Coincidentally, it was Mako’s aforementioned protective nature that led to your current situation: standing together in Toza's gym, practicing your fighting skills.

“Remind me again why you’ve forced me to be here, in the morning on my day off?” you whined, adjusting the fingerless gloves on your hands.

“Look, I know this isn’t exactly the best way to spend a Saturday, but it feels like the world is getting more and more dangerous by the second. You’re a great bender, but you never got much practice with hand-to-hand, and it can come in handy sometimes, so I want to make sure to get you brushed up on it.”

“I never got much practice with it because you always fought everybody for me,” you quipped, crossing your arms and staring accusingly at Mako.

The white tank top he wore was quickly becoming your favorite attire of his. It kept his muscular arms free for your viewing pleasure, and the tight fabric clung to his toned torso. The slight sweat he’d worked up during your sparring session shone on his forehead, although he quickly wiped it away with the back of his arm.

Spirits, you really needed to stop thinking about your best friend like that.

“You know I’ve always got to protect my best girl,” Mako retorted, shooting you a small smile.

Well, he certainly wasn’t helping.

“Now, get into your fighting stance again,” Mako ordered, and you did as he bade you, fists up and ready.

The two of you stared at one another for a few moments, standing a few feet apart, unsure of who would be the first to make a move. Mako had been the first to initiate all of your previous scraps today, so you quickly decided to be the first to do so this time. It caught him a little off guard, as you’d hoped, as you swung at him. Nonetheless, Mako managed to miss your attack, moving to the side to dodge your fist, before swinging at you himself. You dodged that too, and took his outstretched arm as an opening, sweeping his legs out from under him with your foot. He landed on the mat with a loud thud and an “oof,” and you immediately began to laugh triumphantly.

“Ha! You’re a damn good fighter, Mako, but you have to admit –”

The sly devil used your own tactic against you before you could finish your gloating, using his leg to knock you off your feet, causing you to crash down on the mat just as he had, and he immediately straddled your waist and pinned your arms above your head.

“Admit what?” Mako inquired, his tone cocky as could be while a smirk formed on his lips. Honestly, you were too floored by the position you two were currently in to give an equally-witty comeback, as you normally would, so he continued. “Always make sure your opponent is actually down for the count. There’s a difference between knocking someone down and knocking someone out, and that difference could cost you your life if you’re not careful.”

“Got it,” you managed to respond, and you desperately hoped that he hadn’t noticed the breathlessness in your voice.

The sparring session had come to a close, and the conversation was over, but… Mako didn’t move. He remained situated above you, staring down at you with those beautiful amber eyes of his. His face was expressionless, as per usual, and although you could typically still read him, you found yourself unable to at that moment. You simply continued to stare at one another, and before you could speak, Mako suddenly leaned down and kissed you.

Stupefied beyond comprehension, you froze for a half second, before returning the kiss with fervor. It was equal parts passionate and sweet, and although you’d dreamt of this moment for nearly a decade, it was somehow better than you could have ever imagined.

Mako broke the kiss, leaning up a bit so he could look at you. Your eyes met again, and you noticed that this time, his pupils were dilated, and the way he stared at you seemed to be awe mixed with hunger.

“I’ve wanted to do that for a really, really long time,” he admitted.

“Me too. What took you so long?” you teased, and Mako grinned a little.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“I was terrified of ruining our friendship if you didn’t return the feeling. Decided it wasn’t worth the risk,” you explained, and Mako nodded.

“That was what stopped me too. But I guess you never noticed all the times I failed miserably at hiding how I felt,” he stated, and your brows furrowed together with confusion. You definitely hadn’t ever noticed anything like that. “I couldn’t ever take my eyes off of you whenever you had to wear a skirt or tight slacks for work. My face would always get really red whenever you’d heal some of my wounds from pro-bending. And all the cold nights I’ve offered for you to share a bed with me wasn’t just out of kindness; it was honestly more so for selfish reasons.”

“Well… I guess you never noticed how I practically drool over you when you’re in your police uniform, or how it’s even worse when you’re wearing your workout clothes,” you retorted, sparing a glance down at his white tank top. “Also, I’m usually lying whenever I whine that I’m cold; I only do it because I know you’ll let me cuddle with you. And, while we’re making confessions: I didn’t insist on healing every little cut and scrape of yours because I was worried about you. That was just an excuse to touch you.”

“You’ve never needed to have an excuse to touch me,” Mako responded, and you noticed that his voice had gotten lower.

“Then unpin my hands and let me.”

With no hesitation, Mako did as you asked, and moved his hands to rest on either side of your head instead of on your wrists. In the blink of an eye, your hands darted into his hair and pulled him into another kiss. This one was far more hungry and desperate than the last, and after a few minutes, Mako rolled onto his back, pulling you on top of him in a position that mirrored his previous stance. With your legs on either side of him, you leaned down, your chests pressed against one another, and you held his face in your hands. His hands rested on your waist, before trailing up your back and into your hair. Impulsively, you pulled his bottom lip between your teeth for a moment, and the action caused him to grip a fistful of your hair at the base of your scalp, earning a loud moan from you.

