"Seems like your game is a little off today, Mako," Korra shouts above the roaring noise of the gym. She ducks and twists her body to the right just as Mako's stream of fire singes the air above her head, laughing cheekily and spinning out of the way as he sends another flare after her.
Bolin lets two discs loose, hurtling in her direction, and her smirk widens. She drops to the ground again, just for a split second, before flattening herself and keeping her palms pressed against the hard ground.
Bolin and Mako see their opportunity arise, and close in on her, throwing discs and licks of fire. Before the attacks can reach her, Korra launches herself into empty space with a surprisingly strong jet of water, hollering as she tries to stabilize herself mid-air.
As she's about to touch down, Korra raises her fists, pulling her supply of water downwards, creating a sizeable wave that knocks Bolin and Mako backwards. Bolin twists and catches himself, jumping to his feet with the help of a short pillar of earth, but Mako isn't as quick and lands against the training mats with a thump.
Korra drops to the ground as well, having misjudged the wave and been sent backwards as well. Bolin is laughing but breathing heavily, hands on his knees and bent over. Mako grumbles from the pile of mats, shakes his head, and lifts his helmet off.
"Korra, wow! If you bend like that in the next match, the path to the championship is ours!" Bolin cheers, running up to his dark-haired friend and waving his arms around. Korra laughs, punches him on the shoulder fondly, and removes her helmet.
"Thanks, Bo. You've improved a ton as well with your bending. You wouldn't mind a pointer, right?"
Bolin shakes his head eagerly. "No way would I mind!"
Korra laughs, and mimics the stance he threw himself into when bending the column of stone from the ground. "If you twist your foot just so when you kick off, you'll have enough momentum t-"
"Oh, are we giving out constructive criticism?" Mako calls, walking over and giving Korra a look. His eyebrows are scrunched in annoyance, and she feels her own temper flare. The firebender had been distressed and on edge ever since her confession, even after they had made up.
"Well, Korra, your form was decent at best but you really need to work on that sloppy dodg-"
"Sloppy dodging? Maybe you need to control the intensity of your bending. We don't want to get disqualified for unnecessary viole-"
Bolin throws his thumb over his shoulder nonchalantly, eyeing his friend and brother with worried interest as he trots out of the gym. "Let's go get lunch later or something!" he says, a final attempt at a distraction, and then bolts out of the gym. He obviously has no intention of getting dragged in the middle of yet another fight.
Instead of giving up their fight, Mako and Korra both raise their hands in goodbyes, perfectly in sync, and then return to their loud arguing.
Each shout sends their faces closer; each gesture of their arms dissipates the proximity of their bodies. Electricity crackles between them, signaling a fight.
"Seriously, Mako, what the hell is your problem lately?"
"My problem? My problem?" he shouts, throwing up his hands in a sign of impatience. Korra looks up to watch angry flames shoot from his palms.
"Uh, Mako –"
"My problem is you, Avatar Korra," he snaps. "My problem is you during training, your attitude, your stupid bull-headed personality, everything."
Korra's face goes red in anger, and she crosses her arms stubbornly. "My problem with you is your dumb mood swings. What's going on?"
Her mouth drops open when Mako simply begins walking away from her. With a self-satisfied, childish stomp to the ground, he trips over the layers of rock that spring up against his toes, and yelps as he falls over. When he rights himself and glances up, Korra is standing over him with a triumphant smirk written across her features.
"Well, now that you won't run away…" she says, but trails off when he gets up in complete silence, and begins stalking towards her. "Er, uh, Mako, I'm sorry about that really, but can you not-"
"Korra, you are the most frustratingly obnoxious girl I have ever met," he hisses, accentuating each phrase with a step forward.
Suddenly the space between them is gone, just gone, and it's only his body pressed up against hers. Korra realizes she is blushing furiously, her cheeks are on fire, burning with color all the way to her ears. A strange, impatient and agitated growl startles her, and it takes her almost a full minute of glancing around nervously to realize it's come from Mako.
"Uh, okay, so obviously this was a bad time to mess with you, but I'm sure we can just work something outmpfh."
Mako's lips are pressed against hers even while she finishes her sentence, and Korra's face remains blank and confused while he tries to force a reaction from her. He pulls away for breath but moves his hands up to her face, circling his long fingers against the sides of her neck and fitting his palms over her jaw bone, lifting her face up.
Korra can't believe he's actually taller than her. She frowns.
"This is the second time, Mako. Didn't we agree that the first was not a good idea?" she whines, but is ignored. Instead, Mako responds by lowering his mouth over hers again, nipping at her lips and coaxing her lips open. She's still a little confused, but most of the uncomfortable regret ebbs away as soon as his hands drop to her waist, and clutch at her hips even through her protective training gear.
It's a long, satisfying moment before they break apart again, breathing equally agitated and hurried, chests rising with fluttering gasps. Korra has a feeling that this will be happening a lot more often, so she takes her time getting her pace down to normal. She traces the lines of Mako's face with her pupils; his lips, his eyes, the silly quirk at the tips of his eyebrows that she's considered shaving off when he slept…everything.
Mako starts to speak when Korra jumps him, strong arms wrapping around his neck, fingers twisting into his hair, and legs tangling with his as she forces him to stumble backwards towards the pile of mats he'd fallen into earlier. She's ferocious in her new endeavor, and he figures that any remorse for the situation is gone between the two of them, the way she's attacking his neck and jaw with her mouth. He's pretty sure where this is going, where this is going to end, and he doesn't care.
He probably should, but he doesn't.