Bolin heard footsteps and crouched down inside the lifeboat. The tarp protecting the boat from rain and sea-spray should conceal him from the air, making it the perfect hiding place. But someone was tugging it aside, and he shifted, ready to run like an ostrich-horse as soon as it was uncovered.
"Bolin? What are you doing in there?"
Instead of the face he was expecting, he saw Asami, and tripped instead of springing gracefully into a run. She managed to steady him. "Sorry. Meelo and I were playing hide and- oh, nuts," he said as he heard the sound of much smaller footsteps.
"Unhand the maiden, scoundrel!" Meelo shouted and jumped at Bolin. Bolin managed to catch him - barely - without falling over or pulling Asami down.
"All right, you caught me!" Bolin said, while Asami tried to suppress a smile. "I surrender."
Meelo climbed onto Bolin's shoulders, and smiled at Asami. "And the day was saved!"
"What are you two doing?" Asami said.
"I told Pema I'd help out with the kids," Bolin said. "Which is mostly running around after them when Tenzin is resting from running around after them, and she's watching the baby." As he spoke, Meelo was clearly using his shoulders as a chance to check out the surrounding ocean. "I'm not very good at sitting still, and the crew won't let me shovel coal for the boilers or anything." And, well, everyone was so unhappy. Korra and the Chief were still coping with the loss of their bending, and Mako and Asami had their relationship drama. Spending time with Ikki and Meelo was about the only time Bolin saw actual smiling faces, even though he'd found out from Tenzin that Ikki was having nightmares, and Meelo had gone back to wetting the bed, and that Jinora had taken a sudden interest in staff practice that worried her father. But at least when he was playing games with the kids, it seemed like they felt better.
Bolin wished it was that simple with his brother, or Korra.
"Would you like to play with us?" Bolin asked. "There's plenty of games that take four or five people, if we can talk Jinora away from her books."
"Oh, yes, please!" Meelo added.
Asami appeared to be considering it. "Well, how can I say no to that?" she said.
"Ah, great. But we need to find Ikki first." Bolin said.
"Onward!" Meelo pointed. He grabbed at Bolin's hair. "Yip yip!"
Maybe Bolin couldn't magically make his friends feel better. But seeing Asami at least smiling again and talking to them instead of looking sad made him wonder if he could just try to make things better one person at a time.