A low growl came from deep in Mako’s throat upon hearing you, and he tightened his grip on your hair in an attempt to elicit another such sound from you. You instantly moved your hands to his shoulders, digging your nails into them as he pulled your hair, and you could feel a small smirk form on his lips. He flipped the two of you over again, except this time, he was situated between your legs, your thighs resting on his hips. Mako’s hand remained in your hair, cradling the back of your head, and his other hand gripped your waist. Opting to give him a taste of his own medicine, you tangled your fingers in his hair once again, before gripping his black locks to turn his head to the side and trail kisses and light nips down his throat. This earned a groan from him, and he couldn’t help but instinctively grind himself into you, the sensation causing you to gasp in pleasure.

Misunderstanding your reaction, Mako immediately pulled away from you to look down at you with worry in his eyes. “Is this okay? Just say the word and we can stop.”

“No, no. It’s more than okay,” you assured him, and he found his way to your lips once again.

Realizing that you’d daydreamed about something like this happening for years, you conceded that you should definitely take advantage of the experience. After spending so long admiring his body from afar, you began to run your hands down his shoulders and arms, feeling the strong muscles beneath your fingertips, and you couldn’t help the faint moan that escaped your lips as you allowed yourself to soak in just how attractive Mako truly was. Eventually, your explorative hands reached the hem of his tank top, and you tugged on it slightly, hinting at what you wanted but allowing him to decide if he was okay with it or not.

Taking the hint, Mako leaned up onto his knees and pulled that pesky article of clothing over his head, and tossed it to the side. You chose to follow suit, removing your own shirt, then your bra, and threw them away carelessly. Mako remained on his kneeling for a few moments, his hands on your thighs as you stared at one another with hungry eyes. The lights of the gymnasium illuminated his perfectly toned body, and you couldn’t help but stare. His fingers idly moved to grasp the hems of your pants and panties, but his eyes remained locked with yours, to gauge your reaction. When you gave him a small nod, he began removing the garments, and you lifted your hips up to allow them to be removed from your body and join the discarded pile of clothing nearby. Mako quickly stood and took off his sweatpants, leaving both of you completely naked aside from his boxers, before he rejoined you on the gym mat.

Mako returned to his previous position, on his knees between your legs. One arm wrapped around your waist to hold your body firmly against his, and the other hand cradling the back of your head, also enabling him to remain propped up on his elbow. He kissed you again, hard and urgent, and occasionally, your tongues met in the middle, which only made the kiss more desperate. Mako began trailing kisses down your cheek, along your jaw, down your neck, and finally, to your chest. He did all of this slowly, to allow you time to stop him if you wished, but truthfully, you only wished for him to pick up the pace. He then wrapped his lips around the sensitive peak of your breast, the hand that had been around your waist coming up to grope the other. You had half a mind to be embarrassed by the loud moan that fell from your lips, but the other half couldn’t be bothered to care.

After a short while of that bliss, Mako’s hand began trailing down your body as his mouth preoccupied itself with your other breast, palm flat against your skin, before it stopped on your hip, so achingly close to the spot you needed him most. He removed his lips from your breast to gaze up at you, curiosity and desire in his golden irises.

“Is it okay if I…?”

“Yes. Please. Yes.”

You didn’t miss the little smirk that formed on his lips, and your response was all he needed to move his fingers down to your sex, gliding through those lower lips before moving upward to your clit. Mako began rubbing small, precise circles over the sensitive spot, as your eyes rolled back in your head and you let out a long, low moan.

“You’re so wet, baby. Is that all because of me? You been craving this for as long as I have?”

His words brought you somewhere between cloud nine and a burning, raging inferno of desire. Mako had never referred to you by a pet name before, so that plus his dirty talking left you breathless. All you could do was moan once again, but it was cut off by a gasp as his fingers moved downward, and his middle digit sank into you.

Mako groaned and lowered his head to your shoulder. “Spirits, you’re tight.... You’ll be the death of me.”

You were immensely grateful that he didn’t expect a response from you, because you certainly couldn’t have managed one, as his finger began pumping in and out of you. Mako’s pace was slow at first, but he eventually added his ring finger, and all the while, you were rendered a whimpering, moaning, writhing mess beneath him. Eventually, you felt the tell-tale tension in your lower belly, and as you grew louder and your nails began to dig into his skin from their place on his shoulders, Mako put two and two together to determine that you were close to your climax. He moved his fingers even faster, curling them upwards slightly to reach that oh-so-special spot deep inside you, and you were done for. With a string of curses and moans, you came undone, and Mako allowed you a moment to come down from your high before removing his fingers from your core.

