Even the Stars Fall

Even the Stars Fall

Korra sauntered into the gym with bag in hand ready to begin another dreadfully early morning full of training. It had taken her a fifteen minutes to force herself out of bed and to the gym, but she was here at last. She stopped and dropped her bag to find Mako furiously hitting the punching bag in front of him like he had a personal grudge against it. He would strike with one fist and then the other, dancing lightly on the balls of his feet the entire time. He grunted as he threw a particularly heavy punch and ended in a round house kick that made the bag sway dangerously back and forth.

Sweat glistened on his forehead and the back of his neck, and she could see it had soaked into his undershirt. He must have gotten there pretty early, Korra reasoned, and he looked like he hadn't slept at all from the dark circles beneath his eyes. He was panting now and going at the bag again.

"Hey, need me to hold that for you?" she offered as she took walked forward and dodged around the flailing punching bag.

"Nah, I'm fine," he breathed in between strikes.

"Geez, what did the bag ever to do to you?" she commented as he landed another hit.

He narrowed his eyes in irritation but kept going. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," she drawled as she crossed her arms over her chest, "that it seems like you're pissed at the punching bag. Are you sure it didn't look at you wrong or something? I'll help you rough it up if you want."

"I'm fine," he repeated, his voice more annoyed than before.

Her eyebrows drew together at the tone of his voice and her arms dropped to her sides. "Mako is there something bothering you?" She knew she probably shouldn't have said anything, but she was never the type of person to just leave others alone.

"I said I'm fine, Korra," he growled as he kept punching.

"Could have fooled me."

He gave a cry of frustration and stopped, staring at her angrily. "Just leave it alone, okay? There's nothing bothering me. I'm fine." He turned on his heel and headed out of the work out area towards the locker rooms.

"Where are you going?" she yelled after him.

"To get a shower." He started walking faster.

"Yeah, right," she muttered to herself. She gave him a bit of a head start, and then followed after him.

She stuck her head into the locker room and listened for the sound of running water. There was none just as she'd thought, but she was more than little disappointed. She took a quick look around to make sure she wouldn't catch anyone in a state of undress and walked in. The room was deserted at this hour of the day, and the rows of grey steel lockers were closed. It still smelled faintly of stale sweat that made her nose wrinkle in distaste.

She looked around through the rows of lockers until she spotted Mako sitting on a bench with his elbows resting on his knees and his head in his hands. She stopped and listened. It almost sounded like he was crying, but that was impossible. Guys like Mako didn't cry. Ever. Her foot shifted, and he must have heard it because he sat bolt upright.

"What are you doing in here? This is the guys' locker room," he scolded as he turned away from her to brush the telltale signs of tears from his face with the back of his arm.

"When have you ever known me to listen to the rules?" she said lightly as she walked closer to him and sat down on the other end of the bench.

"Never. I gotta get going. I have work in a few hours, and I really do need to clean up." He got up and started to walk past her out of the room.

Her arm shot out and grabbed him by the wrist. "Stay."

"C'mon, Korra, stop it." He pulled against her hold, but it didn't give.

He sighed in frustration as she tugged on his arm and forced him to sit down beside her. "What's wrong?" she said softly and let go of his wrist.

"It's nothing like I keep telling you."

"You're lying to me," she said bluntly.

"And how do you know that?" He stared at her hard and angry. She had never seen that much emotion on his face before.

"I'm the Avatar. I know these things, okay? But I don't even have to be the Avatar to know that something is bothering you. It's written all over your face, Mako. Just tell me. I'm your friend." She moved closer to him so he couldn't avoid her eyes so easily. Their shoulders nearly brushed against each other, and she could feel the heat coming off
of him.

His shoulders slumped and his eyes softened, and she could see something giving up inside of him. He was letting a wall tumble down for her. "It's Bolin," he whispered, shame written clearly in his voice.

"What about him? He's safe. We saved him."

"Yeah, but what if we hadn't? What would have happened if we hadn't found him in time? He could have lost his bending or he could have been hurt or . . . " his mouth tightened, and he stared at the ground, unable to bring himself to say the last possibility.

"Mako, but he still has his bending, and he wasn't hurt at all." She put a hand on his shoulder and leaned forward so she could look him in the eyes. "He's fine. You figured it out, and you got him out of there."

"Yeah, but Korra what if the Equalists come after us again? What if they come after him again?" his voice grew hoarse, and he blinked rapidly a few times.

"Then we'll just kick their asses again like we did this time."

He laughed bitterly. "Spirits, I wish had your optimism, but sometimes things don't always work out like that. I'm his brother, Korra, his big brother. I'm supposed to look out for him and keep him safe, and I can't even do that."

"You're a great older brother. I know Bolin thinks so." She squeezed his shoulder empathetically.

He shook his head slowly. "I wonder what my parents would think." He looked at her fully in the face, his golden eyes intense and burning. "I didn't tell you this, and I've never told Bolin this, but my parents . . . " he took a shaky breath to brace himself, "didn't die immediately or at least my mother didn't. She spoke to me before she died. She asked me to take care of him, to look out for him. I can't fail her or him."

"You won't," she answered as she leaned closer so he could hear her.

"He's all I have left," he said brokenly, a tear leaking down his cheek as she watched him play out all the ways last week's rescue could have gone wrong.

She didn't know why she said it. It was probably a stupid move, but it just came out before she could think about it. "You have me." Then her hand moved from his shoulder to his back to his other shoulder as she looped her arm around him and gave him an awkward half-hug.

He gave a shuddering breath, and she was certain he was about shrug her off and stand up. Instead, he turned towards her and wrapped both of his arms around her so tightly her ribs creaked. She went rigid in surprise for a second before she relaxed and embraced him. He buried his face in her shoulder, and she could feel hot tears soak into her shirt.
She had never been the comforting type. She wasn't nurturing or maternal by any means, but this felt oddly right to her. It felt natural and comfortable. She smiled sadly and rested her cheek against the top of his head.

After a few minutes, the tears subsided and his hold around her loosened. She let go of him reluctantly as he sat up stiffly with a flushed face and damp eyes. He cleared his throat awkwardly and nodded as if agreeing with himself on something. "Th-thanks for that," he said quietly, staring at the floor in discomfort.

"No problem," she said sincerely.

"Listen, don't tell anyone about this. About what happened. About what I told you."

"Sure," she answered casually as he stood up, gave her one last look, and walked out of
the locker room.

Korra could only shake her head.