A/N: Written a while ago for Makorra Month on tumblr without following the day's prompt at all. Oops. Enjoy.

—

He hadn't seen her in a while.

The city needed her determination and strength, and she was doing her best to fill the role left to her in the wake of all that had happened in the last few months. There were policies to be overturned, bending that needed to be restored, people that needed to be brought to justice, changes to be implemented. He knew that she tried to make time for him and Bolin, and Asami, and Councilman Tenzin's family, and everyone else, but there was only so much she could do when she belonged to the world. Republic City needed its Avatar, and it was running her ragged.

Mako wasn't sure what he was expecting when he found Korra leaning heavily against the doorframe of his apartment with no quirk of her lips or affectionate tilt of the head. She radiated an evident weariness, the droopiness of her eyelids and the frequent nodding and jerking of her head demonstrating her struggle to stay awake, but he didn't know what to say when he was in no better shape than her. His hair was rumpled from the bare minutes of sleep he'd gotten before she knocked on his door, his eyes sagging with the late night duty of busting triads and the loads of paperwork. Added on top of that were rounds of learning the careful strokes of complicated calligraphy for the first time. His fingers ached from spasms resulting from hours of practice, and he had studied the smooth, inky lines underneath harsh lights for so long that everything began to blur.

He was used to being tired – getting just enough sleep to function and keep himself healthy enough to go on, because that was his way, and Republic City slept for no orphan – but he still wasn't quite used to having people other than Bolin in his life. It was a pleasant change of pace, just very new.

She didn't say anything, so he went out on a limb and said something first.

"Hi." She hummed a response, which he knew was "Hi" in return. "Come in?" he asked while opening the door wider; clipped sentences were good for both of them. She nodded and stepped inside.

She slipped her boots off as he shut and locked the door, the only sounds that permeated their silence a soft clink of metal sliding into place and their own deep breaths. She remained quiet as she reached for him with calloused hands, taking his marred ones into her own, and he accepted the gesture with equal silence. He pulled her past thick and sturdy walls, by windows tightly caulked and free of saltwater residue. Their feet padded on floors of non-warped wood until they reached his modest bed, onto which they both wordlessly sank their weight.

They were two tired people barely hanging onto reality, slumping over each other in a haphazard mess of fully clothed limbs and knitted blankets. Her fingers curled around his bicep, her forehead pressed against his clavicle. His arm was around her shoulders, his leg hooked behind her knee.

He didn't know what to think as they lay there. Quite frankly he was too tired really to think at all. He just pulled her closer, savoring the warmth of her touch and the space she filled, and once again, as Korra tended to make him do ever since she barged into his life, Mako let himself go.