Chapter Text
When they're told by their parents that they’re going to spend the summer with their grandma, Mako and Bolin are both skeptical. They haven’t seen the lady for years, and from what they know she’s a weird recluse in some little town in the woods in Oregon. Their parents see them off at the bus station, and Mako rolls his eyes while swatting away his mother’s hands as she adjusts his shirt and scarf for the umpteenth time. The bus ride down is uneventful; Bolin sleeps on Mako for most of it, and Mako plays games on his DS until it dies and then spends the time counting the trees out the window as they whizz past. He tries playing the license plate game, but it just isn’t any fun on his own.
Their grandma picks them up from the bus stop in a rusty pick-up truck and the boys are forced to sit in the back due to the space upfront being used for brochures and knickknacks. Mako complains as he throws his bags in and climbs in after them, loudly discussing how unsafe he finds this. Bolin clambers in after Mako and laughs, telling Mako to calm down. Mako believes Grandma Yin is either purposefully driving over every pothole in town or she seriously needs to get her eyesight evaluated because he’s bouncing all over the place. He clings to his bags and watches with fear as Bolin stands up and spreads his arms wide. Bolin turns to smile at him, leaning over the edge of the truck, and Mako believes at that moment that he really might return home as an only child.
Grandma Yin’s house doubles as a tourist trap. She refuses to call it a trap for a few minutes before slipping up and calling it one herself. Bolin is half-listening to what she’s saying, too busy looking at the “mystical snow globe without snow.”
“Mako, look at this!” He waves it in front of Mako’s face.
“That’s just water, Bo.” Mako then turns to Grandma Yin and repeats what he’s just said, “That’s just water, Grandma.”
She waves him off and grabs the snowless snow globe out of Bolin’s hands and carefully places it back on the shelf next to another fifteen identical ones. Grandma Yin then explains to them that sure, this isn't the most morally upright way to run a business, but it is efficient. Mako supposes that’s the end of that, because Grandma Yin shuffles to the back of the room, signaling for them to follow her out.
“She’s grumpy.” Bolin sighs as he walks in front of Mako.
“You would be too if you live alone in the woods.” Mako counters.
Grandma Yin halts in front of them, causing Mako to bump into Bolin. She turns towards the boys, and Mako realizes he had thought her hearing would be as bad as her eyesight but he’s apparently wrong.
“I wish I was alone out here! I’ve got tourists passing through all the time, and the two other people that work here.” She rolls her eyes as if thinking about the tourists and her workers pains her.
“And us!” Bolin chirps up and she gives them a begrudging smile.
“Yes, Bolin, and you.”
Grandma Yin spends the rest of the tour showing them her weird exhibits and Mako feels less like he’s her grandson being shown around where he’ll be living, and more like an employee going through training. She tells them what they can and can’t touch, and if someone asks a question about the price of something, you always say it’s higher than what’s really on the price tag if they’re using cash.
They slowly weave their way up to the attic room that Mako and Bolin will be sleeping in for the rest of summer. The door blends into the wall almost completely, the wood from the door matches the wooden walls extremely well. Bolin is already sweating, and Mako feels bad for his brother, he’s never been able to deal with heat as well as Mako has. Grandma Yin opens the door for them and it creaks as it slowly opens.
The boys step into the room and a wave of cold air hits them immediately, and Mako shivers. The two beds in the room are both made of wood with a worn-in mattress on top of them, the only difference is that one bed has a headboard and the other doesn’t. Both the beds have light and dark green stitchwork quilts with matching pillows. There’s a small window between the two beds with a table underneath it; the table has a layer of dust on it with an old clock-radio and a lantern, also covered in dust. The floor looks like it’s been swept recently, and there’s a yellow rug on the ground between the beds that looks like it’s been around for a while, and a cork in the floorboard next to it covering up a hole. The beam that runs along the vaulted ceiling has several lightbulbs in it, but they’re all foggy and dim.
“This is so cool !” Bolin exclaims as he runs over to the bed with the headboard and throws his stuff onto it. Mako flinches, worried for a moment that the bed will break.
“Thank you, Grandma,” Mako says as he gently hangs his scarf up on one of the randomly placed hooks on the wall. The wall is angled and Mako doesn’t understand why there are hooks because everything is going hang wonky, but if they’re there, he’ll use them.
“I don’t know if you two are hungry, but I’m not really a chef, so there’s some kid food in the freezer downstairs.” Grandma Yin tells them as they look around the room.
