Mako grabbed a seat at the table and opened the newspaper. She seriously was considering telling her boyfriend who she so terribly loved, the one she pined for since day one that she kissed, almost slept with and might have feelings – though this may be debatable for his baby brother. "What do we need to talk about, Korra?" Mako perked his eyebrow up. There was a shot of tension in her voice as she opened her mouth. Korra secretly hoped that the way she was acting wouldn't alert him about her wandering heart. Thankfully he didn't seem to notice.

Was it the right time?

Of course not!

The way she ran the words, sentences in her mind together just didn't sound right. So she stuck with the words she could depend on.

"Mako, I love you."

Korra walked behind him and hugged him. "I missed you, and I just wanted you to know that." It was a terrible omission. A dirty secret, a lie. Knowing that today would not be the day for truths and admissions Korra wanted to wash her hands of her indiscretions.

They continued on with breakfast. He told her about his night out on street patrol. Smiling and nodding, to her it sounded like the chattering from a lemur so in turn she replied only with mm-hmms, ohs, and cued laughter. Her feelings slowly drifted in and out of her heart's harbor. Gazing past Mako, Korra was contemplating about what she wanted to say in case they had to have the conversation.

"I saw Bo on the couch this morning when I came in." Mako started. "He told me that you both went out to the new noodle place." He pulled the paper down and looked at Korra suspiciously. "I also heard you had a good time…A real good time." She paused and nodded hesitantly. "Yeah?" She shrugged. The gnawing guilt that was little blurb in her subconscious was now becoming a manifesto of her fears. She tried play down her paranoia by stuffing her face as he continued his mini interrogation. "Korra why did you and Bolin think it was a good idea to drink 3 pitchers of beer and walk half way across Republic City at 1 in the morning?" Korra passed a silent sigh of relief as she swallowed the mouthful.

Bolin didn't tell. I mean of course he wouldn't...he's in this mess right along with me.

"You could have been hurt. What if some rogue equalists tried to hurt you two. I don't even want to think about that." Mako was angry and understandably so, and while she knew where he was coming from, on the inside she wanted to jump for joy. "It wasn't 3 it was 2 pitchers but who's counting. " she corrected him smugly. "We had a good time but I'm sorry if we scared you." Korra stated. She was regretful about the drinking but for everything else that had happened - not really. It was funny so to say, that a person can say sorry for one thing but not be in the least bit apologetic about the other things. She liked kissing Bolin but she loved Mako, in love with, and "all in" as they say and that is where it got funky.

"How do you want me to make it up to you?" Korra smirked walking over to Mako and kissed the side of his jaw.

"Well Ms. Avatar, I have the day off. So, if you want to spend the day making up for all our Friday's…" he leaped up and picked her up kissing her passionately. "Let's call it a lazy Saturday?" he was gentle with his touches and easy in forgiving her for the other night, she loved that about him. "Okay Mr. Cool Guy." Korra giggled in between his kisses.

ℑℑℑℑ

Lying in the aftermath of their all-day session, Korra watched Mako as he slept. She felt at ease with him, his eyes closed, his hair wild, and his body glistening as the sun peeked into the room. It reminded her that from now on she just needed to avoid Bolin, and if it she couldn't do that she would try to be strictly platonic whether he liked it or not.

I will not let him ruin this.

She laid her fingers on Mako's back, burrowing her cheek into him, she breathe him in like the air after a rainy day. They were one and that was that. "Lazy Saturdays are the best." Mako smiled at her hazily as he turned on to his side to spoon with her. "The best." she replied. " Korra, I've been thinking..." he kissed her shoulder. "Mm-hmm?" Korra mumbled.

"I think Bolin should move in."

Korra's heart dropped, this was the last thing she wanted to hear. Her nerves started to fizzle at the thought of tension and awkwardness cutting through the two bed room apartment. "Why?" was all she could manage to mutter. Noticing the shifted in her mood, Mako grew annoyed. "Why not? He's my little brother and I miss him." He pointed to the wall adjacent to their bed. "There is enough space in here, Korra." she had gotten out of bed and put on an old shirt. "I don't know. I thought we got this place so we could be alone." she frowned. "It's just him and pabu and I'm sure you both could use the company since I'm working a lot." he was right but he was wrong too, letting Bolin live there would cause a myriad of problems, she felt it. Opening Pandora's Box was sounding a lot better than letting Bo move in according to Korra. He rose for the bed and walk over to her to console her. "We still get to do our thing it just won't be all day or whenever Bo's here." He assured her. Mako didn't quite understand her concern but shrugged it off as nothing. "Wait." she paused pushing him away with one hand. "You already told him he could move in?!" Mako's smile weakened. "I-I-I...yeah. About that, he's moving in after the next probending match." Korra did everything to contain her rage. "I cannot believe you." was all he could hear as she walked into the bathroom and locked the door.

