A/N: Thanks very much to Lightbrightfury, Sharpe, BrightWatcher, Tertius711, and IrishDreamer4 for reviewing chapter 10!

11. I'm on my way home sweet home

Asami fetches him from the train station.

"Mako, it's so good to see you." She hugs him warmly, green eyes sparkling, then draws back to examine him. "How are you?"

"I'm…" He checks himself before he says fine. "Doing better." And he smiles to show her he means it.

Asami's answering grin is bright and lovely. "I'm so glad to hear it. Let's grab lunch — my treat — and you can tell me all about your stay in Zaofu. How does Kwong's sound?"

"Actually," he says, as he dumps his bag in the backseat of Asami's Satomobile, "could we go to Narook's? I miss seaweed noodles."

Over the familiar aroma of Southern Water Tribe cuisine, he tells Asami about his two months in Zaofu, his budding friendship with Huan, his new glassmaking hobby, and how much more peaceful he feels.

"I'm really happy to hear you're feeling better, Mako," she says sincerely as she stirs the remainder of her noodle soup. "You had us all worried — and not just because you almost died. You'd been…off, for a while." She lowers her eyes slightly, as if she suspects she'd played a part in that.

He hastens to assure her. "It wasn't because of you and Korra." At her raised eyebrow, he amends, "All right, that was part of it — but that's on me, Asami. You and Korra aren't doing anything wrong. Whatever I feel about it is my issue."

"Hm." Asami studies him for a bit — with a hint of trepidation, as if she's trying to work up the nerve to ask something she's not sure she wants to hear the answer to. Being the strong, independent, straightforward woman she is, she takes the plunge. "Mako, I'm going to ask you something, and…I want you to be honest with me."

He sets his napkin down and clasps his hands in his lap as he meets her piercing gaze. He knows what's coming.

"Do you still have feelings for Korra?"

"Yes."

Asami lets out all the breath she'd been holding in one go. Her eyes drop to the table. "I see."

"Asami." His tone pleads with her to look at him, which she does — hesitantly, tremulously, trying to remain friendly despite the doubt and uncertainty about the emotions involved and the jealousy that can't be denied.

He knows how that feels.

"I'm not going to do anything," he promises. He is done breaking these girls' hearts, and he's come far from the days when he unintentionally strung them along because he didn't know his own mind. In contrast, now, he is sure about his feelings, and has deliberately chosen not to act on them.

Asami's face is wary. "Does Korra know?"

Good question.

"No. Maybe. I don't know?"

"Are you going to tell her?"

He hesitates. "I don't know. Bolin says I should, for the sake of honesty — and a big part of why this is so messy and tangled now is because I wasn't honest with you and Korra about my feelings all those years ago — but I don't want to cause any issues between you two."

Asami scoffs lightly. "If you're really not going to do anything, there shouldn't be any issues." She bites her lip. "Unless Korra still has feelings for you too."

His heart beats faster to hear (from Korra's current partner, no less) that the possibility exists — but he refuses to dwell on it.

"If she does," he says, with careful emphasis, "it's her decision. If and when I tell her — and I still don't know that I will — I swear, I'm not going to ask her to do anything. I can tell she's happy with you, and…I would never get in the way of that."

Asami frowns thoughtfully.

"Asami." He gently touches her hand. "Please, don't let my feelings interfere with your relationship with Korra. The only thing that should matter is how the two of you feel. I'm not expecting anything to change. I'll deal with it — I am dealing with it." He breathes in, then out. "I actually think the reason I haven't told Korra is because I want to make sure that — when I do — I want to be sure it's purely for the sake of the truth, and not because I'm hoping for anything to happen."

"Mako." Asami smiles at him — it's small, but it is sweet and kind and genuine. "I trust you. If Korra and I are meant for each other — even if she does still have feelings for you — honesty will only help that. You're my friend, you're Korra's friend — and I trust you."

He hadn't realised the weight he'd been carrying about this issue until Asami's words release him from it. His lips pull up in a wide, grateful smile to answer hers.

How did he get such incredible friends?

"What about the other things?"

"What other things?" he asks in confusion.

"You said mine and Korra's relationship was only part of why you felt so hopeless," Asami reminds him. "What else was there?"

He has to pause to think — not because he doesn't know — but because it had all jumbled together. Each factor on its own probably wouldn't have been so bad, but the pressure of everything together wore him down, and he's still working his way through them all.

"There was my injury." He shifts his left arm. "The pain and weakness…and not being able to bend." What else? "Just…a dissatisfaction with how empty my life was." He realises he'd been so prepared to die in the Colossus that he was completely unprepared for life when he survived. "Feeling useless because everyone else seemed to be something more worthwhile." And he still feels like he's contributing the least to the world out of all of them. Then, more quietly: "Feeling alone."

Asami had been sipping water, but her gaze snaps sharply towards him at that. "Why did you feel alone?"

He sighs and waves his hand vaguely. "Look, I'm not close to a lot of people. It's mainly Bolin, you, and Korra." Well, Huan probably counts now. Maybe Lin too. He brushes those thoughts aside for later. "Before the whole Kuvira mess, Bolin and Korra were away, and you and I were busy with work, so I didn't see any of you for a long time. We all came together again to deal with Kuvira, but after Varrick's wedding…"

"We all went our separate ways again." Asami nods in understanding.

"Not that I blame you guys," he adds quickly. "We're adults, we have our own lives —"

"Mako, I get it," she assures him. "And regardless how busy we are, we should make time for each other." She looks a little guilty. "I'm the one in the city; I could've done better."

"Well…" He rubs his neck. "So could I."

Asami chuckles. "How about we agree that we both need to do more, and we can take steps to rectify that?"

"Deal."

"And the first step is: we should make this a regular thing."

"Make what a regular thing?"

She taps the table. "Lunch. Once a week."

He likes that idea.

"Sure," he agrees. "There's a cafe I know that's about halfway between the station and your office. We could meet there every…Friday?"

"Sounds like a plan."

He's been back in Republic City all of one hour, and he hasn't even gone back to his apartment yet — but it already feels like he's home.

A/N: I have never been in a love triangle situation, but to write this chapter, I tried to imagine how I would react if I were, and I modelled Asami's responses based on that. I think the three of them - Mako, Korra, Asami - have grown a lot by this point and have reached the stage where they can be mature about this. It helps that they're really all friends who care about each other. Asami is obviously not enthused by the idea that Korra might still love Mako romantically, nor that Mako still loves Korra - but I don't think she'd be mad about it. Being an adult dating another adult with prior romantic history means accepting that there might be some lingering feelings between previous partners.

Today's lyric is from 'Home Sweet Home' by Carrie Underwood (original song by Mötley Crüe).

Next update will be this weekend - and it's one of my favourites. Get excited, because it's a very meaningful moment.