@flashfictionfridayofficial
Fandom: Avatar, the Legend of Korra
Special thanks to @homeagainrose for asking about FFF and lighting the spark that got this written!
He wasn’t quite sure when he noticed that she only said his name when she was referring to him in conversation with other people. She once had told Raiko (something like), “You’re thinking of Mako. He’s one of my best officers.”
After dinner one night, he heard her teasing Asami and Korra. “Mako is a good cook. Since neither of you kept him long enough to learn, maybe you can pay him for lessons.”
He was just returning to the hospital room when he heard her say, “Mako will be a great uncle. He did a fine job with you, Bolin.”
The day he had sworn his oath to uphold the law, she had referred to him as ‘officer’ more times than he could count. She just had never used his name.
She had given orders with his name on them. She had assigned him to task forces, work crews, and even sparring partners using his name.
But when she looked at and spoke to him, somehow she never used his name.
So he took that under advisement, and maintained his emotional distance. He only used ‘Beifong’ for her when speaking to others. He would only call her “Chief” to her face.
Even after he resigned his position to work for the pro-bending league, she stayed “Chief.” None of the coaches (other than Bolin) gave it much thought, since he was the liaison for police security. They figured he was just being respectful.
But once he started working with Wing and Wei on their Flying Disk Leagues, things got decidedly weird. The twins came to town routinely to play a few rounds in both the power disk and the flying disk divisions and to hang out with their sister and the baby.
Which meant they were also around their aunt rather frequently.
And since he was also an uncle to baby Yuting, he was around her mother’s aunt rather frequently.
Mako arrived for the family pre-game dinner at the beginning of the championships, Yuting’s bag over his shoulder, and his little neice’s hand in his own. She was babbling about all the animals they had seen at the zoo, pulling his hand to go faster so she could see more uncles.
They opened up the family’s suite in the arena, but it was nearly empty.
Yuting gasped dramatically and shouted, “Aunty Lin!” before dropping his hand and charging over to the only person in the room. It took a bit of whining before the requested pick-up was accomplished.
Once the child was secure, the aunt turned to the uncle, nodded, and just said “Hello.”
Gritting his teeth just a little, he replied, “Chief.”
What she had once taught him about observing a suspect in custody came through for him when he noticed her pinch her forehead oh, so briefly. He turned and deposited the child’s bag and returned to speak to them again.
He clapped his hands and took his niece, setting her on her feet. From a crouched position, he said,“Yuting, how about you go find your dad? I think he’s -” He pointed to one set of doors that led into an office space at the back of the suite.
Helpfully, she charged away, yelling for her parents.
He brushed his hands over his knees, and stood up.
“You’re just as good with her as I thought you would be,” came her voice from just behind him.
He looked over his shoulder to see her smiling up at him. He let himself smile just a little, and decided to try something.
Her eyes met his, and her smile… deepened. It was an odd thought, but it was the only word that made sense. It wasn’t brighter, or wider, or lighter. But it was more profound, somehow.
“Thank the spirits. I was worried you’d never bring yourself to say my name.”
He scoffed in surprise. “I thought you didn’t want me to. You never say mine.”
She stepped a little closer, pulled down on his near shoulder before leaning in close to speak into his ear.
“I’ll say it any way you like, Mako.”
When Yuting returned, pulling her father’s hand, she was confused why Aunty Lin and Uncle Mako were not where she had left them.
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