( they were always meant to know each other, but. the how and the why of it were in question for a time. he doesn't take it any way but how she means it — she needs him. he needs her. korra is light and air to him.
bolin... he stayed grounded for bolin, he tried to give him a foundation, structure to his life. mako got up at the same time every morning, and when there was food he'd prepare it for breakfast. he was regimental in his lesson plans. he made sure bo could read, made sure he learned earthbending, made sure he got good at it. if mako could have planned his days down to the minute he probably would have, because he barely had an idea of how to be a boy, much less a parent, and that discipline was what parenting looked like to him.
he's learned to relax a little. as they got older. grew up, grew apart. when bo joined kuvira it was just about the loneliest time in mako's life, though bo visited him when he could. but once he left again, mako used to stay up at night staring at the ceiling missing bo's snoring in the crappy old apartment they used to share. hoping that he was safe wherever he was. that he was eating enough and getting enough sleep. ultimately, he thinks it was good for them. he never realized how much he was holding bolin back until he saw him again after he'd been away once for some months and realized how much he'd grown.
but korra. korra came into his life like a whirlwind. she gave him something no one else ever has or will, change. not just. a new job. a new firebending trick. she made him realize he could be anyone he wanted. do anything he could. if he hadn't met her, he would have never become a cop. realized that calling and chased after it, because he wouldn't have thought it was possible. she widened the focus of his life, opened the horizon up to the sky and the stars beyond, and he is wildly, endlessly grateful for knowing her.
what they have is love. but it's not being in love, which. he probably always knew, somewhere in the bottom of his heart. so when she says that, he just. accepts it how it's meant, and touches her wrist in soft understanding.
when she says she feels something, he pulls back. )
Focus on it. ( he wishes tenzin were here. wwmtd. ) Reach inside yourself. You're the Avatar. Whatever this is, you're going to master it.
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bolin... he stayed grounded for bolin, he tried to give him a foundation, structure to his life. mako got up at the same time every morning, and when there was food he'd prepare it for breakfast. he was regimental in his lesson plans. he made sure bo could read, made sure he learned earthbending, made sure he got good at it. if mako could have planned his days down to the minute he probably would have, because he barely had an idea of how to be a boy, much less a parent, and that discipline was what parenting looked like to him.
he's learned to relax a little. as they got older. grew up, grew apart. when bo joined kuvira it was just about the loneliest time in mako's life, though bo visited him when he could. but once he left again, mako used to stay up at night staring at the ceiling missing bo's snoring in the crappy old apartment they used to share. hoping that he was safe wherever he was. that he was eating enough and getting enough sleep. ultimately, he thinks it was good for them. he never realized how much he was holding bolin back until he saw him again after he'd been away once for some months and realized how much he'd grown.
but korra. korra came into his life like a whirlwind. she gave him something no one else ever has or will, change. not just. a new job. a new firebending trick. she made him realize he could be anyone he wanted. do anything he could. if he hadn't met her, he would have never become a cop. realized that calling and chased after it, because he wouldn't have thought it was possible. she widened the focus of his life, opened the horizon up to the sky and the stars beyond, and he is wildly, endlessly grateful for knowing her.
what they have is love. but it's not being in love, which. he probably always knew, somewhere in the bottom of his heart. so when she says that, he just. accepts it how it's meant, and touches her wrist in soft understanding.
when she says she feels something, he pulls back. )
Focus on it. ( he wishes tenzin were here. wwmtd. ) Reach inside yourself. You're the Avatar. Whatever this is, you're going to master it.