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“What a day,” I sighed as I flopped down in my desk chair, bottle in hand, and kicked my feet up on the desk. Mako grunted in response from his own desk. I shook the bottle in his direction. “Care to join me? You look like you need it.”
“Nah, I’ve got a mountain of paperwork to finish.”
“Ah come on, we’re off-duty. Take a break. Relax for once.” He seemed to consider it for a moment before finally wheeling his chair over to me.
“Alright, hit me.”
Half a bottle or so later it was safe to say we were drunk. Slumped in chairs. Giggling over something we’d both already forgotten.
“Did he really try and hit on you while you had him on the ground in handcuffs?”
“Yeah, and all the way back to the station, and through questioning, and while he was taken to a cell. I swear I almost punched him just to get him to shut up.”
“I wouldn’t have blamed you. I don’t think even Beifong would have.”
“Wouldn’t have been so bad if he was cute..”
“Didn’t have you down as the type to date criminals.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me pretty boy.” I winked to make sure he knew I was joking and was surprised to find him blush at the action.
“Well,” he leaned forward, smirking, “why don’t you enlighten me.” This was a side to Mako I’d never seen, and quite frankly didn’t realise existed. I kinda liked it.
“Oh we don’t have nearly enough time to dive into my…eventful past tonight.”
“Come on, tell me a secret.“
"Alright, how’s this? I have a crush on a co-worker who could never love me back.” I shot him a grin and took another swig from the bottle when he looked taken aback.
“Who?"
"That’s for me to know and you to figure out. Good luck detective.” I winked at him again. Maybe having him as a drinking buddy wasn’t the best idea I’d ever had if I was apparently going to act like this.
“Why do you think they could never love you back?” He asked, more seriously than I’d really expected.
“Oh a few reasons,” I took another drink before passing him the bottle and counting said reasons off on my fingers as I went. “One, his ex’s, I could never compete after them. Two, he is ‘get the fuck out of here’ hot with the most gorgeous eyes I’ve ever seen.” Said eyes narrowed as he tried to puzzle it out. “So, y'know, waaaay out of my league. Three, I work with him like all the time and I know he’ll only ever see me as a friend. Four, I’m pretty sure he’s already basically married to his job. Five, I am the world’s biggest screw up who got captured by Amon’s lackeys and lost my bending. Six, I’m basically useless now because of that and he’s an amazing bender so I don’t deserve him. Seven-”
I didn’t get a chance to finish my list as his lips collided with mine. It was short, messy, and a complete shock. I forgot to kiss him back.
“Did I read that wrong?” He asked when it was over and I’d failed to do anything.
“Nope.” I didn’t hesitate for more than another moment before kissing him again, climbing into his lap with a confidence I’d never usually be able to muster.
It was as messy and uncoordinated as the first one, the taste of the alcohol thick on his tongue. Even in my drunken state I knew it wasn’t the best kiss in the world but as soon as his hands landed on me it was a thousand times better than any I’d had before. And they weren’t shy. It’s not like mine were either, but it was nice to see and feel the proof that he wanted this as much as me.
At some point I found myself laid out on my desk, shirt half unbuttoned and Mako’s lips on my skin. Through the haze in my mind one clear thought emerged. We were too drunk to be doing this right now.
“Wait.” He stopped immediately, looking up at me questioningly. I blinked, trying to clear some of the fog from my mind. “Sorry. I just…Maybe we should wait. Try this again when we’re sober and you know this is what you want.”
“I won’t change my mind but we can stop if it makes you feel better.”
“Thanks.” I smiled and leaned up to kiss him again. And he kept kissing me senseless until someone on the night shift came in and kicked us out.
“You want to get dinner tomorrow?” I asked as we walked down the street to my apartment, arms linked to keep our balance.
“Sure. I’ll pick you up at 8."
"Sounds great.” I grinned and gave him one final kiss as we reached my door and I stepped into the warm. “Don’t be late pretty boy."