Chapter Text
The following day, Mako’s thoughts were occupied predominantly by concerns for Wu and curiosity over the phone call he’d had with Korra. Who on earth was the voice asking “Who was that?” in the background, and why did he think it sounded like Wu? Was it just his imagination? Or was Wu actually with Korra at the time? But if that was the case, why was he with Korra? These thoughts pestered him all throughout the night, and even now that he was at work and tasking himself with reading through fairly important case files, he still couldn’t clear his head. He had been sitting at his desk for hours, and couldn’t bring himself to concentrate on anything for more than a few seconds before Wu popped into his mind.
During one of the occasions that Mako snapped himself back into reality, he happened to zone into a voice coming from the radio on his desk. He recognized it as one of the alerts that the officers received whenever a crime was reported in the city; this time, it sounded like a group of robbers getting violent downtown. It’s been a while since I got to bust up something like that, Mako thought absently. As he listened to the voice repeat the report, he unconsciously felt a sense of longing bubble up inside of him.
By chance, Lin was passing by on the way to her office when the call came in. “Chief Bei Fong-!” Mako blurted out to her. His eyes widened when she turned her uninterested attention to him. He hadn’t really meant to call her name, he just reacted instinctively… Well, she’d be even more irritated if he just told her “Never mind” and distracted her for no reason, so he figured he may as well continue. He cleared his throat. “...do you know if anyone has already headed downtown to take care of those robbers?”
Lin raised an eyebrow. “No, I wasn’t exactly monitoring that… Why do you want to know?”
Mako felt himself sweat under her skeptical stare. “Well, I was… wondering if, you could permit me to respond to the call-? Go to the scene…”
He wanted to disappear as Lin’s gaze turned even more incredulous than it already was. Why was he making this request, anyway-? ...he knew why: if he had to sit there in a befuddled daze for any longer, he would go crazy. He needed some action to take his mind off of… him. “...are you feeling alright, Mako? I’m not sure if you realize this, but you haven’t been a cop for YEARS now.”
“Well, yes, I know that, but….” Fortunately for him, Mako didn’t need to explain himself any further. Just seeing the desperation and discomfort in his face was enough for Lin.
“Fine, fine, I don’t care. Do what you want,” she sighed. “Just make sure those files get done on time.”
Mako’s eyes widened, honestly surprised that Lin was granting him permission so easily. He stood from his desk without being aware of moving at all. “Thank you, Chief-! I’ll be going, then…” he breathed. Lin muttered a “hmph” in response and disappeared into her office. Gradually smiling to himself, he hurried to the garage in which the police cars were parked. Finally, a distraction, he thought in relief as he slipped into the driver’s seat of one of the available cars. He was hoping that that would be his final thought on the topic at least for the rest of the day.
He was terribly mistaken.
~-~-~-~-~-~
Whether or not any other policemen were responding to the call, Mako was the first to arrive on the scene. It was exactly how he had imagined it would be: a group of rowdy street thugs were smashing windows, stuffing their pockets with goods, and brawling with people that seemed to be defending the shop. Mako shouldn’t have had any reason to smile, yet, he did. A part of him missed dealing with this sort of rush…
However, that unjustified smile was gone in the blink of an eye when his own eyes focused in on the center of the chaos. Two of the thugs- non-benders, he determined from the way they fought- were ganging up on someone considerably scrawnier and better-dressed than them. ...someone tan-skinned, with slick dark hair and a nose too big for his boyish face. Someone that looked an awful lot like Wu.
All within the same split second, Mako’s head spun, knees felt weak, heart throbbed, and stomach churned. He wasn’t losing his mind yet: it was Wu.
Shockingly, he seemed to be holding his own fairly well. He did receive a few blows to the chest and face that made Mako flinch; though for the most part, he dodged most of their swings, recovered from the hits he didn’t dodge, and even managed to land a few hits of his own. Something about the way he was fighting, so lightly on his feet, seemed… familiar. Regardless, Mako wanted to call out to him the moment he got out of the car, but his mouth had suddenly become very dry and the words fell apart in his throat. Besides, backup had arrived, and the robbers noticed. “Oy, shit, the cops are here!” one of them called out. The brigade gave a collective agitated groan, and began to disperse. However, even though his opponents had dropped him and turned tail, Wu still wasn’t done.
