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Mako didn't have a perfect memory, but he remembered the exact date he had bought a particular toothbrush. He was tired of getting up out of Wu's bed in the morning, putting toothpaste on his finger, and rubbing the inside of his mouth until everything tasted less disgusting. He came back with a small bag of toiletries, the kinds he liked, and shoved the whole bag in a drawer in Wu's bathroom.
Wu was already out for the day, but Mako had a key so he could take his time leaving on the days he wasn't working. He opened a wardrobe, pulled out his coat, and noticed that the back corner of the space seemed to be set aside just for his clothes.
When was the last time he had slept in his own bed? He had crashed at his own apartment overnight earlier that week, after a late shift at work, and then gotten up to meet Wu for breakfast.
The date he'd bought that toothbrush was important to remember, because it was the day he had officially moved in with Wu. He would fill up some suitcases and have the guys at the office haul some furniture later in the week, but the toothbrush marked the official date.
Three years later, he casually glanced at his calender, paused to register what day it was, and almost fainted.
He had to get away from his desk and get a soda from the vending machine to calm himself down. How could it have been three years? If he thought back, Wu had been living in Republic City for over a year before Mako had realized he was spending most of his free time at his apartment. Going back further, they had started dating a little less than a year before Wu moved. He had been dating Wu for five years.
The Chief noticed him sitting on a bench in the hallway. He was resting his head in his hands, the can of soda forgotten next to him.
“Get back to work, kid.”
She didn't sound unsympathetic, for her, but he knew she wasn't going to ask, and he wasn't going to volunteer anything.
Wu noticed he was acting strange about an hour into their date, that night. They were walking down a well-lit street in the city's biggest shopping district. Mako was trailing after Wu, hands shoved in his pockets, not registering anything being said at him.
So he didn't notice when Wu suddenly spun around and started walking backwards, glaring at him.
“Did you hear a word I said?” Wu asked.
Mako was looking at the ground. He mumbled something that could have been a “yeah,” or that could have been nonsense.
Wu stopped walking. He swung up his gold-tipped walking stick and jabbed Mako in the direct middle of his chest. “Hey, earth-to-Mako! You here with me?”
Mako started, and finally looked up. “Oh! Hey, sorry. I spaced out for a second.” He shoved the walking stick away and Wu went back to leaning on it.
“A second? More like a full hour, or however long it's been since we met up.” He leaned forward. “Something up, Mako? Not feeling fine Northern Water Tribe cuisine tonight? Bad day at work? C'mon, you know you can tell Wu all about it.”
They had stopped in front of a jewelers. The display was done up in autumn colors for the upcoming equinox, and when Wu walked over to him, his green clothes stood out starkly against the backdrop of red and brown.
“I know,” Mako said. He had no idea why he was acting like this, though. “Maybe not Water Tribe food tonight. I kind of just want to go back to the apartment.”
Wu looked him over, and then patted him on the shoulder. “All right. We'll stay in! It's not like we had to go there tonight. If they close up tomorrow, well, we'll be glad we missed it!”
“Sorry. I'm just—I don't know. I have a lot on my mind.”
Wu shrugged. “Not a big deal.”
Mako noticed the jewelry display behind Wu. He felt dizzy, out of nowhere, and he had to look away.
Wu turned around to see what he was looking at. “Ooo! I've never been in this place before.” He was peering in the window, Mako briefly forgotten.
Varrick had given Zhu li a ring, hadn't he? That was the big fad, right? Asami had given Korra a necklace, like a water tribe thing, but Korra had gotten her a ring. Bolin had talked it over with Opal's mom, and she had pointed him to Opal's weird artsy brother, and they had made a ring.
How had he been dating Wu for five years?
Wu tore himself away from the display. “Anyway, that can wait. Let's pick up some grub on the way because there's no way I'm eating my own cooking tonight, and I'm not making you do it when you're in a mood like this.” He walked back over and adjusted Mako's collar.
“That's not a bad idea,” Mako said. Now he could see the entire display. He needed to get away from here. There were three other jewelers on the same road, and the same feeling of dread came back when he passed each one.
–
“Hey, big brother. You never call!” Bolin said, his voice overly loud through the line.
“I saw you like three days ago,” Mako said.
“But you never call!”
“Okay, yeah, that's true.”
“So what's this about, anyway?” Bolin asked.
“I...” He closed his eyes and dropped his chin to his chest. “I need some advice.”
“You?” Bolin sounded skeptical.
“Yes, me. I've never done this before. I need to buy...” his voice got very quiet, here. “...a ring.”
“What?”