“Kid food?” Bolin’s head pops up from looking under the bed.
“Dinosaur nuggets. Go-gurts. Juice boxes. Y’know, kid stuff.”
“You put… juice boxes in the freezer?” Mako asks, pausing reaching up for the window to turn around and look at his grandma.
“I wanted them cold for you kids.” She huffs out and Mako blinks at her and then slightly smiles at her. “Don’t look at me like that, I just want you guys to feel at home here, that’s all.”
“Thanks, Grandma!” Bolin beams at her from his bed.
“I’m gonna go downstairs now, but if you need anything I’ll be watching TV so just yell.” She waits for Mako and Bolin to nod at her before she exits the room and makes her way down.
“Mako isn’t this room cool! It’s like a clubhouse but already in the house!” Bolin laughs and smells his pillow. “It smells old. I love it so much!”
“It would be a lot cooler if there was a place to put my shit.” Mako frowns and looks around the room.
“Hey! Don’t cuss, Mako. It’s unbecoming.” Bolin says as he pushes himself off his bed.
“You don’t know what that means,” Mako argues.
“Maybe, but Mom says it enough that I know it isn’t good.”
Mako rolls his eyes and flops onto his bed, laying half on top of one of his bags.
“And look,” Bolin pipes up from somewhere in the room, “There is a place to put your stuff,” He says pointedly.
Mako sits up to see Bolin at the foot of his bed, in front of an open door that he swears wasn’t there before. Mako frowns and gets up to investigate it. The door leads to a small walk-in closet with a single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. It’s completely empty except for a flashlight, which Mako grabs before heading back over to his bed and dragging his bags over to put things away.
After Mako organizes everything he brought with him, he searches the room for a plug for his DS while Bolin balances on the table to look out the window; the sun has set and they can faintly hear the TV playing from downstairs. Neither of them takes Grandma Yin up on the offer of dino nuggets and go-gurts - traveling took the hunger out of them and replaced it with exhaustion.
§
Eventually, they hear Grandma Yin’s footsteps coming up the stairs to their room and she knocks twice before opening their door.
“I’m off to bed now. Goodnight, kids.” She stands just outside the room as if she’s unsure that she can enter it.
“Goodnight, Grandma!” Mako and Bolin say in unison. Bolin has jumped down from the table to give their grandma a quick hug.
She hovers near the door for a few more seconds before saying, “Okay, I’ll see you both tomorrow.” And then she’s gone, closing the door behind her.
Bolin yawns as he sits back down on his bed, and Mako looks at the clock for the first time that night.
“It’s 10:30, Bo. We should get some rest.” Mako snaps his DS shut and places it gently on the corner of the table next to him.
“But I’m not even tired!” Bolin complains, but he yawns as he says it.
Mako gives him a tired smile and pulls him off his bed, “Come on bro, we gotta get ready for bed, and then we can sleep.”
Bolin puts up the smallest protest ever as Mako drags him out to the small bathroom on the floor below them. They both look like they’re about to fall asleep in the sink as they brush their teeth, and they knock their heads together as they lean over to spit at the same time. They frown and rub at their heads and head back upstairs.
Bolin puts his pajamas on backward and just grunts when Mako points it out; he buries himself under the blankets and falls asleep in seconds. Mako sighs as he climbs into bed and tries to find a comfortable sleeping position - he envies Bolin’s ability to fall asleep anywhere. At some point, he drifts off to sleep because he wakes up with a jolt later, and he squints his eyes as he leans around to look at the clock, and sees it blinking 3:00 in red.
He blinks his eyes hard a few times and pushes himself up so he’s sitting, and he just stays still and breathes for a few moments. He’s about to lay back down when he hears something snap outside. He freezes mid-movement and holds his breath, listening for it to happen again. It’s silent for a few seconds and then it snaps again. He dismisses it as an animal, like a raccoon or bear (he wonders if there even are bears where he is) or something, but then he hears it yet again, and again, and again. It sounds like branches snapping, but it’s happening too fast for it to be an animal just walking around, and he feels something pull at his brain, telling him it isn’t.