“Hey, come back here! I’m not finished with you!” he called defiantly. Although he dismissed it as his imagination, Mako could have sworn that for a split second, Wu glanced over his shoulder and made eye contact with Mako. “....hey!” he repeated, louder this time.
He got what he wanted: one of the thugs paused and turned around. Unfortunately for Wu, unlike his previous attackers, this man was a bender, and with one irritated stomp of his foot, the ground rose up abruptly from beneath Wu and knocked him off his feet. As Wu lay moaning on his back, one of the men making his way out of the destroyed store made sure to give him a rough kick as he passed.
Mako’s body acted before his voice returned to him. He bolted to the criminals, summoning a palmful of fire in each hand and chasing them into the path of gathering police cars. Soon enough, they were surrounded.
Without a moment of hesitation, Mako extinguished his flames and rushed to Wu’s side, supporting him as carefully as possible with one hand around his waist and the other behind his shoulders. Perhaps he should have lingered to see if the other cops needed his help in apprehending the thugs, but their very presence disappeared as his mind honed in on Wu; in fact, the only thing on his mind was Wu, bloody and beaten and there with him, flinching in his arms.
“Are you okay?!” Mako asked frantically, scanning Wu’s body for any significant fractures. Wu squeezed one eye shut.
“...Mako…? Is that you…?” he whispered.
Mako’s level of worry and panic increased with every second. “Yeah, it is, it’s me! But are you alright, Wu? Are you bleeding anywhere? Is anything broken?”
Wu closed his other eye, and with a groan, sat up gradually. “I’m fine, I think… I just got the wind knocked out of me, is all…”
It certainly didn’t look like Wu was fine; but Mako was willing to take his word for it for the time being. Mako bit his lip and drew in a heavy breath, allowing himself to calm down. “What were you thinking? Why were you trying to fight those guys? You should have left it up to the authorities…”
Although Wu had opened his eyes, now, he refused to look into Mako’s face. “....not telling,” he huffed. Mako let out a frustrated sigh. It seemed Wu still had a childish side to him… “So much for Korra’s training sessions…” Wu mumbled after a brief pause, barely audibly. This made Mako perk up slightly.
“Wait, what did you say?”
Wu’s eyes widened and he glanced at Mako nervously. “Uh, n-nothing!” he insisted. “I didn’t say anything. You must be hearing things…”
Mako raised an eyebrow suspiciously. “You said something about training with Korra.” Wu’s shoulders slumped defeatedly.
“...when we went out to eat, that one time, and Asami and Korra were there…. I, sort of asked Asami what I could do to impress you," he admitted. "Or, should I say, to woo you. Get it? Because my name is-” Wu caught Mako’s eye for a moment and coughed awkwardly. “...anyway. She told me that you like a person that can hold their own, so I decided I needed to toughen up. I knew I couldn’t do it myself, so I asked Korra to help train me. ...honestly,” he added, “I was kind of relieved when you asked me to stop with the gifts. Because then I could take the time I would have spent shopping, and use it to train more!”
Mako could hardly believe what he was hearing. ...yet, somehow, it made perfect sense. “...but I still don’t understand. Why did you fight the robbers? You must have known they were way out of your league. You couldn’t get any stronger if you ended up getting all your bones broken by them…”
Wu laughed lightly, scratching his cheek. “I guess I got kind of big-headed since I started showing progress in the training… When I saw the robbery go down, I thought that if I caught them by myself, and word got out about it, you would be proud of me!” An embarrassed blush dusted Wu’s cheeks. “...but I messed up.”
Part of Mako felt irritated and mad at Wu; but most of him just felt bad for him, and maybe even a little bit… proud. “You didn’t need to put yourself in danger for me… I was worried sick,” Mako sighed. Wu’s eyes widened, a flattered smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
“...you were… worried about me?”
Immediately regretting having said anything, Mako shook his head and ignored the feeling that he was blushing. “You need to be cleaned up… I’ll take you back to my apartment,” he decided quickly. “Can you stand?”
“Um, maybe…” Leaning most of his weight onto Mako, Wu precariously got to his feet, flinching as Mako tried to position him upright. He limped to Mako’s police car, one arm around Mako’s shoulders, and plopped as gently as possible into the passenger seat.