“He said a ring,” said someone else on the party line.
“Hey, butt out, Li Li,” Bolin said. “I don't interrupt you when you're using the line, and you know as well as I do that you've been monopolizing it.”
“Sorry,” she said. “I just got excited. Congratulations, Bolin's brother!”
“Thanks, complete stranger,” Mako said. He wished Bolin would just pay the extra money for a private line.
“Can you wrap this up, though? I need to make a call,” she said.
“Why don't we get lunch, and we can talk about it in person?” Bolin asked. “A ring! Are you serious? I'm so excited!”
“I know!” Li Li said. “I love weddings!”
“I haven't even--” Mako broke off and sighed. He hadn't wanted to look at Bolin's face when he asked about this, but it was probably more private in the middle of a crowded restaurant than it was on this phone. “Yeah, fine. I'll meet you there in half an hour.” They had a regular place.
–
Bolin was a few minutes late, like usual. Mako sat, sipping his tea and staring morosely at the food board. Bolin was wearing a hat and an enormous pair of sunglasses which probably had just made him more likely to be recognized.
“Well, you don't look like a guy who's ready to take the plunge and join the royal family,” Bolin said, as he sat down. “What's wrong? Was there an ultimatum? Don't let Wu pressure you into getting married if you aren't ready for it yet.”
“He doesn't have any idea I'm going to ask him,” Mako said. “You and Li Li are the only ones who know.”
“Well, she's never even spoken to him, so he's not going to find out from her,” Bolin said. “Come on, tell me. What's the issue? Cold feet?”
“I guess. But I was thinking about it the other day, and do you know how long I've been dating him?” he asked.
“What, like, four years?” Bolin asked. “You're pretty much already married, but that doesn't mean you have to go through with it before you're ready.”
“Five. I keep thinking, there's no way this lasted even a year, but here we are. Basically already married, like you said.” He slowly stirred his cup, even though it didn't need it.
“Look, I'll admit, I was skeptical when I heard about it,” Bolin said. “But you two actually work really well together. If I didn't think that, I wouldn't have been so happy for you when you mentioned the ring! I'd be thinking, 'how can I convince Mako to dump that weird little guy without alienating my only brother?'”
“Maybe I'm still skeptical,” Mako said. “Obviously it turned out that it can work for more than a year, but what about ten years from now? Thirty?”
“Oh, man, I'm imagining you both as old men right now, and it's amazing. I want to be at that anniversary party.”
“I just keep imagining all the things that could go wrong.”
“I did the same thing before I asked Opal to marry me. She guessed I was going to ask and told me she'd say yes beforehand so I could get it together enough to go through with it.”
“Yeah.” There was just so much to worry about, with Wu, that Bolin probably never had to think about with Opal. Sure, she was always flying around the world doing her airbender things, but Bolin went with her when he could and they had all sorts of adventures together.
What if Wu cheated on him? There had been a drummer a few years ago who had gotten “handsy,” as Wu described it, and he had been thoroughly turned down, but would he always turn them down? What if Wu tried to bring some kind of wild animal to live in the apartment again? Mako hadn't met any of Wu's remaining family—what if they pitched a fit about Mako's family coming from poverty? What if Wu had a midlife crisis? What if Mako did?
“I guess you just have to ask yourself—do you want to spend the rest of your life with him, or not?” Bolin asked. “Everything else will work itself out, I'm sure of it.”
Mako wasn't quite so sure. “Well, anyway. If I do decide to ask him, I need to figure out what ring to get.” That was actually his entire reason for calling Bolin. He needed to figure out everything else on his own.
“Just get something you know he'll like. Oh! I should tell you how I got Opal's ring size without her noticing.”
“I already know his ring size,” Mako said. “He owns like” --he held his hands up-- “a hundred rings. And I think he mentioned it at one point. It wasn't a huge mystery I had to, like, call in backup to solve.”
“He mentioned it? Mako, are you positive he doesn't know you're going to ask?”
“He mentioned it like a year ago. I also know his shoe size, and what tie knot he thinks is the best one. He just talks about clothes all the time. I just can't think of anything special to do, like you did with Opal, or like Asami did with Korra. He already owns jewelry, so that's not exciting all on its own.”
“If he's always talking about it, you probably have some idea what he would like,” Bolin pointed out. “Just go somewhere and look around.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I don't know. I looked up what the ceremonies were when the old Earth kings got engaged, and I'm not going to be able to throw a parade or have anything fashioned out of sacred...whatever.”
“Of course not, But, well, just think about what you can give him that a beautiful Earth princess and the coffers of an entire nation couldn't,” Bolin said.