He quietly gets out of bed, sparing Bolin a quick glance, and climbs onto the table to look out the window. He can’t see anything at first, but then he squints and he sees the trees moving. He rubs at his eyes, and looks back at the trees. They aren’t moving anymore, and he stares for several seconds before deciding it was a sleep-deprived illusion, but then he sees a tree shake and something falls out of it accompanied by the snaps, and he all but jumps off the table, landing with a thud, and then looking over at Bolin to make sure he’s still asleep. Bolin mumbles something and then rolls over, clutching his weird stuffed animal, and Mako breathes a sigh of relief. He’s breathing heavily on the ground and he can hear more sporadic snapping outside, but he doesn’t look again. Instead, he climbs back into bed, and screws his eyes shut, trying to force himself to fall asleep and ignore the noises.
§
He succeeds, somehow, because the next time he wakes up, it’s 6:30 and the sun is rising outside. He’s awake before Bolin, as usual, and assumes he’s awake before his grandma - she doesn’t seem like the “early riser” type. He gets dressed, grabs his scarf, and heads downstairs. He makes himself a breakfast of toast and orange juice - just like what he sees his dad eat - and sits at the kitchen table eating in silence.
He drinks his orange juice quickly and carries the remainder of toast with him as he wanders towards the shop and museum part of the shack. He enters through a door hidden by a curtain and stops to take in the shop in the early light. He can see dust particles hanging in the air, birds flying by the windows, and everything on display looks frozen and it feels like the shop is resting, getting ready for its day. He uses one of the wooden stools behind the cashier counter to sit on as he finishes his toast, humming while he eats. The silence is broken, however, by the bell above the entrance to the shop jingling and a person walking through.
Mako whips his head in the direction of the noise and finds himself holding eye contact with a boy a few years older than him, who looks as caught off guard as Mako feels. The boy is standing still, frozen, in a blue sweatshirt with a lacrosse stick across the front and black skinny jeans. He’s wearing beat-up black vans with red socks, and Mako notices that his nails are painted pink and the elastic in his hair matches them. Mako decides he wants to be his best friend.
“Uh…” The boy begins, standing awkwardly in the doorway. “Zuko. I’m Zuko. I do the… I work here.” Mako blinks at him, trying to think of the best way to sound cool to impress this older kid. “Wait, hold on, I work here, what are you doing here? We don’t open for, like, 15 minutes.”
Mako panics and wipes his buttery hands on his shorts and jumps off the stool. “I’m Mako! I’m Grandma Yin’s grandson, although you probably got that from me saying grandma…” He trails off and mentally coaches himself to do better. “Nice to meet you.” He sticks a stiff arm out as Zuko makes his way towards the counter.
“Yeah, nice to meet you.” Zuko laughs softly as he shakes Mako’s hand.
Zuko comes around the corner and pulls out a drawer to set his lunch, book, and sweatshirt in. Under the sweatshirt, he’s wearing a red t-shirt half tucked into his pants, and Mako’s mind is going a mile a minute trying to think of something cool to say to Zuko that would make him seem mature and amazing.
Instead of something mature and amazing, he says, “Why were you wearing a sweatshirt? It’s summer.”
Zuko shifts on his feet, like he wasn’t ready for this much socialization before the shop opened, and to be fair, he probably wasn’t. “It’s cold outside, but not inside.” And Mako nods like he’s saying something brilliant.
They fall into silence as they each sit at the counter, watching birds fly to and from the trees, and eventually one of those white transportation vans pulls up to the front of the shack, and a group of five tourists climb out. Mako’s first thought is: why would anyone ever come here as a tourist spot? And his second thought is: how dumb are they to fall for this stuff?
They enter the store and immediately make noises of infatuation. Mako looks to Zuko who’s sitting still, watching the group - all wearing matching “COLSON FAMILY TRIP OF SUMMER FUN” shirts. There’s a girl around Mako’s age staring at him across the store, and he squirms in his seat, nervously looking away and feeling his face grow hot. He looks to Zuko for some show of solidarity in feeling uncomfortable, but Zuko isn’t there.
Instead, he’s talking to the father of the group and wearing a smile that grows tighter and tighter with every sentence the other man says. He hears Zuko say the words “tour” and “$55 per person” and Mako narrows his eyes at him. What is there to give a tour on here? And for $55? A person? Mako waits and expects the man to laugh at Zuko and leave, but instead he hands Zuko his card and thanks him.
“I’m gonna need you to watch the shop while I give these people a tour,” Zuko tells Mako as he rings up his credit card. “I shouldn’t be more than, oh, 45? 30 minutes?”
