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I was awoken by my phone vibrating on my nightstand, and I lean over to see Mako’s name on my screen. Why would he be calling me right now?
“Hello?” I answer softly.
“Hey.. I uh- know it’s late. Like 4am late. And it’s just that I couldn’t sleep, and I.. I don’t know I-“ Mako started to say, and I could just imagine the flustered look on his face, not knowing how to voice his feelings in a solid sentence without fumbling over his words.
I try to hide a giggle but he picked it up through the phone. “What’s so funny?” He asked, slightly hurt. I could envision his furrowed eyebrows and the crease in his forehead.
“You’re cute when you don’t know what to say.” I smile, and he lets out a huff.
“Fine, I’ll cut to the chase. I’m sort of here at your house, and I was wondering if I could come in?”
So it was him. He’s been outside of my home before but I never had him inside it. My heart leaped out of my chest. Maybe a part of me wanted something to happen, but I tried to keep it out of my head. We’re just friends.
“That was a stupid question, I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking—“
“No Mako, it’s not stupid.” I cut him off, reassuring him. “Stay put, I’ll be right there.” I get out of bed and covers, attempt to fixing my hair and clothes on my way to the door.
Suddenly, I feel myself get a little shaky, and I try to control my breathing, pausing before I reach out to twist the doorknob.
“Hi.” Mako stands before me, in his red hoodie he often wore, unzipped, with a white tank top underneath, and black sweatpants. His hair was down, and a bit disheveled, when he typically had it slicked up.
“Hey,” I exhale and cover up my shock with a smile. I usually can control myself around him but right now, at this hour, with him looking like that, I’m finding it a little hard to. “Come on in.” I gesture him inside, and he walks in with a soft smile.
“Did I wake you?” He says as I close the door behind him.
“Yeah. So there better be a good reason for you being here.” I tease him, folding my arms across my chest. “What’s been keeping you up?”
Mako gives me a sheepish smile, and rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know really. I was lying in bed since midnight, tossing back and forth for the past few hours, and to make matters worse, I ended up having a nightmare.”
“A nightmare?” I say, worried. “Do you want to talk about it?”
He bit his lip in nervousness and avoided my gaze, shoving his hands in his pockets.
“You know you can talk to me. Only if you want to.”
He meets my eyes again. “I know I can.”
I felt myself lean closer to Mako and if my eyes were playing tricks on me, it seems like he was too. I cleared my throat a little to break the silence.
“Or we don’t have to talk. If you’re worried about getting a good night’s sleep, you could stay here.”
“I-I wouldn’t want to impose…” Mako started to say.
I place a hand on his arm and he glances at me.
“I’m offering. Now come on.” I get up and gesture him to follow me to my room.
Mako trails behind me as we enter my bedroom, I close the door gently and I place myself sitting up against the headboard of my bed.
“I-I can lay on the floor if you would rather— He began to say, but I stop him before he could finish.
“Mako, it’s fine. If you want to, we can sleep next to each other, here.” I gesture to the space on my bed right next to me. I was really testing my confidence here, but I wasn’t going to let him sleep on the floor anyway.
Still hesitant, he approaches the side of my bed, removes his shoes, and sits down slowly, then lifts both legs onto my bed, leaving a small gap between us.
I shift downward to lay down facing him, waiting for him to mirror me. Silently, he lays on his side and surprisingly does decide to face me.
Although he comes off to others as a man with stern demeanor, I could see his wall coming down in front of me in this very moment.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Hm?” He hums in question.
“You could’ve went to anyone else tonight, why come to me?” I didn’t expect myself to be so straight forward already, but I needed to know.
Mako looked at me with a soft expression, and I saw him visibly swallow like he was nervous. “I wanted to see you.”
“Me?” I leaned over him more instinctively to look him in the eyes better.
“Yes, you. You make me feel safe.” He adds, his eyes not leaving mine. He exhaled deeply before continuing.
“The reason why I couldn’t sleep was because my nightmare was about me not being able to save my parents back then… and then I had another about not being able to save you.”
“Save me?”
“Yeah, someone got a hold of you, and I tried to fight them off, but then—” He closed his eyes for a moment and his breath hitched in his throat.
I move closer to him and put a hand on his cheek. He slowly opens his eyes to glance at my hand, and then my face. “I’m here, Mako. I’m alright.” I reassure him, rubbing my thumb against his skin. “And I’m so sorry you had to be reminded of your parents.”
“And it’s not just that,” He continued. “It got me thinking about my brother… I always have to look out for him. I know Bolin can take of himself now but he’s my little bro. I had to protect him all these years, alone. It all kind of dawned on me all at once recently, and it’s been keeping me up.” I could see his past lingering behind his eyes, recalling the years him and his brother had to live off on their own after their parents died.
“Bolin is lucky to have you. You’ve had to the strength to keeping going for the both of you, you’ve had to grow up so fast, and your childhood was taken from you. That’s not your fault. You did what you had to, for you and your brother.”
He brows furrow in a saddened expression, avoiding my eyes again.
“Mako,” He looks back at me, “You know you can’t always be the one looking out for everyone else… ‘cause you have me.”
Mako searches my eyes, and places his own hand on my hand, still on his cheek. “And you have me.”
I lean closer to him slowly, and I noticed him meeting me halfway. We moved closer to each other like a strong magnetic force was bringing us together. Our faces became inches apart and I could feel his warm breath on my lips as he placed a hand on my face. He then closes the distance between us completely as he plants a soft kiss on my lips. He pulls back for a moment in surprise and before he could stray away, I impulsively bring him back to me with my hands cupping his face, kissing him back with more desire. He deepens the kiss as he wraps me in his arms, bringing me as close to him as he could. A feeling came over me like I can’t bring myself to stop kissing him, almost like I might die if we stopped.
It definitely felt like I was the same for him with the way his kisses got more passionate. We repositioned our lips and our breathing quickened as his hands roamed my body and my hand travelled down his muscular chest. I ran my fingers through his hair, then gently tugged at it, eliciting a soft groan from him onto my mouth. Mako removed his jacket and let it fall onto the floor without leaving my lips, and he began to create a trail of kisses along my jaw and then focused on my neck. I returned the favor and did the same to him. I noticed his breathing instantly grow more heavy.
I tried controlling my own breathing, pausing to rest my forehead against his. I closed my eyes for a moment, then opened them back up to Mako gazing back at me with those amber eyes. I smile and kiss him softly once more. I shifted my body to face away from him, allowing him to spoon me from behind. Mako’s arms wrapped themselves around me, feeling the warmth radiating from his body. It was such a comforting feeling being embraced by him like this, in contrast to all these nights I’ve slept alone.
“You know I’ve always wanted to do this… To be here like this, with you.” He whispers near my ear, burying his face into my neck, planting a quick kiss there.
I embrace him tighter, and smiled all giddy.
“So have I.”
We lay there until the sun rose up and painting the sky a faded mix of pink and blue, and a glint of the golden sun gradually brightening a part of the sky.