"So, Korra," Bolin said right after their food had been delivered. Bolin took Korra out for lunch today; he noticed she had been distracted recently, actually since he caught her kissing Mako. He wanted to clear the air with her, so he took her to his favorite restaurant in the city. She looked up after gulping in a mouthful of noodles. "Do you- do you like him, a lot?" He asked.
Korra's cheeks became a slight shade of pink. She averted her eyes, guilty as ever. She felt awkward answering this to him, especially after those exact feelings hurt him in the first place. "Well, Kind of."
"No I mean do you really like him? Like do you want to go out with him or something?" He noticed her awkwardness. "Because I'm totally ok with that, I told you I'll get over you, and I did. I like someone else."
She picked up her head and smiled. She felt her guilt fly away. "Really, you're over me? That's good. And I guess I do. Yes, I really do like Mako. I think I started to like him when I first saw how powerful he could be when he pulled that Hat-trick. But at that point it was just a crush; I didn't really start to develop feelings for him until we bonded trying to save your ass. So actually all of this is your fault." She laughed.
Bolin laughed too. "Good because I know a way to help you get him." He grinned.
"Really, How?" she asked.
"Well the key is to get you two alone. No Asami, no me, just you two alone." She started to follow what he was saying. "I could tell Mako that he, you and I are going out to hang or something and when you two show up, I won't. And to keep Asami from showing up, I'll take her out to dinner. I'll say that since she is dating my brother I wanted to get to know her better. Once you two are alone, you go to the places I planned out for you, I will leave you a note the day of, and you make sure he likes the time you spent together. Do that and he will be putty in your hands." Bolin grinned smugly.
Korra thought about the plan. She liked it, but how could it work. Mako was as stubborn as air was to her. She wanted to be cautious with this plan, an action that she normally wouldn't do. "But how could it work. Mako is the most stubborn person I have met."
"Don't worry Korra, I know my brother. I know this will work." They finished their lunch and left the restaurant.
It was the big day today. Bolin had been planning this for about a week. Mako had agreed to meet up with her and Bolin tonight, thinking that he was meeting with her and Bolin. Bolin was currently asking Asami if they wanted to go out tonight because he didn't want the two to talk about their plans for that night and ruining the plot. She agreed and the trap was set. Korra was in her room with all of her clothes laid out around. Bolin told Korra to dress her finest to impress Mako, but she didn't have the clothes to do that nor know how to. She screamed in frustration as Pema walked through the halls passing her room. Pema heard her scream and walked in.
"Is everything alright?" She asked as she peered through the door.
"No." Korra replied. "I have a some-what fake date tonight with Mako and Bolin said I have to 'dress to impress' whatever that means, and I don't know how to."
"A some-what fake date?" Pema asked.
"Yeah, Bolin and I are tricking Mako into going out with me tonight." She said guiltily.
"Oh I see." She took a look at the young girl's clothes around the room. "No, no, no, none of this will do. I think I might have something." She said as she left the room. Korra looked confused until she returned shortly after. She held a long bag in her hand and gave it to Korra. "Here, this should work. I used this dress to finally win Tenzin." She grinned. Korra laughed.
Korra opened the bag and saw the dress. It was a little old fashioned but still beautiful. She ran into the bathroom to change into it. It fit her perfectly. The dress was long, down to her feet; she needed to wear high heels to keep it off the ground. It was blue with subtle glitter imbedded in the fabric. The shape of the dress contoured her body shape, giving her a figure. It was sleeve less with one over the shoulder strap. "Wow, thank you Pema, I love it." Pema smiled.
"Good because it looks great on you. This dress was actually master Katara's first. She lent it to me when I was a little older then you. She knew how much I loved Tenzin and wanted to help me." She took one look at Korra. "Now let's do something about your hair and makeup." She sat Korra down and took out her metal hair tassels. She grabbed a brush and combed through her hair, leaving it down.
Korra was all ready for her night out with Mako. She didn't take Naga because it was almost impossible to ride her in a dress so she took the ferry. Bolin said to meet them at the Jiving Jackalope, an upscale lounge in Uptown Republic City. They were able to even get in this place due to, almost, winning the championship tournament. Bolin told Korra to get there ten minutes early and she did. She walked up to the bar and sat there waiting for Mako's arrival.
