Mako and Bolin arrived on the island in the late afternoon, and Pema spotted them walking up.
"Hello, boys!" Pema greeted them she opened the door. She knew the two had been parentless for a long time, and made an effort to make them feel welcome. The same went for Asami.
"Good afternoon, Pema!" Bolin said, smiling. "Any idea where Korra is?"
"Down by the beach," she told the two. "Where's Asami?"
"She had a meeting with investors and couldn't make it," Mako informed her.
Pema shook her head. "That girl needs a break! She's too young to have that much responsibility."
The boys waved goodbye and made their way down to the beach. "Do you see her?" Mako asked his brother.
"Nah, I don't- there she is!" Bolin said, pointing down to the shore. "Who's she with?"
"Dunno. Must be an acolyte. Unless Asami somehow made it here before us."
"She's too short to be Asami," Bolin noted.
Soon Korra and Ling spotted the two. "Hey, Mako!" Korra shouted to her boyfriend. "Hey, guys, there's someone I want you to meet."
Ling blushed when she saw that two boys that could only be a few years older than her were approaching.
"Hey guys!" Korra ran up to them, and then pulled the taller one in for a kiss. So she must be dating him, Ling thought. At least the other, younger boy wasn't with her.
Don't get your hopes up, said a voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like her grandmother's. Who would ever want to be with such a troublesome girl like you?
"Guys, this is Ling. Ling, meet Mako and Bolin. They're brothers, and Mako's my boyfriend, as you probably guessed."
"Hi," Mako said, raising his hand up in greeting. Ling noted he seemed a little distant, but chalked it up to him being less outgoing than his brother, who then approached her and shook her hand.
"Hey, Ling!" Bolin said enthusiastically. "Name's Bolin. Earthbender on the Pro-bending team the Fire Ferrets, with Mako and Korra, of course- we made it to the championships last year, in case you didn't know."
Ling had only heard the phrase "Pro-bending" a few times in her lifetime, mostly from out-of-towners who talked about which team was going to be playing that night. She made a mental note to ask Korra the specifics later.
"So what team do you support?" Bolin asked her. While Ling assumed that this was a standard conversation starter for those familiar with the game, she had no idea how to respond.
"Um, I… I don't know," was what she finally choked out. "I'm not familiar with the game."
"What?" Bolin said. "Where are you from, Ling? Some village in the middle of nowhere?"
"That's sort of right, actually," Ling said. "This is my first time out of my village in my whole life."
"What?" Bolin exclaimed. "You're not joking, are you?"
Ling shook her head, a feeling a shyness creeping through her. She had rarely talked with a boy she wasn't related to, and even then her relatives were either significantly older or younger than her. Bolin was a cute, energetic, smiling guy who seemed genuinely interested in talking with her. That was new.
"Wow," he exhaled. "I've hardly left this city. I can't imagine being in a small place for so long."
"Well, Ling's here to stay," Korra informed the two. "She's Tenzin's niece."
"I didn't know Tenzin even had a niece," Mako said.
"Well, neither did anyone until now."
Both boys looked at her quizzically. Ling sighed. She was growing sick of retelling the story.
"But that still doesn't explain the airbending clothes," Mako pointed out.
"C'mon, Ling, show them what you can do!" Korra encouraged her. Nervously, Ling tried her best to repeat the motions she had learned this morning.
A small burst of wind blew through where the four were standing.
"Whoa," both brothers said at the same time.
"So you're this secret airbender who nobody knew about who has never left her village before now?" Bolin asked in one breath.
Ling laughed a little. "That's the best summary of the past few days, yeah."
"I can see the headlines now: 'Unknown Village Girl Shocks World by Airbending!' That sounds like something straight out of a tabloid!"
Ling's face paled. "Oh no," she said quietly. "I hadn't even thought of that. The newspapers, I mean."
"Hey, don't be so serious," Korra said. "Mako and Bolin remember my experiences with Republic City's press."
Mako smiled. "Yeah, despite Korra kinda saving the city and everything, they still have a thing against her."
She shrugged. "Hey, I can't let it get to me. You can't make everyone like you."
The four hung out for a few more hours, the older three swapping stories about each other to see who would be the most embarrassed in front of Ling. She laughed with them at the story of Bolin catching Korra and Mako kissing- just after he and Korra went out on a date!
"Yeah, it bothered me in the moment, but now I'm totally cool with these two," Bolin explained. "They- plus Asami- are my best friends in the entire world. Well, them and Pabu," he said as his fire ferret pounced onto his shoulder.
Eventually, the boys had to leave. After they waved goodbye, Korra nudged Ling in the ribs. "So," the Water Tribe girl began. "You like Bolin, huh?"
"What? Me?" Ling asked. "No way! I mean, he's nice, and sweet, and yeah, he's cute-"
"So you like him." Korra concluded.
Ling blushed. "If you want to put it that way, then yeah, I guess."
"You know, I could set you two up on a date," Korra offered. "It could be fun."
The other girl shook her head. "No, no way. There's no way he likes me back. Besides, this is the first time we've ever met."
Korra shrugged. "Have it your way. But I've seen Bolin act like he did today before- when we first met. And as you know from the story, he had a pretty big crush on me. So don't keeping putting yourself down. Talk to him- I'll be surprised if Bolin doesn't say something about this whole crush thing soon."
Update: So I wrote this before Books 3 and 4 aired, before Korrasami became canon. Maybe one day I'll rework this with Korrasami, but who knows? Anyway, thank you for reading so far!