Your eyes were still shut as you tried to catch your breath, before you finally looked up and realized Mako had removed his boxers. His length was impressive, and not that you got around much, but it was definitely the best looking one you’d seen. Mako leaned down to bring you into a kiss, and you could feel his member gliding teasingly through your folds. He then grabbed your leg under your knee and held it against his hip, positioning his tip at your entrance, before breaking the kiss to look at you.

“I love you.”

His statement was simple, yet it left you in a brief daze. Right then, through all the heat of the moment, his eyes held nothing but love and sincerity. You had fallen for him a long time ago, and not once looked back, yet you never expected to hear him say what you’d always felt. Hell, you never expected the current events to be transpiring, yet here you were.

“I love you too, Mako.”

With that, he sank into you, and a deep gasp escaped you, as Mako let out a long, deep groan and dropped his head onto your shoulder once again.

“Fuck, you feel a thousand times better than I’d ever imagined,” he whispered, his voice a lower octave than usual, and deliciously rough. You realized that this meant he’d had perverse daydreams about you before, just as you had about him.

“Same to you,” you responded, and he let out a small, breathy chuckle against your skin.

Your mind was then immediately elsewhere, as Mako finally began to move, in slow, deep strokes. The hand beneath your head abruptly grabbed a fistful of hair, just as he began increasing speed, and you moaned incredibly loud, earning a soft groan in response from Mako. He moved both of your calves to his shoulders, and held them there by moving both arms to the back of your head, each grabbing their own handfuls of hair. You outright screamed then, your hands gripping his forearms desperately.

“Mako – fuck – yes, please, just like that! Don’t stop!”

“Anything you want, baby,” Mako said, and you could hear the grin in his voice without even having to see it. He began thrusting even harder, leaning down to lock you in a searing kiss, and the stretch in your thighs from it felt amazing.

True to his word, Mako kept at it, pounding you into the mat at a delectably swift pace. How he felt inside you was indescribable, and he was angled perfectly to hit your g-spot with every thrust. Just as his hands got another tight grip on your hair, you came once again, his name falling from your lips in a scream so loud it made your throat ache.

Mako’s release wasn’t far behind, seemingly aided by you screaming his name, as his hips began to stutter and he let out a growl, before he pulled out to finish on your stomach.

Mako flopped onto his back on the mat beside you, breathing heavily, just as you were. Still staring up at the ceiling, he reached out and held your hand, lacing his fingers with yours and giving it a squeeze.

After a couple minutes, when both of you had finally caught your breaths, Mako rolled onto his side to kiss you, before standing to throw on his boxers and grab a nearby towel. You held out your hand to take it from him, but he ignored you and dropped to one knee beside you, and cleaned his mess off of you himself. You smiled warmly at him, then he kissed your forehead, and gathered up your clothes and returned them to you. The two of you dressed in peaceful silence, before Mako pulled you into an embrace and kissed you tenderly.

“I love you, Mako.”

“I love you too,” he stated, his smile brighter than you’d ever seen.

“Want to go grab lunch?”

“Sure, as long as it’s somewhere quick,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Why?”

“Because I’m dying to do that gain,” Mako reasoned, jerking a thumb in the direction of the mat, where the two of you had been tangled together about ten minutes prior.

“Poor Mako is going to die alone.” Wu added dramatically draping himself over the two brothers attempting to get a laugh out of Mako.

“He’s right.” Mako added in a small tone, seemingly out of character.

The group fell silent looking at each other in a way that suggested they should have taken it more seriously than they initially did. But it was still pretty funny. Mako brought his head all the way up taking in the concern of his friends who are close enough to be family. Just as he was about to suggest maybe he had taken it a little too seriously Opal made her way in from cold shaking the snow off her brown hair.

“Does anyone know who this belongs to?” Opal asks lifting up a gold ring with a small ruby. Just as they were about to say no in unison Mako realises that the ring is rather familiar. He shoots a quick look to Bolin who is far too distracted by his cold girlfriend to pay any attention to a ring but Korra notices the look on Mako’s face.

“Is it her ring?” Korra asks leaning back into Asami’s arms.

“Weirdly enough I think it is.” Mako said with hope in his eyes.

“Perfect you can make up for making a complete fool of yourself by returning her property! And maybe then she’ll believe that you are an adequate paramour.” Wu adds gleefully. Mako can’t help but roll his eyes at his comment.

“He’s right Mako, who knows maybe it could be romantic.” Asami adds.

He decides that they’re right and that he should probably return the ring either way. A little more excited by the fact that he’ll be able to see you again than he’d like to admit. A wave of hope crashes through him. It hadn’t really concerned him that he seemed to be the only single person he knew but his life had started to get a little lonelier in these past months. There seemed to be things he wished to do with someone he cared for in different ways. He longed for someone who would care for him and someone who he could care for. He saw the softness that grew in Korra anytime she thought of Asami and he envied it. Mako craved the tenderness he felt to be missing.

