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“Wait so what are you exactly?” Bolin asks, huddling a little closer to Opal as the cold wind picks up, tossing leaves across the dark grass. They’ve been waiting for this haunted house in the dark and the cold for almost half an hour now. It had better be worth it.
Wu groans, huddling in Mako’s jacket. He should be warm, or he could have been, if he hadn’t wanted to be the sexy version of his costume. “Mako. Tell him.”
Mako glances down at him, raising a slow eyebrow as he shifts a little closer to Wu.
“It was your idea,” he mutters, dropping an arm over Wu’s shoulders with a sigh. “Wu is a beast. The Beast.” Mako’s breath is puffing up like clouds in front of his face, practically radiating heat against Wu. The man is a furnace. A very cute furnace.
One whose cheeks are pink either from the cold or embarrassment or both. He’s been complaining on and off about the costumes Wu painstakingly made for them, but he’s still wearing the thing so how bad is it, really.
“Hold on, so that makes you,” Korra says, grinning wide, “Beauty?”
Mako huffs and tugs Wu even closer against his side. Wu huddles against him, a pawed hand running up his throat. “Yes, he is,” he pats Mako’s cheek, grinning when Mako looks away from him. “You look beautiful, baby.”
“Uh-huh,” Mako breathes. His eyes are bright. “And I’m warm. You should’ve worn actual pants.”
“But I wanted to be a cute beast,” Wu whines.
“You’re a very cute beast,” Korra grins at them.
“And Mako is beautiful,” Wu prompts her, glancing over at Mako with a soft smile. He does look beautiful, with his hair soft and the white shirt Wu made him cutting close to his strong chest, ruffles falling down the front. Wu curls their fingers together, leaning up to kiss Mako on the cheek.
His outfit mostly goes with Wu’s own cute beast costume: fuzzy booty shorts, a fuzzy vest, big paw gloves, oversized ears on a hairband, and some storebought fangs he put in for pictures and then immediately took out again. He looks pretty darn cute, and sexy, if he does say so himself.
Next year, Wu might try to push Mako further. Since apparently he’ll let Wu get away with it.
“Hm… he’s alright,” Korra says, narrowing her eyes.
“You really don’t need to tell me I’m beautiful,” Mako tells her dryly. Korra snorts and yanks Asami against her side as the group in front of them is ushered into the yawning mouth of the haunted house. They’re up next, finally, and they won’t have to just sit here shivering in the cold.
It was Bolin’s idea to do this in the first place. He’s practically vibrating with excitement while he relays to Opal all of the terrifying things they’re about to encounter.
“—and,” he says, grinning wide, “this is the first time Mako’s ever agreed to go with me! I don’t know what you did to him, Wu.”
“Mako,” Wu turns around in Mako’s arms with a wide grin, “you don’t like haunted houses?!”
“He hates them,” Asami laughs as Mako narrows his eyes, “hates most things related to Halloween, including costumes.”
“Mako!” Wu slides his hands behind Mako’s throat, warming his chilly fingers, “you didn’t tell me!”
“I don’t hate them,” Mako protests, frowning down at him. He makes no move to remove Wu’s hands, actually tugs him a little closer and pushes a kiss to the corner of his mouth. Wu would never have pegged Mako as the kind of guy who’d be so affectionate in public but Mako is full of surprises. “I would just. Rather do other things. Any other things.”
“It means he likes you,” Korra sings out, just as they’re ushered into the haunted house.
“You could have told me,” Wu murmurs, sliding his hand down into Mako’s, tangling their fingers together.
“I really don’t hate them,” Mako breathes against his ear. He squeezes Wu’s hand as they edge into the darkness. Wu can just see strobe lights flashing up ahead. According to Bolin this is the scariest haunted house in the city.
He can’t help a grin, and he tugs Mako with him further into the house.
The first room is just a spookily dressed high schooler in orange pants and way too much face paint telling them the rules of the house. Wu bounces on his toes, peering through the spiderwebs covering the doorway to the next room.
