It had taken about half an hour, but Bolin had finally gotten his hair the way they wanted to look. With that finally fixed, the two showers he had taken, and the three times he brushed his teeth that morning, he finally felt ready to go over to air temple island to see Korra.

Before he could leave to pick up her gift though, Mako came in the front door looking completely beat up, but for some reason he had a big smile on his face.

"You okay?", Bolin asked as he walked up to his brother. "What happened?"

"I uh, I got run over", Mako explained, still wearing a goofy grin that made no sense to Bolin.

"Aaaand...you're happy about it?"

"Well, kinda. I got asked out on a date."

"Alright. So I'm guessing there's some sort of cause and effect thing happening here?", Bolin said.

Mako told him what happened, but that only created additional confusion.

"So, let me get this straight. You're telling me that someone ran you over with a scooter, but it turned out to be some beautiful girl around our age that just so happened to be a fan of ours that wants to take you out to the fanciest restaurant in the city to make up for it?"

"Yep."

"Ok. And you're sure this whole thing wasn't some dream you had while you were actually knocked unconscious?"

"Wha-Yes!", Mako exclaimed, and Bolin did his best to hide any amusement that came from being able to push his buttons so easily.

"Just checking. So what are you gonna wear to a place like that? Because I'm pretty sure we don't have anything to meet the dress code of a place that expensive."

"She told me she'd take care of it", Mako said.

"Uh-huh. How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Knock it off", Mako muttered while swatting Bolin's hand away. Then he seemed to lose focus and sniffed a few times.

"Is that...is that my cologne?"

"Maybe", Bolin answered nonchalantly.

Mako put the rest together quickly. "Going to see Korra then?"

"Also maybe."

Then his brother got a smug smile. "Now who's the one dreaming?"

"Oh shut up", Bolin grumbled.

"Whatever. Just make sure to tell her that she still needs to show up for practice whether we're in the tournament or not."

"You got it, captain". Mako took notice of the sarcastic flourish, and gave Bolin a look that made him realize it was probably a good time to quit teasing his brother and head out to the bakery and the flower stand he had seen near the port.

(-)

When the crowd of reporters finally cleared and Tarrlok had slithered off somewhere else, Korra had hoped that any of the pressure and frustration she'd been feeling would go away. Instead it remained, just for different reasons.

She had wanted to take down Amon, but she wanted her own way. Korra didn't trust Tarrlok's intentions at all, regardless of Tenzin's advice, but with this big gala, all the talk of expecting great things, she couldn't help feeling like she caved when she decided to join Tarrlok's task force.

Korra was planning on sulking outside by herself until Tenzin decided it was time to go home, but a different friendly face gave her other options.

"Hey Bolin. What are you doing out here?"

"I got tired of being a third wheel. Plus, I wanted to congratulate you on your new job?"

"Thanks", she told him. At least he seemed to realize she wasn't actually happy about joining Tarrlok's task force, probably remembering their earlier conversation. "I doubt Mako will be happy about it though, with me missing practices already."

Eh, don't worry about it. He seems more occupied with Asami now anyway. Still can't believe that's a thing."

"What do you mean?", Korra inquired.

"Hm? Oh, nothing."

"No, what did you mean by that? Do you think she's pretty or something?"

"Oh, well I mean- You know, it's not what you think- er, you see, what actually happened was-"

Bolin was reduced to a blabbering fool, but when he saw Korra's scowl and raised eyebrow start to waver, he stopped talking immediately.

"Hang on, are you messing with me? Cause if you are, you gotta tell me."

That broke her resolve completely, as she collapsed in a fit of laughter, which caused Bolin to put on an exaggerated grumpy face, although it was hard to take it seriously when his cheeks were still pink.

"Sorry, it was too tempting."

He brightened up right after she said that, and Korra was glad there were no hard feelings over her teasing. However, she still had to mentally reprimand herself, since there were hard feelings towards his brother.

Well, maybe not hard feelings exactly. More like feelings in general. Or something like that. Ugh.

It didn't make any sense to her. When they first met, Korra probably wouldn't have wanted anything to do with Mako if he weren't Bolin's brother, but lately, she felt this...fluttering in her chest whenever she was around him. She became nervous for reasons she'd never had been before and the whole situation was difficult to put into words, and it didn't even take into how she felt about Bolin.