"Hey, miss avatar." She looked in the direction of the voice. It was a middle aged man sitting a few seats over. He started to walk to her and she got up to greet him. "Hello Avatar Korra, a young boy came up to me earlier and told me that when you got here to give you this letter." He handed her the letter and she thanked him. He walked away.
She opened the letter. It was from Bolin. It read: 'Dear Korra, good you're here, you didn't chicken out. Read this before Mako gets here and follow its instructions. If you do this exactly as planned you will have Mako before the end of the night. Ok, first when he gets here hide the letter, if he finds out this is a set up your screwed. Second, when he gets here wait awkwardly for me and don't look suspicious. While you are waiting order him a drink. Get him the Flameo Dragon Juice drink; its his favorite. Talk for a little while, actually until precisely 9:50. Tell him that you think Bolin is not showing up but that doesn't mean that you two can't have fun. He might protest but insist, eventually he will give in. Tell him that you want to wander the streets to find something. Walk out of the club and make two lefts. You will find a theater on your right. Go see the 10 o'clock showing, you will both like it. Once the show is over, it's not that long, take a stroll to the park. Take a taxi ride throughout the park; say that you've always wanted to do those. The Taxi will let you off by the fountain. Get off and walk over. Have him sit next to you on the ledge of the fountain and gaze up at the stars. Talk about things, whatever just don't make a fool of yourself. Then when the time is right make your move, no time would be better. You should probably arrive at the fountain at about 12, I have a surprise. Just follow these instructions and you will be fine. Good luck. – Bolin.' She just finished the letter as Mako walked in. she was still standing and caught glance at Mako. He was wearing a suit with his scarf tucked into the collar. He noticed her and walked over.
Mako walked into the club thinking that this was going to be a boring night. Bolin somehow convinced him into meeting him and Korra at this stuck up rich snobs club. He had to get dressed up and everything. A man held the door for him as he walked through. He looked through the sea of people until he saw her. She was beautiful. Her dress and the way it looked on her make Mako swoon. The way the light reflected off her glitter and the way her curves were shown. He loved when her hair was down and wished she would wear it that way more often but he realized why she kept it up. She kept it up because it was better for fighting. He loved how strong, aggressive and independent she was, even if he told her he didn't. She made him want to yell every time she aggravated him, and strangely he liked the fight she put up. She noticed him and waved him over. He couldn't show her that he was feeling this was for her so he put on a straight face and walked over to greet her. "Hello, Korra." He said in the stiffest tone he could do. "Is Bolin here yet?" He asked.
"No." she said and paused. She took one good look at Mako; she liked the way he looked in a suit. So sophisticated and like a gentleman, if she hadn't known him she would have thought he was rich. But money didn't matter to her, she like Mako for his personality. She liked how he wasn't impressed by title or status and she liked how deep down he was actually genuinely caring and nurturing. She liked how he spent all those years taking care of Bolin, never asking for anything in return. She liked almost everything about him, besides that fact that half the time she didn't know what he was feeling. "You look good tonight." She said.
He couldn't deny it she looked good too, too much that he could handle. "Thank you. You're not so bad yourself." They sat down at the bar seats.
"Hey, do you want a drink while we wait." She asked. He nodded, why not. She called over the bartender. "Hi can we have two Flameo Dragon Juices, please." The bartender walked away.
"That is my favorite drink. How did you know to order that?" He asked astonished.
"Oh well, I was told by a friend to order it sometime and I thought I might try it. Is it any good?"
"Yes, it's the best." He replied. Their drinks were served and Mako watched as she took her first sip. She paused.
"Hey, why are you watching me?" She laughed.
"I just want to see your face when you take your first sip." He smiled. She raised the drink to her mouth and took a sip. The juices in her mouth where something amazing, so many tastes in one drink. She grinned. "Do you like it?" He asked. She nodded still taking in the overload to the senses this drink gave. He took a sip.
They talked and laughed about a multitude of things in the next almost hour. He was grinning at her with the most genuinely happy smiles she had ever seen on him. She believed that, even if she didn't leave this place to go to the next one on Bolin's list she still would have gotten Mako, but Bolin went into all this trouble to plan the perfect date for them that she had to do what he said. The clock struck 9:50 too fast. She wanted to keep talking with Mako all night, right here at this bar, but she had to go through with this, for Bolin.