“Alright!” Bolin shouts when they’re allowed to go on. Opal laughs, holding on tight to his arm. They make an adorable Kristoff and Anna, even if their costumes aren’t sexy or scary.
To get to the next room they have first push through the spiderwebs, which Mako helpfully holds up above Wu’s head. Wu ducks under it, flashing him a grin. He’s never dated anyone quite as chivalrous as Mako.
They weave through a maze of a dark hallways, hung with things that brush their skin as they walk. Screams echo from the rooms in front of them, bouncing off of the dark walls. Korra is practically running which means they all have to match her pace, hurrying past things that drop from the ceiling just as they pass.
Mako’s hand is tight and warm in his.
All of a sudden they’re forced into an even smaller space, and then the floor is moving underneath them and there are still things brushing their faces. Just as the floor starts to even out something jumps from the shadows right in front of them.
Bolin screams, and Asami screams, and Mako’s hand goes very tight in Wu’s for a second.
Wu laughs and squeezes Mako’s hand. He glances up and his grin falls a little at the look at Mako’s face. His jaw is set, his lips tugged into a little frown. Most importantly, though, his brows are drawn together.
But then he meets Wu’s eyes and his face smooths out, and he’s the one who tugs them on into the next room.
This one seems fine at first: it’s clearly supposed to be a bedroom.
Until a woman with bedraggled black hair rises from the bed with a high pitched shriek.
Bolin jumps and Opal clings to him. Korra laughs and Asami stays close to her side, a small smile on her face. Mako does some kind of weird twitch, like he jumped, maybe as he sucks in a sharp little breath and shifts in front of Wu like he’s going to get between the bed-thing and him.
That might be the sweetest thing Mako has ever done. Wu presses his lips together, his free hand dropping to Mako’s hip and squeezing gently.
The woman lies back down and Korra darts for the next room. “Come on!”
“You good, baby?” Wu asks him softly.
“Yes,” Mako mutters, and squeezes his palm as he tugs Wu determinedly into the next room.
And that is when Wu starts to notice a trend: Mako’s hand gets tighter and tighter in his, and even when Wu isn’t impressed by spiders falling from the ceiling or things popping out of the walls, Mako jumps and presses closer. His whole body is tense, and he twiches when Wu touches him, wrapping his hand around Mako’s arm to keep him close.
In a thing that’s supposed to be a kitchen, full of flickering red light and an oven with a fake human head in it, a woman dressed like a zombie pops out of the closet right beside Mako and Wu watches in a mixture of horror and amusement as Mako’s hand flies up, his fist tight, like his first instinct was to punch her away.
But he flushes and coughs and yanks Wu very quickly out of that room, his eyes set straight ahead.
He jumps again when something drops from the doorway they pass through.
It’s like he’s scared.
Mako isn’t screaming, exactly, but he’s jumpy and his shoulders are set and he keeps letting out these tiny surprised noises. By the time they spill out of the final room and into an open space, chased by the sound of chainsaws, Mako is practically attached to Wu’s shoulders. Wu keeps his hands in Mako’s, leading Mako out of the haunted house even though Wu would rather stick around and enjoy it.
They’re out first, before Korra and Asami who are laughing and running away from the chainsaws, before Bolin and Opal, who are edging their way through the field of actors.
The cool air hits them and right on cue Wu starts shivering again. Mako was probably right about his costume, not that Wu is going to admit that. He’s more excited about getting Mako home and having a little fun with their costumes on.
Wu twists around with a soft smile. “So…”
Mako’s face is paler than Wu’s ever seen it.
“What,” he says in a stiff sort of voice. He meets Wu’s eyes only for a bare second before he looks away with a tiny frown. Wu’s smile falls. Mako isn’t scared of anything, as far as Wu knows. He’s brave and steadfast, the first one to volunteer to deal with a spider in Wu’s apartment or to glare down anyone who bothers them when they’re together. Wu tangles their hands together and tugs Mako further away from the entrance.