Korra had absolutely zero experience with romance, growing up in the south pole compound, but the flower and cupcake he'd given her a few days ago as thanks for the rescue pretty much cleared up any confusion she had over whether or not he had feelings for her.

It wasn't...unwelcome by any means. It was just another thing Korra wasn't sure how to handle. There were still some moments, sure. Occasions where she felt a flutter in her chest like when it happened with Mako. It just didn't happen as often. And things just felt simpler when she was with Bolin instead of his brother. What if becoming more than friends messed everything up between them? Then again, he was cute, funny, sweet, and he did look good in that new outfit he had on for this whole fancy thing.

Tired of mulling over her two friends, Korra decided to push those thoughts away for now, figuring she didn't really need to make any kind of decision right now anyway.

(-)

Bolin couldn't help staring at Korra, as they sat on some steps outside her big gala. Good thing she didn't seem to notice, since she was looking off into the distance, probably focusing on stopping Amon and the equalists.

Korra had to be under so much pressure, and Bolin was searching for a way to take her mind off it. Fortunately, he was able to come up with an idea.

"Do you wanna get something to eat? They have these buffet tables in there that are crazy fancy."

She looked at him with a smile, looking to be in good spirits. "Sounds great!"

Bolin couldn't really think of any good topics for conversation as they went back inside. But he didn't mind the quiet at all. It was nice to enjoy her company without having to force conversation, like about Mako's new girlfriend.

He had no anger towards her at all, in fact he was pretty glad she showed up. Since Asami had met and started dating Mako, his brother had been in a much better mood, their team was able to get sponsored by her dad, and she was even able to get him a couple of outfits for fancy gatherings like this, not to mention her being pretty understanding about that whole "I didn't think you were real" story that felt the need to tell for whatever reason.

Still, he could tell that Korra was jealous. And while he was glad he didn't have to worry about competing with Mako for her affection since he was with Asami, he didn't want Korra to think there was something wrong with herself, or that she had to change just to impress his brother. Because it was hard enough already for him to come up with words to describe how amazing she was.

He wouldn't get the opportunity now though, as he and Korra both stopped to stare at a rather suspicious looking bowl of punch.

"That's not...It can't be the same one, can it?", Bolin questioned.

"It can't be...they had to have replaced it."

"Or at least washed it."

"Ugh."

"I think I'd rather have leechee juice anyway."

"Good call.", Korra agreed as he passed her a plate to gather food on.

Bolin didn't mind the looks he was getting from people nearby while he piled food on his plate, he'd gotten used to that kind of judgment from Mako at home for his various cooking creations and portion control, but a quick glance at Korra showed she wasn't.

Being an earthbender, and a probender along with that required a...large appetite in order to stay in shape, so it felt like a given that the avatar would need a similar food intake as well. But it didn't seem to matter to the rich folks around them.

Good thing Bolin was able to think quickly for once as he was able to lean in and whisper in Korra's ear. "I saw an empty balcony on the second floor when we were outside. I can get us food and meet you up there if you want."

She mouthed a relieved "thank you" to him before making a quiet exit while he returned his focus to the buffet. Once he'd gotten enough to eat for the two of them (and a couple of other people, if he was being honest), Bolin exited the main hallway up a stairway he'd shown Korra, who let him out onto the balcony she was waiting on when he arrived.

After they sat down and the only sounds they made for a while were of chewing their food, Bolin decided to start conversating.

"So, whaddya think?", he asked, his speech a little hard to understand with his mouth full of fried cow-hippo.

"Pretty good", she answered, while stuffing her face as well. "But the water tribe food isn't authentic. You'd think that Tarrlok would've gotten the legit stuff."

"Well, maybe he had to skimp on stuff after getting you that Satomobile", Bolin joked.

That got a laugh out of Korra, which he enjoyed, but it still bugged him that it'd been a significant investment for him to buy a flower and cupcake as a thank you gift, but for Tarrlok offering a car, throwing a party in her honor, and all the expensive things he gave were no big deal at all for the councilman.

"Maybe he should've just offered to sponsor our team and we could've skipped this whole mess", Korra said.

