finally got this done. thanks for reading and i would really appreciate any comments or reviews.

Mako woke to blinding rays of sun in his eyes and his brother's loud punk rock in his ears. He blinked, rushing to shield his hand over his sensitive eyes. His head throbbed, his vision going in and out of focus. Why was he on the couch? What had happened last night? And what could cause his brother to be so ticked off at him so early in the morning? Since Mako waking up with a hangover seldom occurred, Bolin had always been attune to his brother's unfamiliarity with the horrible feeling, setting a glass of water and aspirin at his bedside, keeping quite well into the afternoon to make sure his older brother wasn't disturbed.

Bits and pieces of scenes flashed through his mind, Korra smoking a cigarette, Asami's disappointed green eyes and Bolin carrying him through the streets.

This was the exact reason why Mako rarely drank in excess.

Bolin stomped through their small apartment, cabinets slamming shut and pots and pans pounding loudly against each other before his younger brother appeared. His younger brother's kind eyes were narrowed to slits, his comically thick eyebrows pinched together.

"Bro, what the fuck? Do you have to be that loud? What's your problem?"

"My problem is that you ruined everyone's night yesterday. It's enough to ruin my day, fine okay. It wouldn't be the first time, but Asami and Korra's too? Now Korra won't respond to my calls or texts and Asami, I don't know what the fuck you said to her, but she high-tailed it right out of there not too soon after you find out about me and Korra."

The memories rushed to Mako, seeing his kid brother's hands all over his ex-girlfriend and fighting with Asami right before stealing a bottle of Jack from Tahno and spending the rest of the night drinking outside by himself, and a few smokers, who escaped the party for their fix of nicotine. He kept to himself in the corner, until Korra came out, the hairs that were too short to tie up into her ponytail were sticking to the back of her neck, her chest rising and falling quickly. He assumed she had probably been dancing, dancing with his little brother and the thought had made him sick. She made him sick. That was when he started talking to her, effectively ruining her evening and apparently Bolin's as well in the process.

"Well what did you expect? She was my girlfriend, Bolin. Did you just want me to greet you guys with open arms?" he groaned, sitting up and immediately clutching at his head. His younger brother was an optimist, but even he couldn't be so naïve to think that Mako wouldn't be enraged by their relationship, or whatever the fuck it was.

Bolin scoffed at his older brother's comments. "You're like a fucking little kid wanting his toy back when he sees someone else playing with it." Bolin slipped his shoes on, "Whatever, I'm taking the car," he grabbed the keys and made sure to slam the door on his way out.

Mako clutched at his hair, exclaiming several expletives.

He dragged himself off the couch and into his bedroom in desperate need of several more hours of sleep.

xxx

It was well into the late afternoon when Mako decided to head to the gym. The hole-in-the-wall gym was his favorite place to go when his aggressions were abnormally high and his grip on his emotions was starting to slip. Toza's was his safe haven, his home away from home.

He entered, his grip tightening on his gym bag as he walked to the far side of the gym where the locker rooms were located, praying to every spirit that would listen that he wouldn't run into Korra. Anything but that, there was no way he would be able to go toe to toe with her when he was nursing a hangover.

Mako's prayers went unanswered. There she was, a hunched figure at the corner of the gym, bending over to write on her knee. He recognized the notebook, the one she took wherever she went, scribbles of half-written one-liners, storylines for potential short stories, and prospective dialogue. The navy blue palm-sized notebook was falling apart, weathered with pages falling out, only held together by a rubber band. She must have been struck by a sudden bout of inspiration.

He moved silently, hoping not to run into anyone who would make his presence obvious. Although he loved most of the members of Toza's gym, most of them were loud and obnoxious. All he wanted was to get changed and head toward the opposite corner of the gym to be as far away from Korra as possible.

As was the norm, the locker room smelled of bleach and the faint scent of sweat. He folded his street clothes and set them inside his gym bag, changing into his gym clothes, he kept his eyes to his feet, trying his best not to catch sight of the rest of the locker room. It held too many memories. His relationship with Korra was punching him right in the face. For spirit's sake, the first time he ever met her was when he accidentally walked in on her changing, the tanned writer had mistakenly walked into the men's locker room instead of the women's. He remembered being captivated by her tanned back, her muscles moving with each movement, his amber eyes catching the edges of her round breasts. She'd slid her sports bra on, turning around and meeting his eyes.

"Are you supposed to be in here?" He was immediately taken by her blue eyes, which shone so brightly against her tanned complexion. She was beautiful.

He coughed, hoping the blush coloring his cheeks would fade soon. "This is the men's locker room. The women's is next door."

She shrugged her shoulders, grabbing her things. "My bad. Thanks for the info, City Boy."

Mako couldn't help himself from watching her exit, her feet were wrapped and the edge of what he assumed were the wraps she used for her hands were trailing across the floor, a deep navy sliding across the off-white tiles.

Even as he entered Tazo's he couldn't help but recall his first kiss with Korra, her small hands gripping the lapels of his jacket and her lips firmly pressed against his. It hadn't mattered that he was with Asami then because all he could taste was Korra and for the few days after she was all he could think about.

