes in the Triple Treats. Nothing formal and a bit underhanded, that'd certainly be considered dirty fighting to most. But he wasn't stupid enough to thing there was such a thing as a fair fight on the streets. Bolin was all together something special in terms of bending.
Kid didn't know a lick of traditional earth stances and most of his moves started with "I came up with this while watching Mako". Because of that Bolin was very light-footed, never standing firm. His movements included many somersaults and many times where his body left the ground. By any teacher's point of view, Bolin was a bit of a disgrace to earthbending. And it's what made his bending so fantastic.
Bolin's style made him hard to hit, made him unpredictable. He had a tendency to be a bit of a showboat and telegraph some of those unique movies but even so he was quick too. In the arena you couldn't root yourself so firmly the way earthbenders were so accustomed too. You had to be able to move and quickly. But even having been a pro for so long, Toza couldn't help but be a little impressed with Bolin. He couldn't help but feel he'd do just fine in the pro-bending arena.
"Good, good, that move is perfect if yer aimin' to take a man's head off." An old friend by the name of Moha droned. "If you put as much effort into listening to me as you are in killin' dummies you might have an ounce of potential." Toza recruited him to give Mako some tips, teach him the rules a bit. A decision he was coming to regret. Mako ignored the older man, spinning into a jump and fire following his kick. With impressive force, fire hit and took a good chunk of the dummies head. With a sniff Mako looked back at Moha, his face mixed between challenging, defiant and completely apathetic.
Clearly Mako didn't take getting told what to do so well. To be fair it was hard to alter your fighting style at the drop of a hat and Toza should have considered Moha's lack of patience in this. But Mako didn't have to take each criticism as a challenge. Toza knew he could take orders well enough but in terms of teaching him bending Mako was a bit stubborn. He knew what worked for him and stuck with it. Unfortunately most of these moves of his were illegal shots in the game. Mako picked up on the rules but he kept slipping up in their little practice here.
At first things were going perfectly well and the two firebenders were behaving civilly. But Mako got caught up in the training and made a handful of mistakes, each shot towards the dummy too long and high to be within the rules. Moha simply pointed out what Mako did wrong and that's where things began to sour. Also is when Toza learned that Mako didn't like to make mistakes let alone have them pointed them out to him, apparently. Mako started to get frustrated with himself which caused him to make more mistakes which made him more frustrated with Moha and Moha losing patients with him. It's been a long hour.
"Mako had a bad night." Bolin said quietly beside him, Toza looked down and saw the uncertain look on his face. The younger boy began to fidget, hands grabbing at his side and twisting in the fabric. "He's a real good bender, 'n he's real good at followin' orders. Really. He's just tired." Bolin defended his brother and Toza realized, looking to Mako again, that the perpetual dark circles under his eyes did seem somewhat darker today.
Toza sighed, scratching the back of his head. Watching Moha and Mako silently glare at each other. "You two need to get out." Bolin's face quickly morphed from nervousness to panic, Toza raised a reassuring hand. "You boys have been held up in here for three weeks, go out, make some trouble in the city for a while." Bolin relaxed and his face shifted into something akin to surprise.
"You mean we can leave? Just, whenever we want?" Toza was silent for a long moment just staring at Bolin before his palm met his face.
"'Course you can leave, you're rentin' the place not a prisoner" he groaned, running his hand down his face.
"Well I don't know! I've never rented a place b'for!"
"So what, you two just accepted never leavin'? No wonder you two are wound tight today if neither of ya have been outside the damn place in nearly three weeks!" Instead of answering Bolin looked off to the side. Snorting, Toza shook his head at Bolin's sudden obviousness. So they have been out but they've been doing it sneakily. Looking over he noticed that Mako and Moha were now looking their way, drawn in by their exasperating little conversation. With another sigh he came to a decision.
"Alright, get up outta my gym, the three of ya." Mako wasted no time to begin walking towards the exit. "Once you're clean I expect you three to meet me out front." Mako stopped and looked his way, brow raised. Bolin and Moha looked equally confused. "Lunch, my treat." As expected Bolin looked excited, Mako looked suspicious, and Moha just grunted how he was owed that for his troubles anyways.
Toza just walked away grumbling about stupidly skilled kids and their strange notions about renting and being trapped. With a sigh he made his way to the locker room to remove the padding of his training gear. All gear being pleasantly cleaned more frequently since Bolin and Mako were taken on board. Within his locker he took out his light wallet and sighed. Well, at least he knows he won't have to worry Mako and Bolin complaining about the cheap street food they were about to consume.
It wasn't going to be anything fancy but the boys deserved it. They have worked hard to prove themselves these past three weeks. And even though there was some mild trouble and rough friction, they had trained hard today. They earned this. It certainly wasn't because Toza suddenly felt concern for Mako and his apparent sleep problems. Certainly not because of Bolin's clean unease and nervousness about his current stability. No it was because Mako and Bolin had earned it and he was a good boss. That was all there was to it.