“Me?” Mako turns to him and opens and closes his mouth like a goldfish. “But I’m 12! I don’t know how to work a cash register!”
“Then learn!” Is what Zuko says to him as he makes his way back to the family of five, now huddled in a corner of the shop, waiting.
The girl is still staring at him, and her siblings are slowly adding tiny rocks from their pockets to the hood of her jacket and Mako once again feels unnerved. She doesn’t seem to notice given that she’s staring at him and he doesn’t think she’s blinked once, unless she blinks at the exact same time as Mako. But then Zuko is leading the family through a curtain and her attention is dragged away as she and the rest of her family disappear through the doorway.
Mako focuses on the cash register, deciding to teach himself how to use it in the time Zuko’s gone. He can figure out punching in numbers and opening the drawer, but he can’t figure out how to print receipts, and he makes a mental note to ask Grandma Yin later. He wishes he’d brought his DS down with him, because sitting here in silence is boring.
He gets up to finally throw out the paper plate he had his toast on, and finds himself standing in front of a window, mindlessly staring out into the trees. Something about the forest here is unsettling, he thinks. When he stares at it for long enough, he feels like the world around him is muffled and he can only hear a humming. He thinks about the trees last night and feels fear and curiosity run through him. He doesn’t realize he’s made his way towards the door until he’s pushed back and shaken from his daze by Zuko hitting him with it on accident.
“Oh, sorry, Mako. I wasn’t expecting you to be just… standing behind the door.” Zuko squints at him as he holds the door open for the family to re-enter the shop.
“No, no! You’re good!” Mako is overly reassuring as he rubs at his forehead. “Doors! Am I right?” Mako attempts to lean against the door, but misses and his hand ends up in a barrel of goo labeled “Ancient Sap Squeezed From Four Leaf Clovers”. He makes a face as he pulls his arm out and tries to smoothly wipe off the green goo sticking to him.
“Yeah… doors.” Zuko nods and watches Mako struggle and doesn’t offer to help. “While you deal with that, I’m gonna go get these people to buy stuff.” Zuko shoots him a quick finger gun and then walks over to where the dad and mom are digging through a bucket of rocks that claim to have mystical powers.
Mako almost has all the slime off his arm when he feels a person standing next to him. He looks up and almost jumps at seeing the girl from earlier watching him pick at the good on his arm. She narrows her eyes at him and lifts up her hand as if she wants to touch him and Mako is frozen in place.
Then her brother shouts, “Aubrey! That won’t prove anything!” And Mako feels more confused now.
“Yeah! And you only get to make your choice ONCE!” Her sister tacks on. The two of them are standing a few yards away, whispering to each other and smirking as they stare at their sister.
Her hand drops back to her side and he notices she’s holding her phone in a vice-like grip and he wonders if her hand hurts. Mako’s mouth hangs slightly open as he tries to think of something to say to this girl, but he comes up empty. Thankfully, her dad cheerily announces that it’s time to get back on the road, and he thanks Zuko for the “amazing tour” and shakes his bag of rocks for emphasis.
As the family passes by Mako to exit, the girl waits until everyone is gone before leaning in and whispering, “My siblings told me this place is haunted and that a ghost works here. They said if I picked the wrong worker, the ghost would possess me.” She explains in a tone of voice that’s too calm for the words accompanying it, “I picked you and I know I’m right.” And before Mako can react, she’s out the door and walking to the van with her family. She climbs into the van, slams the door, and then they’re gone.
When he turns back to Zuko, he finds his grandma standing at the counter with him, counting the cash. Her hair is pulled back and there’s a green scrunchie holding it up, and it matches the green summer dress she’s wearing. She looks like a genuinely sweet old lady, and Mako supposes that’s a majority of the reason why the trap works.
“Hi, Grandma.” Mako greets her as he walks over to them.
“Mornin’, Mako. Sleep well?” She asks and looks at him over the bills she’s holding.
“Kinda…” He rubs the back of his neck, remembering the trees.
“It takes a bit of time to adjust here. This isn’t your ordinary town, you know.”
“What do you mean?” He asks and once again thinks of the snapping of the branches.
“People are just strange here, that’s all. A bit eccentric. Everyone here has some wild story they’ll try to convince you is true.” She sighs and then points at him with an index finger, “And you don’t go believing them!”
Mako’s eyebrows shoot up and he laughs nervously, “Don’t worry, I’m not gullible like Bo.”
