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( they are a meticulous duo. korra wasn't always that way - she used to like throwing herself wholeheartedly and entirely into a fight, exhausting all of her resources and being annoyed when it was over too quickly. it's why pro bending was so much fun for her, honestly. she couldn't just win right away, couldn't be the antithesis to whatever element her opponent was spouting. she was just the water one, needing to figure out how to make that work for her - it did wonders for her bending, siphoning off the other elements like lanced wounds, focusing on the one. having clear boundaries, pouring her all into one thing and reaping the grown fruits of that particular labor.

not all the fruits. they lost in the end, but. that ended up being a good thing, kind of.

she's a different fighter now. before it was all power all the time, like she had something to prove to whoever she was fighting against - hurling rocks and fire in every direction, talented yes, but undisciplined. an avatar without a cause, fighting for the sake of fighting. she's taught herself discipline in the last few years, lived with her own body weighing her down, fighting against her. her moves are all well timed and small shows for benefit more than showing off, mako and korra both moving in time together, like they both have the choreography of this fight memorized. mako moves here, korra moves there. they never touch each other's fire, because they're too in sync to be caught off guard - their flames just lick each other at the wisps of fiery tips, tasting, flirting. )

You look like a cop, if that's what he means.

( it feels good to stretch her muscles. mako, despite his reservations and pissy attitude when they first met, has this - almost childish excitement about him, that comes out in small ways, playfully, when the world is looking in another direction. but. korra's pretty much always looking at him, watching him enjoy himself, laughing, smiling through bending, getting to exert himself through something that actually challenges him. fire's history has always been twinged with the pain and suffering of older, ambitious men trying to upset balance, but. korra has hundreds of lifetimes when fire was fun and pure, and the nations living in harmony saw friendships form throughout the four kingdoms. avatar wan was a firebender by nature, and she's always thought of the element as - uncompromisingly fun, danger and excitement laced in every move. that was how wan embodied it. and honestly? that's how mako embodies it, too. korra can read him like a book, and where someone else would see the cool lines of hard determination, korra just sees. fun. and loves him all the more for it.

there's a basin of water, somewhere nearby. she knows that's how she'll win, at least on the first round. they flip and step and move with each other, drawing closer. at the right moment, the way her hands move changes suddenly, and - there's a burst of water kicking at mako's feet, knocking him off kilter. korra goes the rest of the way to knock him down, sitting on his stomach, one knee bent up, hand on his chest. )

Two out of three?

( she laughs. her chest is rising and falling with exertion, but - she's happy. she can see it on him, too. )

[resistivity]

( wow, what a dirty trick. korra should be ashamed of herself. mako is laughing as she pins him, at the gust of air she used to soften his fall, at how light he feels. losing his firebending, the heat and warmth of the sun. it's. exactly what it was like to have korra gone for those three years. an anchor around his feet, but he just learned to carry it. the weight constantly threatening to drag him under some impossible ocean.

but when she came back to republic city, it was like a lost sense was returned to him. color came back into the world, or the sun into the sky, or. the wind in the air. he lived without her, but he didn't realize how much he hated it until she was back.

and now she's pressed in close against him, and he can feel the warmth of her hand over his heart, and everything in his mind has gone silent except for one simple, singular thing.

mako levers his good hand down against the earth. the left reaches up to touch her cheek, and then he's leaning up to her to kiss her. it's all the things it never was before — soft and chaste and sweet and so gentle it's barely a fully realized touch, but he's smiling when he pulls away. )

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( it's so natural, she doesn't even think about it. she leans into him, lets him kiss her, but it's too short for her to really kiss back. there's no question about if it's okay or not - he's smiling, she's smiling, and her eyes had gone hooded somewhere in between him touching her cheek, so she opens them now and.

and.

for some reason, she's expecting asami to be looking back at her.

it's an awful crash of feelings. her face drops from happiness down to near horror as she realizes what she's done. she works in an effort to actively not hurt mako, but in doing so she's. forced herself to do exactly that. what did she expect would happen? she wants to kiss him a million more times, but. she can't hurt asami, either. she loves them both so much she thinks her heart might burst at the notion of. choosing one over the other, letting whoever gets left behind feel the burn of dejected isolation.

korra knows it too well. she doesn't want to hurt anyone. her hands both clap over her kissed mouth, eyes a little wide but - she can't let mako think he did anything wrong either. she just blurts out, )

I have to tell you something!