"Is that allowed?"

"All the other stuff he did was apparently ok, so I don't think that'd be any different."

"I guess. I'm not a bribery expert or anything."

"Me either. But he probably wouldn't go for it, conflicting schedules and all."

She told the first sentence with a smile, but then Bolin saw it disappear at the idea of working with Tarrlok. "You doing ok, Korra?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You know, it's alright if you're not." It wasn't that he didn't believe her, but he saw the conversations she'd had about great expectations, plus the unnecessary comment Chief Beifong made about Korra not deserving praise, and he knew firsthand how terrifying Amon was, so he knew it couldn't be easy to be the person expected to stop them.

"I said I'm fine." Her answer seemed a little harsher than she intended, because she apologized right after.

"Sorry. It's just..."

"It's ok, I get it. Hey, do you wanna dance?"

"Dance?"

"Sure, why not?"

"I don't know how."

"Me neither."

Now Korra seemed amused. "Then why did you suggest it?"

"I dunno. Feels like what you're supposed to do at these things."

He could tell from the look in her eyes she was still unsure, so Bolin stood up and offered a hand to Korra. "Don't worry about it. Just do what feels natural and we won't laugh at each other if we look silly."

She snorted. 'Do what feels natural?'

"I said no laughing!", Bolin playfully teased, before becoming sincere. "Come on, forget about everything else. It's just you and me right now."

She shook her head with a smile, but Korra still took his hand to help stand up. And it might have been hard to tell with the full moon providing the only light outside, but Bolin couldn't help but think that she was blushing a bit.

So they danced, to the upbeat tune that could be heard through the crack in the door between the balcony and the stairwell. The song went on for a few minutes, and it would have been pretty easy for Bolin to slip into old memories of his childhood, when his parents had the house full of music. But Korra was moving so elegantly, it was hard to believe she didn't know how to dance. Maybe it was some sort of past lives kind of thing?

But eventually the song ended, and it was replaced with a slow tune, like something out of one those romantic comedy movers he'd heard about.

Wiping his hands on his new suit he got thanks to Asami, he spoke again with none of the confidence he'd had before.

"So um, I think this one of those songs where you're supposed to hold on to your dance partner? If you want to try it, I mean."

"Uh, ok, sure!" Korra walked towards him and was about to put her hands on his shoulders when the door near them swung completely open.

"There you are!"

They turned to look and Bolin recognized the tall bald man in airbending robes to be Tenzin from stories Korra had told him, and he recognized the sleeping bald child tucked under his arm as Meelo from his antics earlier that night.

"I've been looking everywhere for you. Come on, it's late, Pema and the children are waiting where we came in."

"Oh, sorry! See you at practice, Bolin."

"See you then, Korra", he responded while trying to hide his disappointment as she left. The older man gave him a glare of suspicion before he closed the door behind them, leaving Bolin alone outside.

After a few moments, Bolin let out a groan, banged his head against the nearby railing a few times, and went to grab a now cold cow hippo leg to finish while he looked for Mako.

(-)

"Ugh."

Now that he'd finished speaking with Tarrlok, Tenzin could finally start nursing the headache he'd been dealing with for the past hour. He was fully prepared to make himself some tea and perhaps start a meditation session when he entered the kitchen and saw that his wife had already beaten him to the former.

"What are you doing up?", he asked Pema, in a doting manner that he'd learned to use over the years since using a scolding manner previously had...not gone over well.

"You can thank this one for that", she answered, pointing to her very round stomach, and Tenzin couldn't help but crack a smile as he walked over to his wife. "I swear, he must be practicing airbending moves with how much he's kicking in there."

"He?", Tenzin noticed, raising an eyebrow.

Pema broke out in a grin as she started to whisper. "Katara thinks it's going to be a boy." Tenzin took his mother's prediction as a fact, considering she'd been right about the gender of all his other kids.

Pema's smile faded as she changed the subject. "How's Korra doing?"

Tenzin sighed, leaning against the wall as his wife poured him a cup of jasmine. "About as well as you'd expect, given what happened."

"So not great."