"Hey Mako," he looked at her. "I don't think Bolin is actually coming. We've been here for almost an hour and he hasn't shown up."
Mako put his head down. He didn't want this night to end. "Well then I guess we should go home now."
"Well not exactly, we can still have fun tonight. What do you say Mako, why don't you and I go out on the town and have some fun of our own?" It took him a minute to respond but he agreed. She took his hand and led him out the club doors.
She took two lefts, just like Bolin said. The theater was on their right, just like Bolin said. It was showing silent movies. She insisted that they should go see the movie, Mako followed. They walked up to the ticket booth and asked for two tickets to the next showing. The man said that they had won two free tickets for being the thousandth customers, but Korra believed that this was another one of Bolin's tricks. The movie that was playing was a horror movie called 'the Puppet Master.' It said that the movie was based off a true story but Korra didn't believe it. The movie was scary though, but she liked it. During the scarier scenes, she held on to Mako's arm and hid her face in his chest. He didn't rebel from her actions, he allowed her to take comfort in him. When the movie was over Korra still held on to Mako's arm in fright.
"So, did you like the movie?" Mako asked Korra.
"Yeah, it was a little scary, but I was fine." She said confidentially. "What about you, did you like it?"
"What do you mean you were fine? You were almost as scared as a five year old. You're still scared, you're holding on to my arm so hard that you're cutting off circulation. You're going to need to bloodbend the blood back into my arm if you keep this up." He laughed. She sharply let go of his arm, still scared. "And yes, I did like the movie. I almost forgot how much I liked going to the movies. I used to go to the movies almost all the time when I was a kid."
"Did your parents take you?" she asked solemnly.
"Yeah they did."
She put her head down. "Oh, I'm sorry."
"No don't be. The movies were happy times from when I was a child, happy memories. This almost makes me forget the bad things that had happened in between." He smiled at her and she reciprocated.
They walked over to the park. Korra's stomach growled. She was hungry. She wanted food so badly but it wasn't on Bolin's crazy schedule. They passed by a fire nation food stand, she looked at the food and her stomach growled, Mako heard.
"Hey, are you hungry? I can get you something." She looked at her stomach and how empty it felt. She wanted to keep to schedule but her hunger didn't allow it. Screw his strict schedule that didn't allow for, she thought. She nodded to Mako. They walked over to the food stand. He ordered her Flaming Fire Flakes and gave it to the girl. They started walking as she took a handful and put it in her mouth. Mako was just about to warn her to not do that, when she started to get red.
She screamed in pain yelling "Hot. Hot, Hot." She bent water out of the air and put it in her mouth."You could have told me they were hot."
Mako laughed. "I was actually just about to tell you, but considering that they are called flaming fire flakes I assumed that you knew they were hot."
She glared at him. "Well I do now." He smiled at her. They walked a little more. She noticed the Taxi station, the next item on Bolin's list. "Hey, want to go on a taxi ride through the park. I've always wanted to do that but never had the time." She didn't wait for his response before she grabbed his hand and guided him over.
They got a taxi cab and took a ride. She looked out the window in amazement of the view. The way the lights of the city buildings contrasted with the dark sky was always a wondrous sight to Korra but seeing them like this astonished her. Mako looked at her and they way she got excited over the simple things like lights, he loved that about her. He pointed out a few buildings that he knew. Shortly after, she leaned on his shoulder. In response he put his arm around her, holding her closer than ever. He wished that he could stay in that moment forever, holding on to her, never letting go. The Taxi left them off close to the fountain. She walked over to it, Mako followed. She sat down on the ledge of the fountain and looked up.
"You know, one thing I miss about the South Pole is the stars. Here in Republic City the starts are hardly noticeable, but in the South Pole the sky is filled with them. You can see every constellation, every star in the sky when its night down there. That is one thing I miss, the stars." Mako sat down beside her and looked up.
"When I was younger, living on the streets, after Bolin went to sleep, sometimes in my arms, I would just look up at the stars. They made me feel less alone, like I always had people watching over me, like my parents were watching me. The stars made me feel safer. I know this sounds dumb but that's what I believed when I was a child."