She lowers her finger but seems unconvinced. She shares a look with Zuko and Mako wants to be in on it, he wants to know what it means, but before he can even try to ask, Grandma Yin is slamming the cash drawer shut and walking away, then Mako remembers the receipts.
“Grandma, I have a question, actually. How do you print receipts on that thing? I couldn’t figure it out.” He gestures towards the little printing part of the register.
She tsks before saying, “We don’t do receipts here, Mako.” Then she looks at Zuko, “And why don’t we do receipts, Zuko?”
Without looking up from the book he’s now reading, he deadpans, “Leave no trace.”
She nods, satisfied, and continues over to the backroom of the shop. Mako watches her drag out a box of rocks out with glitter glue on them, and then he watches her dump them into the box the man was digging around in earlier. Mako shakes his head and wonders if people actually believe they’re getting mystical, fantastical rocks.
The rest of the morning continues that way; with Zuko giving tours, Mako watching the register, and Yin walking around talking people into paying way too much for things. Then when 11:30 rolls around, Bolin enters the shop with his untied shoes and somehow already dirty shorts. He says good morning to their grandma, and then makes a bee-line for Mako when he notices him sitting next to a mysterious teenage stranger.
“I’m Bolin!” He loudly announces, never one aware of volume control. “I like sunny days and fun socks!” He then holds his fist out, waiting for Zuko to bump it with his.
Mako loves his brother, he does, but in that moment he wanted to lower his brother’s arm and run away. “Fist-bumps are for kids, Bolin.” He grimaces.
“We are kids, Mako.” He sticks his tongue out at him and looks at Zuko, waiting. Mako rolls his eyes and looks back down at what he was reading.
Zuko lets out a weak laugh and brings his fist up to meet Bolin’s. “My boyfriend fist-bumps all the time.”
Mako’s breath hitches for a reason he doesn’t understand, and he pauses turning the page in the brochure he’s reading. He looks at Zuko out of the corner of his eye and sees that his face is slightly pink now and Mako feels his grow hot just from noticing.
“A boyfriend? Like one you kiss and stuff?” Bolin’s eyes are wide and he’s looking up at Zuko in the way little kids do when they think teenagers hold the answers to the universe.
Zuko shifts a bit, uncomfortable under his gaze, “Uh, yeah. You’ll probably meet him later. He picks me up.”
“He can drive ?!” Bolin yells in astonishment.
“Yeah that’s how he gets to school and pretty much everywhere.” Zuko twists a bracelet on his wrist around as he talks.
“Man,” Bolin blows out a stream of air that blows a strand of his hair up, “He’s the whole package!”
Zuko’s laugh is a bit louder this time, and his smile wider. He nods in agreement with Bolin and goes back to reading his book. Bolin wanders off to bother Grandma, leaving Mako and Zuko alone. When nobody is in the shop, they’ve spent their time together reading in silence. Mako has read almost every brochure or souvenir packet in sight, and Zuko’s reading some book with a gold helmet on the front. They don’t talk unless Zuko asks Mako to grab him something from his end of the counter, or if Mako has a burning question for Zuko, but Mako doesn’t mind. He likes just being near Zuko, and after hearing his conversation with Bolin, he thinks Zuko is the coolest person he’ll ever meet. He isn’t sure why he feels so close to Zuko after only 4 hours, but he wants to spend all his time with him, even if they just sit and read.
§
Around 2:00, Mako can hear yelling coming from outside the shop. He looks up to see if anyone else has taken notice, but Zuko’s head is still down, and Yin is showing Bolin how to spray paper with coffee to make it look old. The yelling is getting closer and more clear, and it sounds like a girl. Then the yelling is at the shop’s door, and the bell is ringing and the yelling is in the shop, accompanied by a tired-looking boy dressed in all black.
“Hi Korra, hi Huan.” Zuko greets them without looking up.
“Korra, I’m at work now.” The boy tells her as he raises a hand in greeting to Yin and Bolin. “Inside voice now. Hi Zuko.”
The little girl, Korra, nods dutifully and follows him to the counter. She stops when she makes eye contact with Mako and redirects her route to him. She stands in front of him, hands on her hips, eyeing him over. He wrinkles his nose and sits back, doing the same to her. She looks tall, but not taller than him, and she has several ocean-themed bandaids on her face, legs, and arms. One hand is bandaged in a wrap, and the opposite side’s upper arm is wrapped up similarly. Her hair is choppy and uneven and ends at her chin, Mako guesses she cut it herself. She’s wearing a white tank top with spots on it and denim shorts and a pair of flipflops that look like they’re about to break.