"No", he admitted. But at least she was finally asleep now. After he'd found Korra and she'd told him what happened, the teenager was a complete wreck, which was totally understandable based off what she said had happened. Tenzin decided to fly her directly back to the island on his glider, but it was only after they got inside and Korra was in her own bed that she told him everything.

She told him about the nightmares she'd been having, what Amon had told her when she'd been chi blocked and unable to move, and how weak she felt then and how pitiful she felt now. He did his best comfort her, but it didn't seem to help much. But least she was eventually able to fall asleep, and Tenzin hoped that somehow his father could help her in a way that he couldn't.

"Were you talking to someone else?", Pema wondered, breaking the short silence. "On the phone?"

"Yes, I was telling Tarrlok about what happened at the memorial island."

"Did it not go well?" She must have connected the conversation with the headache he'd been dealing with.

"It went fine, until I told him that Korra would be taking a leave of absence from his task force." Tenzin didn't get the opportunity to discuss this with her, but he felt it was for the best and hopefully she would agree with him.

"I'm guessing he had something to say about that."

"Not that he got the chance to", he told her, feeling satisfied for hanging up on the man before he could object to the decision. But that didn't last long as he heard a knock at the door.

He and Pema were both shocked at getting a visitor at this hour. "You don't that could be Tarrlok, right?"

"Not if he has any good sense." Tenzin walked to the door, fully prepared to give his colleague a verbal assault. But when he opened it, he was unprepared for who was actually standing outside.

It was the boy who was with Korra at the gala Tarrlok had thrown a few days ago, although he looked much different now than he did before.

The clothes he was wearing now were completely soaked from the cold rain that was pouring down. He was visibly shaking, but Tenzin couldn't tell if it was from the temperature or fear. He seemed almost as distraught as the girl he had just spent so much time trying to console.

"Is...Is Korra okay? I heard she challenged Amon to a duel and I..I"

He seemed to be struggling to talk, his breathing was shallow and visibly quick in more ways than one. Tenzin wasn't sure how to handle this, should he just tell him that Korra was fine and close the door? It probably wouldn't go over well with Pema, who had walked up next to the boy.

"Oh my, you must be freezing!", she exclaimed, trying to usher him inside. Tenzin didn't expect her to do that, so the look of surprise he had must have caused some reluctance on the boy's part.

"I'm okay", he told them, clearly showing otherwise, but Pema wouldn't have any of that.

"Nonsense, you'll catch your death if you stay out there. Tenzin, can you get some tea?"

He figured it was best to comply with his wife's request, while she dealt with the other nerve-wracked teenager in the house tonight.

"Sorry...for coming over here like this," the boy told them, still talking slowly and breathing rapidly. "I just heard on the radio that Korra challenged Amon...and I guess I just kinda panicked. They didn't say what happened, who won, if she was even alive, I-"

Pema, who was standing next to the chair the boy was sitting in, put her hands on his shoulders in an effort to try and calm him down. "Sweetheart, breathe. Korra's safe, nobody hurt her, she's just resting right now."

It seemed to work, as he took a massive sigh of relief, although the boy still seemed tense. Tenzin was happy that he no longer appeared close to a panic attack or a nervous breakdown, but the whole situation still felt uncomfortable for him and Pema to handle.

"Erm, Bolin, right?", Tenzin awkwardly began. "Where is your brother?" He remembered Korra telling him about the unfortunate circumstances her friends grew up with, but in particular that the older of the two had taken on more of a parental role to his younger sibling.

He took a sip of tea before answering. "Mako wasn't home, he was staying over at his girlfriend's house- er, estate, whatever. I wrote him a note before I left in case he came back home, but I don't think he knows about what happened with Amon."

Tenzin mulled over what he'd heard, but then a thought popped into his head. "Wait a minute, how did you get past the white lotus guards?"

"I uh, kinda earthbended my way past them. They'll probably catch up soon."

There was a knock at the door before Tenzin could inquire further. And when he went to open it, there was a guard standing outside just as Bolin had predicted.

"Sir, there's been an intru-"

The man stopped mid sentence when he was able to look inside to see the trespasser sitting at Tenzin's kitchen, with an embarrassed smile and a tiny wave of his hand.

"Return to your post. We'll talk about this later", Tenzin told the embarrassed guard, planning to address the security failure at a better time.