“I'm drawing a blank.”
“Mako, I've seen and been in enough movers to know that the most important thing to him is that he got to pick you,” Bolin said.
“You've been watching too many movers,” Mako said. Wu would have been fine with anyone, he thought, so long as they were pretty enough, and he got to have a big enough party. “I just want to pick something he'll actually wear.”
“There's no way he wouldn't wear it if you gave it to him!” Bolin said.
Mako wasn't so sure, but even if Bolin was right, that wasn't that encouraging. He didn't want Wu wearing some ugly ring he hated out of a sense of obligation.
“Nothing I'm saying is making you feel any better, is it?” He sighed. “Sorry, big bro. I don't know him all that well. I have no idea like what kind of ring he'd want, or...what kind of proposal he'd like or if you'll be able to stand him in twenty years. You should ask one of his musician friends or that weird old lady with all the baby badgermoles for advice, maybe.”
“Then it will definitely get back to him that I'm going to ask,” Mako said. He sighed, too. “Sorry. Thanks for trying to help. I think talking to you made me realize that I'm just going to have to figure all of this out myself. So you did help.”
“If you say so,” Bolin said, frowning. That didn't sound all that helpful. “Want to go look after we eat?”
He probably should do this himself, but the thought of Bolin being there settled the uneasiness in his stomach. His brother couldn't help pick out the ring or reassure him that he wasn't on the path to making a terrible decision, but him being there made the future slightly less terrifying. “...I guess,” Mako said.
“And, hey, you know if it doesn't work out, you can always crash on my couch. Even thirty years from now,” Bolin said.
“Thanks.” He pushed away his cup. “You can do that, too, not that you'd need it.”
“Are you kidding? I might need it tonight, once Opal sees what Pabu got into.”
–
Mako spotted Wu's convertible in the garage and knew he had lost his chance to easily sneak in and hide the ring. He had to get past Wu without him noticing the huge ringbox shaped lump in his pocket. He had never been able to sneak past Wu anything that made an unsightly shape in his clothes, so he tossed the ringbox in a garbage can and hid the ring itself in his shoe. Maybe he was being paranoid, but Wu could be observant exactly at the worst possible times.
He took the elevator up to the top floor, staring at himself in the mirrored walls. Did he look suspicious? Luckily, Wu wasn't right there when he walked in the door. Mako glanced into Wu's office, as he passed by, and found him. Wu was at his desk, feet on it, leaning back in his chair.
He tried to walk by, but Wu craned his neck back and looked at him, upside down. “What, no hello?”
“You looked busy. And you're going to pull something sitting like that.” Mako shrugged and walked over.
Wu made smooching noises and Mako rolled his eyes, leaned down, and kissed him.
“You were kind of a stranger all day,” Wu said. He swung his legs off the desk and spun his chair around. “Did you eat?”
“Not yet. I was with Bolin all day.” There was no reason for it, but he felt the need to make excuses. “I guess Pabu got into some of Opal's stuff.” He shrugged.
“Well, that's not the fire ferret's fault,” Wu said.
“Don't worry. Pabu's not the one who's going to get yelled at.” Bolin and Wu got along okay, but if there was a horrible accident and Wu only had time to save Bolin or Pabu, he would save the elderly ferret.
“It's actually good he still keeps so active,” Wu said. He got up and put his arm around Mako's waist. “C'mon, get changed.” He started walking with Mako to the bedroom.
“What? Why do I have to get changed? Are we going somewhere?” He felt a brief flare of panic as he realized Wu might watch him get changed when he had a ring stashed in his shoe.
“No, no, no, calm down. Guess who decided he was making dinner tonight!”
“That's kind of...” He trailed off. Weird. Rare? Well, it was the third time that year, so less rare than it used to be. “...okay, sure, but why?”
“Can't I cook for you for no reason?” he asked, wounded. “Okay, you aren't going to buy that. Well, you've just seemed kind of down lately.”
“I'm fine,” Mako said. “I'm just—I don't know.”
“What's eating you? Are you getting sick? If you're getting sick, you had better tell me now because I'm sleeping in the guest room.”
“I'm not sick,” Mako said. Wu had a performance coming up.
“You think I don't remember what you were like right before you got that bug last year. I remember.” He was glaring. “I remember. You kept acting like Admiral Papaya pooped in your shoes. I'm onto you, Mako. You aren't getting me sick.”
“I'm not sick, but it would be too late anyway. You don't have to sleep in the guest bedroom.”
“There are a lot of people depending on me, Mako. I can't get laryngitis and let them all down.”