ℑℑℑℑ

After giving Mako the silent treatment for a week Korra just gave up on being mad. She knew that she would have to deal with the situation and gave him the o.k. It was a minor defeat but she didn't want to come in between the brothers any more than she had.

Cementing herself to Mako's commitment to his brother, she made the decision to talk to Bolin before he moved in, to lay down the rules. Promises that she knew that she or he would probably try to keep but it was unknown how long that would last. Korra made her way down to the probending arena, the last time she had been there it was the day that she rather forget let alone be reminded of. A shiver hit her spine as she reached the training gym. She saw Bolin practicing with his team. The team looked as if they were in desperate need of more work and the only person to stand out was Bolin. His forms and defensive moves were just as good if anything better than some of the best. She smiled proudly at him. Opening door the team turned to see who had intruded on their practice, knowing who it was Bolin grinned widely.

"Hey Korra." he was acting like his everyday self. "Hey Bo, I'm sorry to interrupt but we need to talk." Korra wasn't smiling, her actions were rather serious for the type of person she was. Bolin already knew the reason why she was there, he had hoped to feign ignorance until moving day, but there she was flustered and ready to lash out.

"Sure...hold on." his smile dropped and he directed his teammates to take five. He waited until they were completely alone. "Korra, I'm kinda surprised to see you here. I take it that Mako told you?" Bolin said matter-of-factually. He didn't want to move in with Mako and Korra but he figured if it gave him the opportunity to try save some money since his team wasn't doing very well and living in the arena was getting expensive, he'd go for it. "I like to let you know...that I'm not moving in to make you miserable for whatever happened. I'm moving in because it's cheaper for me." As sincere as he sound a tiny bit of his heart was lying. Of course, he needed an affordable place to stay and secretly wanted to get closer to Korra but he wanted to remain friends hoping that any subtle feelings would become once again a noninterference. "Good." Korra was slightly disappointed but she was mostly glad that he was moving in because of needs and not wants.

"I don't want bad blood between us." She replied sullenly crossing her arms and leaning against the wall

"Is that why you came?" he slowly closed the wide space between them. "Yes and no. I came to talk rules over with you." she kicked the heel of her boot into the floor. "Okay. What are they?" his eyes narrowed as he inquired. He tried to sound concerned, friendly but his body language said another, it was cold, tired, longing. Bolin was trying to deny the feelings that he so freely admitted that drunken night. Standing next to Korra, he listened long and hard at what she said next. "Rules: No walking around in your underwear, I don't want to see it. No late night company, that means no fangirls. When we are alone and you want to talk about "you & me" stay away - there is no us. and finally No Alcohol." she was firm in her demands, he had no choice but to respect it or else they'd be more than likely back at square one. "Agreed." Bolin nodded and placed his hand on her shoulder. There was a jolt to his touch, she pressed her hand on top of his and half-smiled.

The negative energy that had been swimming freely around them for the last week had finally dissipated into positive energy. Drawn to each other like magnets they grew closer and closer by each step they made. "Hey you got something on your cheek." Korra raised her hand to gently sweep the smudge of dirt off his face as it flushed red. "Thank you." Bolin beamed at her gesture.

"If I didn't know better you were blushing." Korra smiled and moved her hand back down to her side.

"This." pointing to his cheeks, "No I-I-I just been practicing hard is all." shrugging her off with a nervous smirk.

His eyes met hers, Korra's deep sea searching for Bolin's rich earth to nourish. Sober now they had better control of their impulses but the unwavering attraction was enough to send them on the cusp of something tragic. Korra wanted to kiss him again. She craved Bolin's plump lips, to taste his tongue, to hold his body close to hers and clearly he wanted the same as his mouth crept close to hers, but the circumstances were just mitigating and the timing was just wrong.

The sound of the gym door slamming open caused the two to back away from each other quickly. Everyone knew who Korra was dating even if they were new to the team they knew and honestly it would be another headache to try to explain. Korra cleared her throat as the other benders returned. "I think that's my cue to leave." It was a dangerous game that they were trying to play. There was too much at risk, too much at stake. She turned and headed for the door. "I'll just see you at the apartment, I guess." Bolin watched the way her body shifted as she left.

She is just amazing.

"Korra I just don't know how we are going to survive this." he said to himself shaking his head.

He put his helmet back on and returned to his training.