"No, it doesn't sound dumb. I totally agree with that. Before I tamed Naga, I didn't have any friends. The compound not only kept others from getting in but kept me from getting out. You and Bolin are actually my fist human friends. So at night, like you, when I got lonely I would look up at the sky and watch the stars. If I was lucky I would see a shooting star gliding through the sky. They made me feel at home. They also helped me realize that I was a part of something so much bigger than the walls of the compound." She paused. She looked at him. " Hey Mako, do you think that maybe we could have been looking up at the same night sky at the same time?" he looked back at her and smiled.
"Yes Korra, I do." She smiled back. They moved closer to each other, when suddenly music started playing. They looked around. It was soft, slow music played by string instruments. She looked around but didn't find the source. This must have been Bolin's surprise. Mako looked confused but suddenly got up. He turned to Korra and let out his hand. "Care to dance?" She smiled and took his hand.
Her face got pinker and pinker as he swayed her back and forth. He had pulled her in close. His arms were around her neck and hers were under his arms around his back. She rested her head on his chest. They stayed dancing, still in that position swaying, for a few minutes until the music stopped. Mako stopped in his tracks, still holding on to the girl. She stated to pull away a little until his eyes caught hers. She stopped moving. Both stood there looking at each other, taking each other's presence in. Mako couldn't fight the temptation any longer. He slowly moved his head closer to hers until his lips met hers. She closed her eyes and fully indulged herself into the kiss. He put his hand on her cheek, grabbing on to her. The kiss was slow yet passionate. It was soft yet powerful. The kiss was everything she could have asked for. They pulled away slowly, both wanting more. Korra smiled, and so did Mako.
"Korra, I just wanted to tell you that I really like you. I know you know this already from last time, but this time I want to tell you that I choose you. Yes, I have finally realized my true feelings and I'm choosing you, if that's ok with you of course. I guess tomorrow I will tell Asami that things are over between us. Do you still like me? Because if you don't, I um, I guess I will just go now."
Korra stood there silent staring at Mako. The felt bad, put down his head and started to turn away. She grabbed his shoulder. "Hey Mako, where are you going? You didn't hear my answer. I kissed you back didn't it? Of course I like you. You knew about that weeks ago. And yes I am totally fine with you choosing me." She smiled before she pulled him in for another kiss, this time less slow and more emotions were filled into the kiss.
The next morning all four of them met back at the park. Bolin wanted to have a picnic that day, even though both Korra and Mako knew that their outing would be cut short. Mako pulled Asami over to give her the news while Korra and Bolin were talking.
"So how did things go last night?" Bolin asked with a grin.
"Good, really good. Mako and I had the perfect night together and we kissed. I have to listen to you more." She said not trying to hide her smile.
"I told you to trust me."
"Yeah, I know. They only thing is that this little outing you set up here is probably going to end pretty soon because Mako is going to break up with Asami. He's actually doing it right now." She looked over at them.
"Oh don't worry. Everything is going to be all fine."
"How do you know?" She asked.
"Just watch."
"So, Asami, I have something important to tell you." Mako said. He looked guilty so did she.
"I want to break up." They both said simultaneously. "What did you say?"In unison, again. "I want to break up with you." They paused to stop the simultaneous talking. "Why?" They both blurted out. "I found someone else." "What, who?" they asked the other.
"Bolin." Asami said.
"Huh? How? Why Bolin? What?" Mako said confused.
"Well, last night Bolin took me out. He said that he wanted to get to know me better since I was dating you and we hit it off. I really like his personality and how he always makes me laugh. It was suposto be two friends hanging out but the turned into a date. I had a lot of fun. I'm sorry." She explained. Mako shot a look at his brother, still trying to figure this out. Then once he realized what his brother did for him he was happy. His brother helped him end his and Asami's relationship without major conflict. Mako accepted their relationship. "So you and Korra huh?" she laughed as they walked back to their friends. "Never would have guessed it." She said sarcastically. Mako blushed in embarrassment, how did she know? Was it that obvious? He thought.
"So this whole thing was all for you to get Asami?" She laughed.
"In a nutshell, yes, but I did help a friend or two along the way." He smiled. Asami and Mako walked over to their blanket. Mako sat next to Korra and Asami sat next to Bolin.
"Is everything ok?" Korra whispered to Mako when he sat down.
"Yes, and now we are free to have whatever relationship we want, whatever this is." He whispered back as he smiled. She smiled back.