Mako still had a plethora of questions for Wu: what type of training he did, why he was so determined to prove himself to Mako, why he didn’t call Mako at all over the past few weeks... However, by the time Mako climbed behind the wheel, closed his door, and inserted the keys into the ignition, the former prince had fallen unconscious.
~-~-~-~-~-~
Bolin wasn’t home, leaving Mako and the injured Wu by themselves. Wu didn’t wake up until Mako had already applied medicine to his cuts and wrapped a bandage around his head, and the first words out of his mouth were: “I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?” Mako knew perfectly well why he was sorry; it just felt courteous to pretend that Wu had nothing to apologize for. He bandaged Wu’s arm without looking at his face (but he could still tell that Wu was frowning pitifully).
“For being so stupid, and messing up so bad… I’ll try something different,” he promised.
Mako paused before snipping the bandage, and groaned. “You don’t need to try anything different. In fact, you should stop trying.”
“I’m not a quitter!” Wu snapped, suddenly transitioning from defeated to defensive. “I’m going to keep trying until you-”
“Wu,” Mako interjected. His voice was loud and stern enough to make Wu clamp his mouth shut immediately. He hesitated before speaking again. He had a feeling that he knew what he wanted to say, but he was uncertain as to whether or not it was the right thing to say. Deep inside, it seemed right, but he still couldn’t be sure that it was the truth… Nonetheless, he decided that if he was going to say it at all, now would be the best time to do it. He silently inhaled a deep breath. “You can stop trying, because I….” He felt his face heat up. “...I already have feelings for you. I think,” he mumbled.
Wu’s mouth fell agape, his eyes bulging. “...you… What-?” he whispered incredulously. Mako covered his face with one hand.
“Don’t make me say it again…” he muttered, squeezing his forehead. With a gasp, Wu excitedly jumped to his feet, but cried out in pain before he could exclaim anything. Mako instantaneously dropped his hand, concern replacing the humiliation in his face, and hurried to gently help Wu sit back down. “Watch it, don’t push yourself...” Mako warned.
“Sorry,” Wu apologized again with a sheepish smile. Mako almost smiled back at him; but then he realized just how closely together they were sitting, and quickly scooted to a different couch cushion with his face burning.
“...sooo, if you like me…” Wu ventured, “Would you want to try dating me?”
Mako felt his stomach lurch. What had he gotten himself into… Did he want to DATE Wu? It felt disgustingly impossible… ...and yet, he felt his heart fluttering in a way that wasn’t necessarily bad. Wu really did seem to care about him, and he was so dedicated to becoming a better person…. He had to give him a chance. “...I… Sure. I’ll give it a shot,” he sighed after a moment of final consideration.
The shock on Wu’s face made it clear that he wasn’t expecting a yes. He opened and closed his mouth several times, spluttering in awe, before he found the right words to say. “I’ll be the best boyfriend you could ever ask for!” he vowed passionately and with sincerity.
Suddenly, his demeanor softened. “...oh, but can I ask for one more teensy favor?” he asked timidly. Mako only raised his eyebrows in response. For a moment, it seemed like Wu was going to say more, but then he acted instead: closing his eyes, he leaned forward (as much as his aching body would allow) and pecked Mako’s lips.
His lips were inexperienced and nervous, and also tasted a little like blood; still, it wasn’t a bad kiss. When Mako caught himself thinking his, he promptly pulled away before he could enjoy the kiss too much.
He was almost afraid to look at Wu once he opened his eyes. “W-what the… hell was that-?!”
Wu immediately looked incredibly guilty. “S-sorry-! Sorry, I’m sorry, I should have asked first… I’m sorry-!” he squeaked, burying his face in his hands.
“....no, it’s… okay,” Mako assured him reluctantly. “...I kind of liked it,” he muttered.
Wu’s face popped up from his hands, and he grinned from ear to ear. “Really?! Well! There’s more where that came from~” he sang happily. His teasing grin then softened into a sincere smile. “But… I won’t give you a hard time, from now on. I want to make you as happy as you make me.”
It sounded so cliché, and yet, Mako wasn't embarrassed to hear it. In fact, he felt kind of... flattered, and he believed Wu's words. He really had proved himself to him…
Mako hesitated, and then gave Wu a kiss on the cheek.