#flamingscarf

Bolin had been painfully shy when he was younger, the former rambunctious energy and cheer he once radiated like a miniature sun curling inwards on itself after the loss of he and his sibling’s parents. The earthbender was fearful, clingy, and withdrawn for several years and relied on Mako to be the source of his own strength, as well as his provider of security and familial love. When once, he couldn’t stop crying or hoping against all odds that they would both wake up to their mother and father’s smiling faces, having his protective elder brother leaning against his side or gently ushering him awake was more than enough. All they had was each other and the gnawing, empty feeling in the pit of his stomach could be ignored for a moment longer when the firebender was with him.

His young age limited his ability to seek out work or aid Mako in earning them the food or yuans needed to scrape by. That didn’t stop him from asking if there was something he could do to help, but Mako would always shake his head, smile fondly and insist that he’d take care of everything. He’d been a bit down, initially, but his attention span quickly moved onto other things in his brother’s absence. 

It wasn’t until a a small case of the flu escalated into a serious chest cold, did Bolin ever feel utterly helpless. He’d been sick for over a week, his immune system weakened from a lack of proper nutrition and all the while, he was forced to watch as his brother fretted, but struggled to stay strong enough for the both of them. Every morning Mako would look torn between staying home to make sure Bolin was taken care of and clocking in for a part-time shift to afford the proper medicine. Witnessing the sole person he cared about go through so much pain and turmoil over him had shaken Bolin and the young brunette was determined to recover, simply to repay all of the hard work and kindness his elder brother had given him. He wanted to saddle the responsibility, grow up big and strong, and spend the rest of his life taking care of Mako, instead.

Bolin really came into his own once Toza had joined their family and he worked extremely hard to transform his baby fat and weak, coltish muscle into something more. At times, he’d been easily discouraged and a crybaby, but the former probender’s support and tough, but encouraging lessons kept him focused and driven. He and Mako became promising young contenders in the probending circuit and the earthbender sampled his first taste of glory and adoration. His humility eventually faded, Bolin eating up the praise and the fawning like it was air or water. Everyone seemed to be recognizing his talent, hard work, and dedication... save for the person that mattered. With Mako, all the elder male would do is point out that his footwork needed finesse, his stance was too low, or that the accuracy of his hits left room for improvement. This left Bolin deflated in the face of such scrutiny, but he’d always recover in the span of wink, nod seriously and promise he’d do better next time.

Even when he did prove he could take on tiebreakers with an impressive amount of skill and control, Mako remained strangely quiet and distant. It was beginning to eat away at him little by little, constantly yearning for his brother’s praise and remaining five steps behind him. He wasn’t ungrateful for everything that Mako had done for him, but continuously dangling acceptance and recognition in his face, only the draw it further away from his grasp once more- it was becoming tiresome. When Bolin tried to show that he was a capable adult, he’d inevitably get shutdown, told to stop ‘messing around' or ‘get serious’. 

For the past month or so, Bolin had finally began to show he could provide for himself... though that came with it’s own slew of complications. Mako had warned him to stay away from Triad business, especially the Triple Threats recruiter, Shady Shin. For the most part he had, though witnessing the fine, stylish clothes Shin wore and drooling over the satomobiles he drove around town left him wondering if maybe tackling a few, tiny side jobs wasn’t really all that bad. Mako used to run numbers and memorize tickets for them back in the day and that hadn’t been entirely under the bar of criminal activity. In the end, Shin proved more convincing once a wad of yuans had been enticingly fanned out before his face, Bolin mentally telling himself that he wasn’t doing anything along the lines of actual mob work. Standing around as the lookout, providing extra oomph during a fight, or delivering packages was hardly anything so serious as his brother had made it out to be. Not to mention, finally be able to afford more than Flameio instant noodles (cheap, but about as nutritionally sound as licking a brick of salt) and wilted pak choi felt amazing.