( ugh. she groans and hangs her head, hands flattening out on her face. she isn't moving off him, though. not until she gets this out. )

It's — Asami.

[resistivity]

( his expression sort of undergoes a series of shifts, from happy and contented to confused to. set, as if he's expecting some horrible recrimination. he knows korra well enough to read the language of her body, and he. just. sort of.

extricates himself out from beneath her so he can sit a short distance away. his brows are drawn down in serious consideration. )

What? Is she here? Is she okay?

( if so, it's an odd time to bring that up, but. you know. korra doesn't have the world's best timing. )

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No.

( she lets him go. she wishes asami were here, so she could know what to do about all this. but. it's just korra, and it's just mako, and now they're a foot apart even though they were just having such a good time - korra shouldn't have pinned him. she shouldn't have done a million things, not the first of which is keeping everything from him.

it's uncomfortable. not only because it's mako, and then it's korra and asami, but. sexuality. she's never had to voice it out loud before, explain it to anyone, figure out. how they're going to respond. what mako's going to do. is he going to hate her? won't he have every right?

abruptly, )

We like each other, I think. ( her gaze is locked on a very interesting pebble, knees pulling up to her chest so she can wrap around them. ) I like her. I think she likes me. We aren't dating, but I think ... maybe we will. Maybe. I don't know.

( if she and asami had a Confession, it'd be different. and - if they had the Mako Talk. but. they haven't. they've barely held hands. )

I'm sorry. I should've told you sooner, but I was ... ( i didn't want to hurt you. she shakes her head. ) I'm sorry.

[resistivity]

( whatever he was expecting, it wasn't. that. she's lucky she's not looking at him, because his expression goes from concerned to angry in the span of a heartbeat. but it doesn't last. it's just there, and then it burns itself out, and he's left with something guarded and neutral, because korra could've easily stopped him from kissing her, and she didn't.

it's just. one more element in the cycle of how they are with each other. everything's good, and then it hurts. something aches in his chest and all the happy lightness he'd felt just moments earlier have curled into ash like burnt paper.

korra and asami. dating? he's not sure what to make of that. but it. explains a few things. like why korra wrote to her and not him. that takes an old wound and twists the knife in the slick messy ichor of it, and mako drops his attention to the ground where it's charred with the dance of firesign. )

I see.

( a year ago, he would have yelled at her. maybe even just a few months. but he'd never tasted death as closely and as intimately as he has now, and it. changed him in a few impossible, irrevocable ways. the anger is a coiled thing somewhere deep beneath his ribcage, but he can calm it. it's like bending the water around a spirit and changing its nature as an act of will. until he can, he'll guard it closely. )

Well, you already know I think Asami's great, so... I hope it goes well for you both.

( but he's not going to. sit here. and he doesn't want to talk to her any more, or spar, or do much of anything. so he gets to his feet. )

I'll see you back at the temple, Korra.

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( words are like knives. the korra of an age ago would've tossed fire at his back and yelled, because that was how she dealt with guilt and sorrow. but. korra's been made aware of her flaws in the last few years. she's understanding to all her shortcomings, every which way she ruined the peace between them. she wonders if she'll ever be able to look at mako and not want to kiss him, not remember how good it feels to be with him, to love him - guiltless, uncomplicated, eternally.

it's not the life she has, now. everything is complicated. she knows she messed up. she watches the shrug of his shoulders disappear in the distance, and only when he's out of reach does she release the breath she was holding in, fingers racing sharply through her hair. this is the part where she runs away again, where she tries to figure out why she is the way she is, why she can never seen to do anything right. she can't put a world of distance between them now, but she can give him space, let him seethe and be angry and turn that anger - maybe into hate. she'd understand.

she just occupies her time somewhere isolated and lonely, feeling sorry for herself. she doesn't care about bending, anymore. she hurt mako, and that's all that matters. )