“I’m Korra!” She says it with a smile and her eyes crinkle. “We’re going to be friends, Mystery Boy.”
“I’m Mako,” He leans forward again, a bit closer to her now, “And how do you know we’re going to be friends?”
“Because I said so.” She smiles once more and rolls her eyes, like it’s obvious. “Besides, what else is there to do here?”
She raises a valid point and Mako shrugs. It probably would be nice to have someone other than Bolin to hang out with all the time. Of course, he’d pick Zuko first, but he’s older and cooler, so he thinks more realistically.
“If you’re friends with me, you have to be friends with my brother.” He points out Bolin, standing in the corner organizing the “Cryptic Documents Unearthed in 1901”. He calls Bolin over, and he quickly puts down the stack of papers he’s working on in favor of Mako.
“That’s fine with me.” Korra shrugs. “I’m Korra and we,” She gestures to the three of them, “Are going to be best friends.”
“I’m Bolin and okay!” The two of them share a high-five and turn to Mako. He sighs and then extends his hands, and they high-five him.
“That’s Huan,” Korra points to the boy she had walked in with. “He works afternoons here in the summer and I walk with him to keep him company. He loves it.”
Mako leans back a bit to get a look at Huan who’s standing on the other side of Zuko. He’s a bit taller than Zuko, and part of his head is shaved and some strands are dyed green. His black shirt is covered in paint and his jeans are ripped and also black. He’s cuffed his jeans and isn’t wearing any shoes, which makes Mako frown and double-take. He watches Huan scoot behind Zuko to put his messenger bag in one of the little shelves below the counter. He grabs a sketchbook out and a pencil from the mug next to the register and takes over Zuko’s stool as he gets up.
“Wait, Zuko, where’re you going?” Mako asks as he notices him gathering his things.
“My shift’s over. Huan’s here until closing.” He writes something down on a post-it and sticks it to Huan’s forehead. Huan hits Zuko’s hand away, but leaves the post-it on for a few more seconds before taking it off and smiling at whatever he wrote on it.
“Wait your shift’s over? Does that mean-” And Bolin’s thought is cut off by someone entering the shop and singing Zuko’s name.
The boy that enters the shop is wearing a tie-dye blue crop top and black sport shorts. His hair is up in a small ponytail and the sides of his head are shaved. He has his cartilage pierced in one ear, and when he gets closer, Mako sees he has in a tiny orange flame earring. He’s also wearing weirdly complicated-looking sandals that criss-cross up to his mid-calf. Mako thinks he’s pretty, and then frowns at himself.
“Hey, Sokka.” Zuko waves over his shoulder. “I’ll be done in a sec.”
“You’re Zuko’s boyfriend?” Bolin asks as the other boy rests his elbows on the counter next to them.
Sokka’s grin almost splits his face in two as he beams at Zuko, “Aw, babe! You talk about me?”
“I mentioned you once . Don’t let it go to your head.” Zuko chastises as he walks around the counter to stand next to his boyfriend. He’s tied the sweatshirt around his waist and is leaning against Sokka’s side.
“I’m worth talking about all the time, actually.” Sokka counters as he wraps an arm around Zuko’s shoulders.
“Zuko I’m gonna miss you.” Bolin pouts and Mako thinks that he needs to tell Bolin to filter himself a little, it’s only been a day - you can’t just say these things.
“Ah don’t worry, buddy. He’ll be back tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that and the day after that. He’s here until he leaves, basically.” Sokka kisses the side of Zuko’s head. “He brings in all the money, and I look pretty.” Bolin laughs at that.
“Is that Sokka?” comes Yin’s voice from the backroom. Everyone’s eyes dart over to her as she enters the room and sets her eyes on him.
Sokka throws his arms in the air like he’s celebrating and exclaims, “Yin, baby! How are ya!”
“I thought I told you-” She starts towards him with that same finger she pointed at Mako earlier.
“Ah! It’s past 2:00! I can be here! Zuko’s off work!” Sokka dramatically gestures to the crooked clock hanging above the door.
“He’s right.” Huan supplies from his stool, and Yin narrows her eyes at him. He just shrugs at her and continues drawing.
