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Bolin swatted his hand away from his mouth as he realized he was starting to bite his nails again. But when he didn’t do that to distract himself his leg started to restlessly jiggle again and the other restaurant patrons were starting to give him weird looks. He didn’t know why he was so nervous about this; he logically knew he didn’t have anything to be nervous about, but there was still a nagging doubt in the back of his mind that reminded him he had no clue how Mako would react to this. He was starting to think maybe he shouldn’t have done this there, even if Nasooks was their old stomping ground. Even though it was still technically relocated and remodeled a block over from its original location after Kuvira’s attack on Republic City, but it still had the same comfortable relaxed vibes that it always had.
When he looked up, he saw Mako finally walk through the door but his heart dropped a bit when he saw Korra and Asami walk in behind him. Bolin had planned it to be just him and his brother. He wasn’t necessarily upset about their unexpected presence, they were his best friends too, but it was a wrench in his plans that inexplicably increased his nerves.
“Mako, hey! Hi you guys!” He stood up to greet them.
“Hey Bo! Korra and Asami were at the station to talk to Chief Beifong, so I invited them along to lunch.” His Big Brother Senses, always activated, must have seen something in his eyes because he hesitantly added on “Is that… okay?”
“What?! No, it’s fine, totally fine, no problems with that here.” He waved his hand around as he rambled and ignored the concerned look Korra and Asami shares. “Always happy to see you guys!” He enveloped them in a bear hug.
“Are you sure, because-" Asami started to say.
“No! Wait, yes! Um, I mean, you guys are totally fine to stay. I mean it.” He gestured to the booth and again ignored the looks being passed between Korra, Asami, and Mako about his weird behavior as they sat in the booth. Normally when it was just the 4 of them, Korra and Asami sat in the middle and Mako and Bolin sat on the outside. But this time he squeezed himself in beside Mako, making everyone confusedly slide over which left him and Korra on the outside this time.
“Bo, are you sure you’re okay?” His brother had always known how to read him like a book.
“Yeah, and what’s that box you’re hiding by your foot?” Korra nodded her head towards the box he had tried to temporarily hide on the floor.
Bolin sighed and turned to his big brother beside him. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry, Mako.”
“For what?!” His Big Brother Senses must be setting off alarm bells in his head, because now he looked super concerned and mildly horrified.
“I know the past few years when I was working with Kuvira I wasn’t really the best brother, and I didn’t really write you as much as I should have, -"
“Bolin it’s okay, you really don’t have to-"
“So,” He powered through his objections. “I wanted to make it up to you, with a belated birthday gift, because I can’t remember if I wrote you a happy birthday or not this year, but either way, Happy belated Birthday!”
“Bro… My birthday was 9 months ago. I’m not upset about it, and you know I’ll always love you no matter what. You really don’t have to do that, you can just like, roll it into the next one.”
“I know you don’t expect me to, but I want to.” Bolins voice began to choke up a bit. “When we were growing up you always took care of me, you’d let yourself starve so I could eat, when we would run cons, you’d always play the bad guy so I could be the hero, you agreed to train to be a pro-bender and leave the Triads because I wanted to train with Toza.” He placed the box in front of his brother. “You’ve given up so much for me Mako, and I want to try and give something back to you."
“Bo, it’s not a debt that needs to be repaid, I did it because I love you.” Makos voice was beginning to crack with emotion too, his ears starting to turn pink like they did when he felt embarrassed or bashful.
“And I love you too, so open up your present.”
Mako sighed and gave in. He carefully lifted the lid off the box and parted the decorative tissue paper while ignoring Korra’s encouragements to just rip it open already. His fond eye roll at her was interrupted as his eyes opened wide and he gasped when he caught sight of what was in the box. He slowly lifted out the freshly repainted wooden turtleduck with wheels like it was made out of glass that could shatter at any second.
“Bo, it's-I…" It was actually startling at how quickly tears started to fill his eyes, especially when he considered he couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen his brother cry. He ignored Korras not so quiet whisper to Asami of “Why is Mako crying over a toy turtleduck?”
“I heard about this family that had evacuated and when they came back all their stuff was gone,” He started to explain. “but a few months later they actually found most of their stuff in a pawn shop. I knew it was a long shot, because my memories are really really really fuzzy and it’s been almost 15 years but I thought maybe… that maybe something would stick out or trigger some subconscious memory or something. It took me a while to just find this, but I'm pretty sure you punched one of our neighbors once because he tried to take it and tell you ‘turtleducks are for babies.’”
“And you found one that looks just like it.” Mako sniffled, very obviously trying to hold back tears. Bolin shook his head.
“Look on the bottom.”
His brother flipped it over to reveal the bottom of the toy with the name ‘Mako' carved into it, in the simultaneously painstakingly precise but messed up wonky way that only a 6-year-old could master.
“It- it still has the burn m-mark on the bottom from when I f-first bent fire. Bo…I-” His older brother, now openly weeping without a care in the back corner of Nasooks, practically tackled him with a hug, at least as best as he could sitting side by side in a booth. “Bolin, I… don’t k-know what to say… e-except thank you.” He whispered in between sobs. They stayed like that hugging and crying for a little bit, Bolin holding his brother as long as he wanted and didn’t let go until Mako began to pull away.
“But it looks so new.” He wiped a stream of tears off of his cheek with the palm of his hand. “It actually looks even better than I remember it.” He laughed wetly. Bolin made a sound somewhere between a chuckle and a sob.