"Sorry", Bolin told the couple as Tenzin returned to Pema's side.

"It's alright. This isn't the first time they've been outsmarted by a teenager."

That got a small chuckle out of the boy, who took another sip of tea before his face got serious again. "What happened exactly? With Korra and Amon?"

Tenzin didn't want to go into full detail, but it seemed like Bolin deserved to know the truth. "She was ambushed by chi blockers at the memorial island. Amon didn't harm her, but he told her that he would save her for last."

He'd expected the news to startle the boy, but instead he got upset in a different way from what Tenzin had assumed.

"I knew it!", he quietly exclaimed. "I knew he'd try to cheat and do something like-".

Bolin seemed to try and collect himself, taking a deep breath and unclenching his fists, before looking back at Pema. "Is Korra awake? Is there any way I can see her?"

She looked at Tenzin's face that conveyed a clear message: absolutely not. He knew the boy meant well, but it was difficult to imagine how it would be good for Korra to wake her up right now to talk to Bolin in his current state.

Fortunately his wife seemed to agree. "I think it's best to let Korra rest right now. But we'll tell her you stopped by, alright?"

Bolin nodded his head for a moment, before shaking it and standing up. "You're right, I'm sorry. For asking, a-and wasting your time like this." He walked towards the door as if to leave, but he suddenly stopped and looked back.

"It's just...I don't know how much Korra told you, but she had a friend that got captured by Amon...that was me. And he was right in front me and was gonna take my bending away if Korra hadn't shown up. I know it's not the same, but if she needs anyone to talk to..."

Now the state of the boy made more sense, knowing that he'd had his own traumatic encounter with Amon.

"Of course", Tenzin told him. "We'll let her know."

Bolin went to open the front door, but before he did the one behind Pema and Tenzin slid open instead.

"Bolin?"

She must have heard them talking. Everyone in the kitchen was now focused on Korra, standing in the doorway with a stunned expression. She had a blanket draped around her shoulders, with her hair out of her usual wolf tails, instead a tangled mess. Her eyes were noticeably red, and full of surprise that her friend was here so late.

Nobody spoke, but Bolin was the first to act. He walked right past Pema and Tenzin, then wrapped his arms around Korra, holding her tight as if she would disappear if he let go.

Tenzin was ready to pry him off in case the unexpected affection upset her, but that didn't happen. She seemed confused at first, but she closed her eyes and rested her head on the boy's shoulder.

Korra broke the silence after a few moments. "Bo, what are you doing here?"

"The police blocked off everything near the memorial island. The ferries only started running a few minutes ago, otherwise I would've gotten to you sooner."

"But why?"

"I heard about the challenge, and I wanted to find you to talk you out of it, or offer backup, or...something."

"I don't think I would've listened", Korra admitted. "I wasn't exactly thinking straight."

Bolin gave a tiny breath that seemed to indicate amusement. "Yeah. I didn't wanna pile on, but it didn't seem like a very good idea." That got him a playful whack on the arm that he pretended was actually painful.

"Korra?"

"Yeah Bo?"

"Promise me you won't do something like this again. Don't try to solve everything by yourself, ok? Let us help you."

She paused for a moment before answering. "Ok, I promise."

Then Tenzin decided to interrupt. "As touching as this has been Korra, you should still be resting.

Bolin seemed to get what else he might have been hinting at. "Yeah, I better head home too. Mako's gonna have my hide if he gets there and I'm not."

"Where is he?", Korra asked, now noticing the absence of her other friend.

"He had to cover someone's night shift at the power plant, so I don't think he knew about the Amon duel, but I know he'd be here too if he did."

That didn't make any sense to Tenzin though. If he was actually with his girlfriend, then why didn't Bolin tell Korra that- oh.

"Either way, I'm glad you showed up. Thanks Bolin."

"Of course." The rain had luckily stopped, so he decided it was a good time to leave, but not without thanking Pema and Tenzin for their hospitality. Then Korra returned to her bedroom, and once that happened the airbending master finally felt exhaustion begin to overtake him as he slumped into a nearby chair.

"As if we didn't have enough to deal with", he grumbled.