“It’s fine, Yin. We were leaving anyway.” Zuko grabs Sokka’s hand and begins to pull him towards the door.
“Wait! I never got their names!” Sokka shouts and points at Mako and Bolin.
“Mako, Bolin,” Zuko points at each boy respectively, “They’re here for the summer and they’re Yin’s grandkids, okay let’s go .” Zuko tugs on his hand again and Sokka gives them a two-finger salute as he’s dragged out the door.
“I like him!” Bolin announces to nobody in particular.
“Yeah, he’s cool.” Huan agrees. “Loud. But cool.”
“You all have bad taste. If you need me, I’ll be in the tree grove regluing faces to the trunks.” Yin huffs as she grabs her supplies and then leaves the shop.
The silence in the shop lasts for a few seconds before Korra and Bolin are trying to look at Huan’s sketchbook and asking him questions about it. He snatches it away from them, batting at Korra’s grabby hands and telling them to shoo.
“Huan!” Bolin’s eyes get huge and he says, “We never really introduced ourselves! I’m Bolin, and that moody guy down there is my brother, Mako.” He pushes himself up on the counter to be closer to Huan’s face
“Yeah. I heard from Zuko.” Huan gently pushes down on Bolin’s shoulders until his feet are back in the ground and Huan has his personal space back.
“Huan, what’re you drawing please tell us!” Korra pleads with him, and once again the sketchbook is ripped away from her.
“Stop! You’re worse than Opal, honestly.” He blows some hair out of his face. “Why don’t you guys like, go outside or something. Why’re you even in here?”
“Like the woods?” Bolin asks and points towards the trees.
“Yeah. Go explore, find cool sticks or something.” Huan suggests.
“Okay! C’mon Bolin! Mako,” Korra slams her hand over the pages he was reading, “You’re coming too.” And when Mako opens his mouth to protest, Korra shakes her head and takes the brochure. “‘Gravity Falls and You: The Guide to Staying Upright in an Otherwise Upside Down Town’? Mako, if you want to get to know the area, the best way to do that is by exploring! And lucky for you two, I’m great at it.” She stuffs the brochure in a pocket, and waits for Mako to hop down and stand with her and Bolin before leading them out of the shop. They wave goodbye to Huan as they leave, and then they’re out in the summer air.
Korra and Bolin lead the way, with Mako following behind them. Korra rambles on about some local legend that the birds here aren’t really birds, and Bolin is engaging with her like it might be true. Mako veers off the small path they’ve been following and finds himself surrounded by trees in a weird square pattern. He can’t see Bolin or Korra anymore, and he can’t hear them either.
His heart rate picks up and he shouts for them, but doesn’t hear anything in response. He didn’t think he went that far off the trail, but he can’t see anything familiar now. He’s lost in some forest he doesn’t know, in a small town in Oregon and he’s going to die here. In his panic, he trips over a log and lands on a bed of moss. He puts his hands on the ground to push himself up and feels something click under them. He freezes, unsure of what just happened.
He shifts to kneeling and gently removes his hands from the ground. He hears another click. He picks at the moss, carefully clearing it away, and brushing dirt aside, searching for what clicked. After a few seconds, his hands hit something cold and metal. He gets rid of the rest of the dirt to find a metal platform under him, with two small, darker-colored squares on either side of it. His hands hover over the squares and he guesses that’s what he hit when he fell. He looks around, and doesn’t notice anything different with his surroundings-- still the same old creepy woods-- and he makes the impulse decision to press down again, but harder.
He feels the click the same as the first time, but then there’s a second one followed by the sound of something sliding open. He lifts his neck to see what’s opened, and finds the log in front of him split in half now. He removes his hands without thinking and scoots over to the log. The inside is metal, and when Mako knocks on the outside, it sounds like metal too. Within the log, well he supposes it’s more of a metal tube, he finds a book with a worn-in red leather cover and an odd handprint across the front. The number 2 is written across the palm of the hand and the edges of the book look like they’ve been beaten down a bit.
He picks up the book and is about to open it when he hears his name being yelled. He jumps up, accidentally knocking the log closed, and shouts back into the forest. He hears his name being yelled again in response and Mako shouts that he’s in the clearing. He looks down at the metal platform and notices that the squares have popped back up. He isn’t sure why, but he covers up the metal pad before yelling for Bolin and Korra again.