“If you got laryngitis, maybe I would go,” Mako said.
“Oh, ha ha,” Wu said, smiling. He didn't value Mako's opinion about his voice. He whacked Mako on the shoulder with the end of his scarf. “Now you have to go, by the way.”
“But I already had plans.” He had a much more enjoyable night planned, cleaning out the owl cats' litter boxes and making sure they had enough of Wu's hangover cure ready for the next morning.
“Sorry, babe. You shoulda thought of that before you opened your gob. Anyway, change into something less stiff and I'll make you the best meal of your life.” He shoved Mako towards the bedroom and walked off to the kitchen.
That gave him his chance. He hurried into the bedroom, closed and locked the door behind him, and pulled the ring out of his shoe. He held it up and examined it in the light. The green gems, set in gold, glittered. He thought it was kind of ugly, but it would match Wu's wardrobe, right?
Wu didn't make a habit of going through Mako's things, so he taped it to the underside of his sock drawer, figuring that would be a good enough hiding place. Just shoving it in the drawer itself would have been fine, when he thought about it.
He unlocked the bedroom door in case Wu came back and thought it was weird he had locked it, then got changed.
It was finally sinking in, that it had been five years. He didn't need to sit down and put his head between his knees when he remembered, anymore. He could see another five years of this passing by just as easily as the first. He was worried about the future, and there was a lot he hadn't thought about because he had tried not to think too much about their relationship lasting. Could he get Wu to talk seriously about this?
Mako sat down on their bed, not quite ready to go to the kitchen.
Bolin had asked him, “Do you actually want to marry him?” That was what he thought of as the big question, but that wasn't really a question at all. He was already basically married to Wu, and he didn't mind having a big party about it even if Wu was going to make it a lot bigger than it had to be. Being married to Wu was just living like they were living right then, except with some ugly jewelry and some photos of them dressed up set around the apartment.
The question was more like, “Will you both still want this, for the rest of your lives?” The answer was impossible to guess, and that bugged him.
But then he got hit with, “What if you didn't have this? What if it ended?” and it was like a punch in the gut, trying to imagine that. Maybe that was the only answer he was going to get.
So he had a ring. He had a reservation to a restaurant he knew Wu liked, a few days away.
He couldn't say that this thing they had would last forever, but he could try and make it last as close to that as possible.
Wu called, from the kitchen, “How long does it take to change a pair of pants, big guy?”
“Give me a second!” He got up and shook his head, trying to clear it, before heading to the kitchen to see what Wu had decided to feed him.
–
“Are you sure you aren't under the weather?” Wu asked, glancing up at Mako's pale face. “Let's go back and call in for dinner.”
“No, I'm fine,” Mako said, his voice tight. “Completely healthy.”
“Well, you look like you're about to faint, and we both know I'm not some buff big six hero-type who's going to catch you before you crack your head on the sidewalk.”
“I'm not going to faint.” He spoke between gritted teeth. “I feel amazing.”
“If that's the way you're going to play it, I'm telling the nurses at the hospital about this macho bull you're pulling and make sure they get the oldest hag with sandpaper hands to give you your sponge baths when you're recovering from this.” He shook his head, irritated.
“I'm not sick,” he protested, for the hundredth time. It was so obvious that something was up, though, he needed an excuse. “I'm just worried. About something at work. I just want to eat dinner and relax for a while.”
Wu rolled his eyes. “Uhuh. I'm not buying it, Mister. You're just acting tough to protect your ego.”
Mako laughed at that, briefly relaxing. “That's really not it.”
Still visibly worried, Wu shook his head. “I might as well get a good dinner to go along with this show you're putting on.”
“That's the spirit.” Mako took Wu's arm and they went inside the restaurant.
Mako reminded himself, as they were seated, that he didn't have to propose that night. There were other nights, and Wu didn't seem to have any idea so there was no reason not to put it off.
That kept him relaxed up through ordering their food.
“So what's this case you're so worked up over?” Wu asked.
“I don't really want to think about it right now,” Mako said. He winced. No, he was going to do this. He was ready. He grabbed his glass and took a deep sip. It burned his throat, not meant to be downed that fast.
“Wow, it's really got you worked up, huh?” Wu shrugged.
“Actually,” Mako said, once he had his breath back, “You were right, before. I'm not nervous about a case. But I'm not sick, either.”
“So you're ready to come clean?” he asked, leaning forward. “All right, Mako, let's hear it.” He grabbed a sea slug fritter and chewed on it.
Mako swallowed, heavily, and made himself meet Wu's eyes. His heart was trying to pound itself out of his chest.