“Well once I explained to the owner of the shop why I was sobbing over a beat-up toy in the middle of her store,” Mako snorted. “she said she used to do restoration too but stopped when she got older because it hurt her hands too much. But she said she this was something worth making an exception for.”
“You-I-" His older brother couldn't seem to find the words to say as he looked between the turtleduck and Bolin, unsure of how to feel. Bolin knew there was a part of his brother that didn't think he was worth any exceptions, that didn't deserve nice things or nice people in his life, but Bolin knew that treacherous voice seeding self-doubt in Mako’s brain was wrong and he had determined himself to prove it.
“You don't have to say anything bro, just know that I love you and I'll do anything for you.”
“I love you too Bo, you know I'd do the same. “He sniffled and looked down at the turtleduck toy with reverence. Another sniffle across the table reminded them they weren't alone. The severity of Mako's warning look was greatly diminished with tears still streaming down his face.
“’Sami. Korra. Don’t you do it. Don’t- its bad enough I'm crying you guys, seriously.”
“Exactly!” Korra was wiping away tears already, but her voice was in that higher pitch where she was attempting to hide the fact. “If you’re crying, how do expect the rest of us not to bawl our eyes out?”
Asami had a hand covering her mouth, her eyes scrunched up in a losing battle against her owns tears. She lost the battle very quickly as she took a shuddering breath and began to fan her eyes with her hands like it would dry her eyes.
“It’s just… such a cute little turtleduck.”
“I know,” Mako laughed wetly again. “I got it for my birthday. I took it almost everywhere with me, I even took it to bed with me.”
“Awww.” Korra and Asami whined in unison. They were interested when Nasook himself came up to the table with a loaded tray and began distributing bowls loaded with noodles and dumplings and sweet cakes. Way more than they normally would have ordered, even with Bolin and Korras combined voracious appetites.
“Wait, but we never ordered.” Mako sniffed and quickly tried to get himself together. He blinked in surprise at the bowl placed in front of him. “Wait I thought the smoked sea prune stew wasn’t on the menu anymore?”
“Eh, you kids have been coming around long enough that I know your favorites by heart. And you’re worth making the exception for. On the house.” He winked. Bolin wasn’t sure if he had overheard part of the conversation, since he realized that he had chosen the back booth for privacy but hadn’t realized how close to the kitchens he was, or if the phrasing was just some weird coincidence, but either way Makos face scrunched up as he tried and failed to fight off a new wave of sobs.
“Thanks.” He tried to huff out between sobs.
“Uh, don’t worry about it kid. Like I said on the house. Enjoy I, uh, guess.” Nasook said clearly caught off guard and uncomfortable at his usually serious stoic tough ex-probender, but still a bit of a nerd, regular bursting into tears over free food. “I’ll, uh, just be in the kitchen if you kids need me.”
Bolin and Asami, as the only ones with any capacity to speak with a normal voice, thanked him as he escaped into the kitchen.
“Fuck, sorry.” Mako managed after a couple of minutes. “See? This is why I don’t cry, because I got started and now, I can’t stop. I’ll probably be crying the rest of the damn week, how am I supposed to go to work like this?” He joked.
“Don’t worry about it bro, we’ve got you.”
Asami nodded. “No judgements here.”
“Yeah, we fight together we cry together!” Korra pumped a fist into the air, making Mako laugh.
“That’s should be the new team slogan! Team Avatar, we fight together we cry together!” Bolin excitedly high-fived Korras as Asami and Mako simultaneously groaned. “Please don’t.”
“The team that fights together and cries together stays together?” Korra sheepishly suggested.
“How about just no team slogan? I’m pretty sure Team Avatar sort of speaks for itself. I mean, you’re the Avatar, what else is there to say?” Makos voice had turned rough from crying.
“Hmm, you're right. I think it would be way cooler if we had a team theme song!” Bolin countered. Asami and Mako groaned in unison, a bit louder than the last time.
“I beg of you, please, no.”
“Ugh, fine. No theme song.” Korra huffed a she crossed her arms as Asami breathed a sigh of relief. Team slogans and theme songs no longer being debated Mako started to dig into his stew, but paused when Korra spoke.
“Wait-hold on,-"
“No team cheers either!”
“I wasn’t about to say th- okay we’re gonna table that one for the future actually because that sounds so fun-"
Mako slammed the palm of his hand to his forehead, annoyed at himself for giving her the idea.
“But what I was going to say was: does this mean you’ve gotten the same gift for your birthday twice now?”
He stared at her for a moment, then snorted, then started to chuckle, which then turned into a full-on belly laugh. As Mako clutched his sides in laughter, Bolin could faintly remember something from when he was little. A brief moment while he was trying to wiggle out of his mom’s arms, as Mako lay on the ground arms clutching his sides and laughing uncontrollably as their father tickled him. He could distantly hear his father’s voice exclaim ‘You can’t escape the Tickle Monster!’ He remembered storming over and saying ‘Stay away from my brother you no good Tickle Monster!’ But he was grabbed from behind and flipped over as his mom or, as she had now become, Tickle Monster the Second began to mercilessly tickle his sides and even blow a raspberry on his tummy. The memory of laying on the rug in their family’s apartment laughing hysterically with his 7-year-old brother mixed in with his current reality of his now adult brother hysterically laughing at a stupid joke.
Most things may have changed, but at least some things stayed the same. He thought, as he wiped a stray tear from his eye and laughed with his big brother.