Written in response to this headcanon sent to me on tumblr: "New headcanon: Korra gives Mako a new scarf once she finds out she's pregnant with their first kid"
Rating: K
After a long day of work, Mako comes home to find her nervously waiting on their sofa with a poorly wrapped present in her lap.
"Hey, how was your day?"
"Fine. Good. Exciting, I mean. It was really good, just. Uh. Come here?" This sort of awkward bumbling is rare from her (since he's the awkward one in their relationship, not her). Her smile flickers between nervous and glowing, and Mako's immediately curious about what's going on with her.
Before he's even fully seated on the couch, she's thrusting the package into his hands.
"What's this?"
"It's, uh, something I happened to find during my day. Just open in it. So you know how I was planning to see a healer today about the fact I'd been feeling really sick the past few weeks and exhausted and everything?"
"Yeah, what did she say? Is everything alright?" He pulls at the string holding the soft package together, the crinkled paper unfolding on its own without the tightly wound string holding it together.
"More than alright, I'm completely fine." He feels her eyes following his every movement as he pulls away the rest of the paper.
"Good, I'm glad. I was getting really worried about you." He pulls the royal blue scarf into his hand, a smile on his face. He hasn't worn one in years, not since he'd given his father's red one to his grandmother. "What's the occasion?"
She bites her lip in an effort to contain the smile on her face.
"Do you remember how you told me your mom gave your dad a Fire Nation scarf after she found out she was pregnant with you? So he could pass it on to their son or daughter? Well, I thought I'd give you one from the Southern Water Tribe…" she pulls his hands into hers, the scarf folding and creasing under their shared grasp, and he wonders if he looks as awestruck as he currently feels, wonders if she can feel the way his pulse has just speed up, waiting for the words he's hoping to hear next, "So you can pass it on to our son or daughter when the time comes."
"Korra, are you saying you're—"
"I'm pregnant, Mako." She smiles one of the brightest smiles he's ever seen, brighter than when her bending came back to her, than their first kiss, their reunion after years apart, their wedding day, or their wedding night. He pulls her into a kiss, feeling her smile against his own, wrapping his arms around her, clutching her to him. Her arms wrap around his own back with a matching strength, the blue scarf made warm as it's pressed between them.
"I love you, I love you so much, Korra. Korra, we're having a baby! Our own family…" His words trail out, choked off by raw emotion when he fully realizes this means he'sgoing to be a father. Unable to say more, he peppers kisses across her cheeks, her nose, her forehead, her mouth, as the sound of her quiet, sweet, excited giggling fills the little space left between them. He's excited, he's happy, and he's definitely a bit terrified, but as she wraps his new scarf around neck, he knows everything's going to be fine.