“Um,” Mako said, his voice cracking. He cleared his throat. Wu had beautiful eyes, and he was looking at Mako with sincere concern for his odd behavior. “We've been dating for kind of a while.”
“Yeah...” Now Wu looked outright worried, probably because that was the sort of thing you said before you dumped someone.
Mako could have punched himself for not planning out this part better. “Like, five years?”
“Are we having an anniversary?” Wu asked. “This is nowhere near the time of year I asked you out. Didn't you move all your stuff in around now?”
“Yeah, but that's not really...” He stopped a second, to rub his forehead. He was making a mess of this, and either Wu was going to guess what this was about before he actually asked, or Wu was going to assume Mako was dumping him. “Look, I've been thinking. Maybe we could make it, uh, more formal?”
“Formal.” Wu looked confused.
“Yeah. I mean, would you marry me?” He took the ring out of his pocket. His hand was shaking, and he almost dropped it.
Wu's eyes went wide and he stopped chewing. Mako's weird behavior suddenly made sense. “What?” He swallowed. “Mako, are you serious?”
“Am I serious?”
“I mean--” he broke off and started to laugh. “I thought you were about to kick the bucket. I was planning what I was going to wear at the funeral.”
“I said, I'm not sick.”
“Mako,” Wu said. He took a deep breath and slowly released it. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out something small. “Look at this.” He held up a platinum ring. “You beat me to it.”
“What?”
“I had it all figured out, too. I was making you come to my show, but little did you know it was all going to be a setup and there was no real show and I was going to ask you there. I had to rent the space, though, and they were booked through till next week.”
Mako wasn't sure what to say.
“So, yeah, I'll marry you, you goofy sap.” He reached across the table and took Mako's hand, slipping the platinum ring on his finger. “I guess that's if you'll have me, too.”
“I can't believe you,” Mako said. He took Wu's hand and put the gold ring on him. “Did you get the idea when we were walking outside that jeweler's?”
“You too? We're on the same wavelength. I was just thinking, 'that guy can't take care of himself without me' and I saw their display. I guess that's the power of advertising.”
This wasn't exactly how this was supposed to go. Best case scenario had been Wu exclaiming “Yes!” and leaning across the table and smooching him. The first part had sort of happened, so Mako embarrassed himself by being the one to seal the deal with a kiss. This wasn't exactly how he had planned it, but Wu was wearing his ring, so the little details didn't matter.
–
The left the restaurant a couple hours later, both of them a little drunk and in a good mood. Wu's arm was around Mako's waist and he kept pretending he needed Mako's support to walk.
“You're going to reign it in a little when you're planning the wedding, right?” Mako asked.
“No, why would I?” He stretched out his fingers and examined the ring.
Mako looked down at him, trying to figure out if Wu actually liked it. “I just want at least one of us to know who everyone is.”
“Between us, that makes the invite list maximum a few thousand people, Mako. Don't worry! I'm not renting a stadium and obviously you're going to get some say-so if you want it.” His expression seemed carefully neutral.
“...you don't like the ring, do you? I knew this was going to happen.”
“What do you mean? Of course I love it! You gave it to me, right?” He looked up at Mako and smiled.
“Wu.”
“All right, it's not exactly what I would have picked for myself. What about you? What do you think of yours?”
“...” Mako looked at it, actually considering what it looked like instead of what it meant, for the first time. “I'll wear it.”
“Hey, Mako?” Wu was still looking up at him. “Does it ruin the moment if we find out if there's a jewelery store open this late?”
Mako relaxed. “No. I think one got robbed down the road from here a few months ago. Let's see if it's open.”
“See, I think it's more romantic how open minded we're both being about this,” Wu decided.
“Whatever you say....if that means no one has to see me wearing this one,” Mako said.
Wu bumped him with his hip. “Hey! And I was trying to be polite about it.”
“Bolin liked it.”
“Yeah. Poor Opal. I've seen the rock she's stuck wearing.”
“I'm going to tell him you said that.”
“Don't you--” Wu broke off, frowning. “You know what we need at our wedding? A flock of trained otter penguins. We'll rent some ice and get them to spell out our names with 'forever' after them, and maybe a biiiiig heart around that. We'll let any kids that come along ride them.”
“Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I won't tell Bolin anything bad you say about him.”
“But now I kind of like that idea. No, I know! I have a better one!” He let go of Mako and jogged ahead of him, perfectly stable on his feet. He spun around and threw his arms out. “I'll write you a song!”
“...otter penguins, hm?”
“Oh, shut up, you'll love it.”
“...yeah,” he admitted.