“You really don’t like haunted houses,” Wu says softly.
“I told you,” Mako mutters. Someone spills out behind them, shrieking and sudden, and Mako jumps beside him, his head whipping around.
“You said you didn’t like it,” Wu reaches his free hand up to touch Mako’s face, stroking down his cheek.
Mako’s scowl softens slightly as Wu’s fingers trail along his skin. “I don’t get why people even go.”
“I think they’re funny,” Wu shrugs, leaning up to kiss the corner of his mouth.
Mako turns to kiss him properly, still frowning even though his hands—so warm, so very warm—land at Wu’s bare waist. “What about having strangers touching you and jumping out screaming is funny, exactly?”
“I dunno. It’s funny that they’re trying to scare me, and that people scream,” Wu’s lips flicker in a smile. He presses in closer, “I never thought I’d see you, Mr. Tough Guy, get spooked by some guys in costumes.”
Mako’s eyes narrow again. “I wasn’t spooked.”
“You were pretty spooked,” Wu teases, hands sliding down his sides. Mako looks like he’s fighting a smile, and his face is sort of pink.
“Well I,” he breathes, leaning close, “don’t like to be jumped out at. That’s a reasonable reaction.”
“You’re taking it too seriously,” Wu nips at Mako’s lips, “you need to let loose a little, baby.”
“You need to let loose,” Mako snorts, and kisses him again, a little slower. His shoulders are finally starting to relax under Wu’s palm, even as the wind picks up cold around them.
“Whoa, hey!” Bolin shouts, “PDA!”
Wu narrows his eyes and kisses Mako harder as the rest of the group catches up to them. Korra lets out a wolf-whistle, which just makes Mako’s grip on Wu’s waist tighten until they’re pressed flush together, Wu plastered against his chest. Wu can’t help but grin against his lips.
“I didn’t think it was that kinda house,” Korra laughs, hanging off of Asami’s shoulders.
“Then you weren’t paying attention,” Wu huffs, meeting Mako’s eyes with a grin.
Mako mouths something to him that might be thank you, like Wu is going to tease him about how scared he was in front of everybody, and then says, dry, “If haunted houses all ended like this I might like them more.”
“Just stick with me, baby,” Wu laughs, nosing against Mako’s cheek.
“Ugh,” Korra sticks out her tongue at them, “we’re not that gross, right, Sami?”
“No. I have never been that gross since I dated Mako,” Asami says dryly.
“Aw, man, you’re totally right! Mako, why do you bring this out in people?” Bolin gasps, his hands on Opal’s shoulders.
“He’s a sap, secretly,” Opal says with a knowing little smile. “Runs in the family.”
“Okay,” Mako says, a little too loud. His cheeks are stained red. “We did the haunted house, mission accomplished, let’s go home before Wu freezes to death.”
“Yes, please!” Wu’s teeth are chattering even with Mako’s jacket and body heat against him. “Time for the best part of Halloween!”
“Getting trashed!” Korra crows, and Bolin joins in with a whoop.
“I’m driving,” Asami shakes her head, “and making the drinks. I can’t watch you drink punch punch for a third year in a row.”
“What is punch punch?” Wu asks, his eyes wide.
“We don’t talk about punch punch,” Mako mutters, as Bolin and Korra (at the exact same time) sigh and look at the sky. “Punch punch is a nightmare.”
“I want to try punch punch,” Wu states, and Bolin and Korra grab his arms, pulling him away from Mako.
“Once of us!” Korra starts, and Bolin joins in. “One of us! One of us!”
Wu looks back at Mako with wide eyes.
Mako just rolls his eyes and makes absolutely no moves to remove Wu from Bolin and Korra’s combined grip.
“Traitor!” Wu calls at him as he’s hustled into the car.
“Told you I should’ve been the Beast!” Mako calls back with an absolutely unrepentant grin.