“Mako!” Bolin breathes a sigh of relief as he throws himself into his brother’s arm. “I was so worried!”
Mako furrows his eyebrows. It had only been a few minutes. “It wasn’t that long, Bo.” Mako comforts him as he rubs his back.
“Uh, yeah it was. Mako, it’s almost 4:00.” Korra points up, and Mako notices the sun is far lower than it was when they went in. How did he not notice that? “We went back to the shack a few times, hoping you went back there, but nobody had seen you. Yin was ready to send out a search party.”
“Huh.” Mako frowns at the sky. “I could’ve sworn it was only a few minutes.”
“Well it wasn’t and I-- wait. What is that? Where did you find a book?” Bolin questions and points at the book in his hand.
“Yeah hold on, where’d you get that?” Korra puts one hand on her hip and cocks her head to the side.
“I found it under some stuff, I dunno. Just thought it was cool.” Mako explained, not wanting to share the cool thing he’d found just yet.
“Hm.” Korra hums in response, “Not entirely sure how that works but okay.” Mako just shrugs. “Anyway, c’mon, we gotta get back. Yin’s been worried.” And with that, Korra starts on her trek back to the shop.
Bolin holds Mako’s hand as they walk back, and he’s squeezing really tight. Mako suddenly feels awful that he had spent hours looking for him. If Bolin had been missing for two hours, heck even 30 minutes, Mako would have had a panic attack.
“How did you even find that place?” Korra asks from up front, not turning around. “I’ve never seen it.”
“Oh, uh, I just kinda walked into it. It wasn’t hard.” Mako answers and frowns a bit. “I thought you had explored every inch of the forest, Korra.”
“Yeah, I have! That’s why I’m so confused.” She grumbles and then pushes her way out of the forest and into the sun in front of the shack. “Well,” She turns to face the boys, “Not that this hasn’t been fun, y’know searching for you, Mako, but I gotta get home. I’ll see you guys tomorrow!” And with a wave and a smile, she takes off running down the road, her flipflops smacking with every step.
“That was weird, what she said about the forest.” Bolin wonders out loud.
“Yeah… it was. I’m sure she just overlooked it though.” Mako assures him as they step inside the shack, the book tucked under his arm.
He’s first hit on the shoulder and then hugged and then hit again by his grandma when she sees him and the affection is kind of shocking to Mako. Huan tells him he’s glad he’s okay and that he was about to call his mom and weird cousin to go looking for him and Mako smiles, unsure what they could’ve done to find him that Bolin and Korra couldn’t; more bodies looking, he supposes. His grandma quickly hurries to the phone to call the police station in town and tell them he’s okay, and Bolin hasn’t stopped holding his hand. Nobody mentions the book he’s holding behind his back.
§
Later that night, when Bolin is fast asleep, Mako pulls out the book and rests it on his lap, ready to read it. He turns the lantern on as low as it’ll go and watches Bolin to make sure he’s still asleep, before going to open the book. His hand gently smooths over the cover and a thin layer of dust comes off of it; he opens the cover, but before he can read anything, his grandma is knocking at the door and entering the room.
He quickly shoves the book under his covers, still unsure as to why he feels like he has to hide this from people, and shuts off the lantern.
“Mako, you scared me earlier.” She whispers as she sits at the foot of his bed. He nods, even though she probably can’t see him too well in the dark. “You have to be careful,” She warns, “The woods, that forest, it’s not like any other forest you’ve been in.”
“How do you mean?” His voice is small when he speaks and he hates that he sounds like a scared kid.
“There are rules to this forest, Mako. You have to be careful where you step and who you talk to, is all. Be aware of your surroundings and it’ll be okay.” She reaches over and pats his knee. “What I mean is, the forest is big and dark and nobody, no matter what she claims, has seen all of it -- it’s like the ocean. Just be careful from now on.” And Mako thinks she sounds scared for him for a second.
“Okay, Grandma.” He murmurs back. “I’ll be careful.” He promises.
“Thank you, Mako.” She pushes herself and walks to the door. “I’m glad you’re home and that you’re safe. Goodnight.” She gives him a smile and he waves back as she shuts the door.
He hears her walk down the stairs and when he’s sure she’s down them, he pulls out his book and flicks the lantern back on. He pauses for a moment, waiting for something else to interrupt him opening it and finally reading what’s inside, but he’s met with silence.
He opens the book and begins to read under the cover of night.