Pema tried to be more positive. "Oh, don't be such a grouch, he seems nice."

But Tenzin wasn't willing to budge right now. "Sure, they all seem nice, at first."

His wife apparently found his mood amusing though, since she was trying not to laugh. "Why am I getting the feeling that this isn't actually about Korra and that boy?"

"I- I don't know what you mean."

"Yes you do", she teased. "Perhaps it's about our own kids growing up and the trouble they'll get into?"

She knew him too well. "Do we have to talk about this now? Jinora only just turned ten."

"Well, what do you wanna do when they are older? Chain them to the bed and post guards outside their rooms?"

"Maybe." Pema looked ready looked ready to tell him he was being ridiculous, but hearing a creak above him got Tenzin to look up and see his children sitting on the beams holding up the ceiling, clearly listening in on the conversation.

The eldest was the first to speak. "Uh, hi Dad."

He wasn't amused. "On the ground, now."

Once they complied, Pema started the interrogation. "Care to tell us why you're not in bed at this hour?"

"We heard daddy talking to the ponytail man", Ikki answered.

"You too, Meelo?", Tenzin asked his youngest, skeptical that he'd woken him up when usually a stampede outside his bedroom wouldn't even cause him to stir.

"I dunno, I just followed them", his son groggily told him as he pointed to his sisters.

"That still doesn't explain why you were spying", Pema reminded them.

"We were gonna go back to bed, but then the earthbending boy showed up and we wanted to see the romance!"

"There's no romance", Tenzin told Ikki almost reflexively, trying to stop them from getting any ideas, but it didn't work.

"I told you", Jinora taunted her younger sister. "Bolin and Korra are just friends. Mako's the one she likes."

"But Mako already has a girlfriend", Ikki argued. "And Bolin danced with her at that fancy party, and he gave her that gift before too."

"He gave her what now?", Tenzin interrupted, with none of the enthusiasm his daughter had.

His daughter didn't seem to notice though. "Yeah, he got her a rose, and a little cupcake, it was so cute daddy!"

"Just because Bolin likes Korra doesn't mean Korra likes him back", Jinora pointed out.

"You're just jealous he's not giving you gifts."

"Shut up!", Jinora snapped at her little sister, while Tenzin was horrified to see that she was blushing while doing so.

Oh spirits no. Good thing Pema was there to prevent a fight. "That's enough, both of you!"

But then the moment he was dreading happened. "Daddy, when can I have a boyfriend?"

He wanted to tell Ikki 'Never', and to go to bed now, but he didn't have the energy to deal with the reaction to that, so he settled for "We'll talk about it when you get your tattoos."

But it still wasn't good enough. "That's not fair!", Ikki whined. "That'll take forever!"

"Yeah, especially the way they airbend", Meelo added, earning glares from both his sisters, before turning to their mom in the hopes of getting support.

"Don't look at me, young ladies. You aren't exactly showing you're mature enough with all this sneaking around."

"But we shouldn't have to wait that long", Jinora argued. "Grandpa Aang and Gran Gran were only-"

"Don't...", Tenzin interrupted, half seething and half pleading, "bring my mother into this".

"You know what? We're not having this discussion right now. Go to bed, or we'll tell Korra you were listening earlier."

Pema's threat seemed to work, as the kids sped off to their beds. Tenzin decided to do the same, but at a much slower pace so his wife would listen to him gripe.

"You see? Now we're dealing with all these...oogies!"

He'd expected a friendly ear. That wasn't what he got.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Because it's adorable that you call it that", she told her befuddled husband, who just kissed her forehead as she climbed into bed before getting in next to her.

Notes: So, this chapter was longer than i planned it to be, but I think it worked out. I wrote the gala scenes with the idea of showing how Korra felt about both Mako and Bolin at the time before the whole love triangle thing. The scene afterward was adding a little Pemzin, while giving an idea of how some people might have reacted, and the airkids thing afterwards just popped into my head, and I like the idea of Jinora having a little crush on Bolin, not a serious one, but let me know what you think of her having that and I can change it.

Well that's book one finished, apart from a few tiny things I'll change or add on. Don't worry, I'll make sure to bridge book one and two next as my priority, there's a lot to work with and add on in the second season.