But everything was different now. She wasn't slyly sliding past him, a sensual murmur of her favored nickname for him in his ear. Korra was kissing his brother, his hands sliding over her well-toned body. Bolin was the one she was sharing the contents of the navy notebook with, probably taking notes on his peculiarities for a future protagonist. He'd never thought he'd be jealous, feel the drop in his stomach at the sight of them but it happened.

Maybe Bolin was right; maybe he was just a kid who wanted his abandoned toy back.

He shut his locker, making sure to lock his few materials up. He didn't need the phone he had spent so many painstaking hours saving up for being stolen. Mako kept up the hope that Korra wouldn't notice him if he walked straight toward the weight lifting area and didn't bring any attention to himself.

There weren't many details he could remember about his conversation with Korra, but if he had made her upset enough to avoid Bolin's calls and stick to the gym then there must have delivered some low blows. It wasn't something he was proud of, but he knew how he could be when he was upset. Korra had always been the same way. When two heated people collided there was bound to be some awful things said. The situation was only made worse by her newfound relationship with his younger brother and his alcohol-infused mind.

Mako approached the weights, keeping Korra's figure in the corner of his vision at all times in case he had to make an escape. She was at a bag, alternating between kicking and punching, always keeping herself light on her toes, her muscles sliding underneath her sun-kissed skin.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, forcing himself to shake her away from his thoughts so he could concentrate on his lifting. That was what he was here for, not to stare at his ex-girlfriend, but to get his mind off of her and the rest of the problems her relationship with Bolin had caused him.

xx

After doing several reps of bicep curls, Mako looked back toward the back corner of the gym, searching for tanned skin and a navy blue sports bra, only to find the space filled by someone else. Quickly, he scanned the room, but she was nowhere in sight.

He sighed, setting down the weights and looking around the gym. There was no way she could have gotten out without him noticing. He'd been keeping her in his periphery the entire time, or at least he thought that's what he had been doing, but Korra was quick and his hungover brain had a hard time multitasking. He wiped down the back of his neck with a fresh towel, walking slowly toward the locker room, still attempting to not bring attention to himself just in case Korra was lurking in a corner waiting to pounce on him.

There were no Korra sightings when he walked toward the locker room and after he had grabbed his gym bag there wasn't one. Korra had a habit of catching him when he was off guard.

Her figure was unmistakable leaning against the wall immediately outside of Toza's. Smoke falling from her mouth and her eyes half-lidded. One foot was propped on the brick wall, her toned legs on perfect display in the tight shorts she was sporting.

Mako couldn't stop himself from stopping, his body freezing at the mere sight of her. This was the moment when she would yell at him, metaphorically tear him a new one and he would just have to stand and take it because he deserved it. Korra wasn't an easy person to make cry, but he had somehow managed.

Blue eyes fluttered open to meet his, her voice and breath simultaneously catching in her throat. She could only choke out his name.

He responded with her name and the pair was left staring at each other, blue eyes boring into amber ones and vise versa. "How's Bolin?" His brother's name in that context left a bad taste in his mouth, but he needed to know if she had finally given up her temporary silence and spoken to him.

"You should know, don't you live with him?"

Mako rolled his eyes. "He's pissed as hell at me, but-whatever. I don't even give a fuck. It'd be karma if your relationship just up and failed anyway."

The edge of Korra's mouth curled, "Karma. What did we do? I'd really like to hear a sober Mako tell this story."

"You fucked my brother-"

She tipped her cigarette toward him, "but I didn't know he was your brother. If anything I just thought he was your friend, who'd you never mentioned and I'd never met, so how good of a friend could he have been from my point of view anyway."

"Well Bolin should've known better than. He's my brother and you were my girlfriend."

Korra nodded, mulling over his words in her mind. "I don't know what to say to that."

They stood in silence, both going over the words they had just shared.

Mako broke the silence. "I don't remember what I said to you last night."

Korra took a long drag of her cigarette, allowing the smoke to stay in her mouth and throat longer than usual before exhaling, the cloud of smoke sliding from her lips. "You said a lot of things."

Mako scratched the back of his neck. He'd never been one for confrontations. He never knew what to say or how to say it. Talking in general didn't come very easily for him. "If I said anything that crossed the line just know I didn't mean it."

The brunette scoffed, tapping the bottom of her cigarette, the edge of ash to fall onto the sidewalk. "I'd say I believed you just to so this whole thing that's happening between us right now could finish, but I'd be lying and you know my stance on lying."

"If it helps I don't even remember what I said, Korra. I was drunk, really fucking wasted."

She stubbed her cigarette into the brick wall, tossing it in a nearby trashcan. "You know I spent all day going over what you said and I honestly believed that I wanted an apology from you, but I don't." She grabbed her discarded gym bag from the sidewalk and threw it over her shoulder. "I think I always knew that's how you felt. It shouldn't have surprised me the way it did." Korra waved her fingers at him before making her way down the street.

Mako stared at her departing figure and watched as it got smaller and smaller as she walked further away from him. Emotions stormed within his chest and continued to be at a loss to how to fully acknowledge what he was feeling. He couldn't help the way his chest tightened and his stomach dropped at the thought of Korra with Bolin. He prayed that one day it would.