“I’m going to see if she’s at the same bar tonight. I’ll probably be back in the next few hours.” Mako said. As he walked out of the apartment, he heard them ‘oooohh’ at him, he couldn’t help the redness from growing up his neck.

It was a short walk through republic city to the small bar squashed between a tea shop and a trinket shop, the warm light illuminates the snow that falls lightly. Taking a small breath in Mako makes his way into building the noise from the chatter surrounding him. Taking small tentative steps, he approaches the bar trying to remind himself he has no reason to be so nervous all he’s doing is return lost property. Focusing so intensely on calming down he begins to frown, creasing his forehead and becoming tight lipped. Just as he opens his mouth to ask the bar tender if he had seen you someone taps him on the shoulder. He turns quickly to see you stood there with a blush creeping its way up your neck. There’s a playful look in your eye which causes Mako to smile releasing all the tension that he was holding in his face.

“I’ll buy you a drink as long as you’re careful with it.” You laugh tilting your head before ordering you both a drink.

“Oh, well that’s very generous of you.” Mako speaks mirroring your body language.

“What brings you back?” You ask with a small smile on your lips.

“The company is definitely a plus and so is the service! I always get what I order and I… um…” he stumbles over his words mentally whacking himself.

“That is always a plus.”

Mako flushes bright red and tuns to the barman asking for another drink. Which only causes you to laugh again, a sound which Mako is growing to love. He feels you brush your hand against his arm.

“This might be a strange thing to ask but were you ever part of a pro bending team?” You ask.

“What gave me away?”

“Your brother came back here yesterday after you left, and he was really chatty. Told me all about you.”

This stops Mako in his tracks flushing an even more aggressive shade of red. Resting his head in his hands he says something, but you cannot quite hear him, so you edge a little closer. Asking him to repeat himself.

“I said did he ask to borrow your ring?”

Now it is your turn to flush red, “Yes, he said he wanted to find something for his girlfriend in a similar style. He said that he’d bring it back to me today in this bar so that’s why I was here. To be honest I was surprised you were in here.”

“He did what?”

“He was really insistent on me waiting here tonight. I am happy to see you though, I like Bolin, but I don’t think I could take anymore talk about your accomplishments on the force. They are impressive Mako don’t get me wrong but also it felt like your brother was doing a job interview on your behalf.” You cackle.

“You know my name? That seems unfair I don’t know yours.” He replies.

You say your name and he repeats it in a low tone that fills you with warmth. As he turns to face the bar you could almost swear, he says it again.

“Can I have it?” You say drawing his attention back to you. He looks confused but takes the silence that has fallen over you to take in your face, your kind eyes and your growing smile. “My ring?”

“Oh of course that’s why I’m here.” Mako responds holding out his hand where the ring sits on the top of his finger where it had been since he recognised it as yours. He had unknowingly been twisting and fiddling with it all evening. “It’s a lovely ring.” He breathes your name again sliding the ring onto your finger. It is so intimate you’re glad when his warm hands linger.

“Thank you it was my Mother’s. I like your scarf Mako it suits you.” You say keeping his hands close to yours.

“It was my Father’s.” He responds keeping inching closer to you.

Moments pass and neither of you speak but it feels oddly comfortable. You hope that he doesn’t move away from you because he has a warmth radiating from him which draws you closer. The seconds pass slower than you are used to, and you can’t stop yourself from really looking at him. He is the only thing you can focus on in this busy room. You admire the shadow his eyelashes cast on his cheek it takes everything in you to not touch him and looking into his eyes it seems as though he’s holding back a similar desire. You can see him inching closer to you so your lips are almost touching, and you can taste the heat radiating off him. Just as you go to crash into each other Mako hears a familiar voice that breaks the spell that seemed to fall over the two of you.

“I’m sure they’re still here!” Bolin booms talking to Opal over the crowd. Makos forehead rests on your bare shoulder. The contact sending a spark throughout you, you can feel Makos face heating up.

“Bolin over here.” You wave him over keeping Mako’s head on your shoulder. Bolin spots you and for a moment he seems confused not sure how his brother couldn’t find you in the bar only to then see his brothers head resting on you. Bolin’s face pales deciding whether to go talk to the two of you or to run out of the establishment and pretend it was all a dream. He was a top-notch actor of course. Before he makes the call, Opal drags him out waving at you moving ‘sorry’.

“He’s gone Mako.” You whisper in his ear. Mako looks up at you with soft eyes. Again, he says your name in a soft tone.

“Would you want to go on a date with me? I promise my brother won’t interrupt.” He asks lifting his face up to meet yours once again.

“I’d love to.”