Work Text:
Wu,
Weather’s finally getting cooler. That heat wave broke and the city’s actually bearable again. It’s the first time I’ve actually missed the island. The new apartment is way too hot and if you open any windows, a bunch of spirits get in. I’m not that close to the Spirit Wilds so I don’t know why they’re following me around. It’s weird. I know I should be treating them respectfully but they’re pretty annoying. At least being off the island means Beifong’s about ready to let me back onto the force. She and Kya have been colluding to keep me from working. I asked her last week about doing some paperwork or something and she said she didn’t want a face full of water and to ask later.
You asked for my thoughts on the lyrics, so I’m going to be honest:
It’s kind of niche. I mean, the lyrics are fine, I just don’t know if badgermole lullabies are going to launch a career or anything. Do badgermoles even need lullabies? Do they have trouble sleeping? If you’re serious about this, you should consider writing songs that appeal to a human audience. They’re the ones with money.
Let me know when you have an update about that personal phone line. Your operator in the palace keeps trying to gossip with me.
-Mako
Hi Mako!!
Do you want me to write to Kya to ask her to pretty please let you go back to work? I’l do it. Even the daughter of an Avatar has to listen to a King, right? Not right. I did write her. She told me she didn’t care and that you should be grateful for the time off. I told her you hated vacations and fun, and she never wrote back to me.
I’m not sure why I still like you when you hate fun. But here we are. Enjoy your vacation! Maybe figure out how to spirit-proof your apartment? I wish I could see it! What sort of space does Mako live in when he’s not living with me? Maybe I can find out if I can ever get back to Republic City! I miss it so much.
Everyone needs lullabies! And I think they could appeal to humans. Parents could play them for their kids! They’re universal messages!!!! But I suppose I can try something else, too. Maybe something specifically for humans. But that sounds pretty boring, I’m going to be honest. Unless I write a song for you. Would you like that?
What does the operator gossip about? The worst part about being King is that no one talks to me casually anymore! I don’t know anything! I want to know the gossip! Spill.
I’m working on it. We’ll have one soon, I promise. I’m tired of not being able to say things.
I miss you, buddy!
-Wu
Wu,
When Korra’s back from the spirit world, I’ll ask her about spirit-proofing. The morning your letter arrived, I woke up to one staring at me while I slept. It looked kind of like a badgermole. You’d probably like it.
Good news: I’m back at work. Beifong finally let me back to my desk. Honestly, I think she had to. All the Triads are getting pretty territorial trying to carve out new space while the city rebuilds. They’ve been making it hard to get into the poorer areas with supplies, fighting a lot, tearing up the streets and the buildings all over again. People are getting caught in the crossfire, again. We’ve even been getting reports that they’re shaking people down for their rations and recovery payments, and the displacement camps are getting restless about new housing. Raiko is too focused on getting elected to care about any of that stuff.
The point is, things aren’t great, and I think Beifong finally admitted she needed the help. Maybe it was your letter.
Also, I don’t hate fun. Or vacations. I just hate sitting around uselessly while everyone else builds the city back up. That aid you sent over is still doing wonders, by the way. Bolin won’t shut up about the earthbender corps.
Oh, before I forget: Bolin finally found a new job.
He’s my partner now. Tonight is our first official night.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
P.S. Believe me, none of the gossip is interesting. I don’t know any of the people she talks about except this one guy. You might have heard of him: he’s the Earth King? Anyway, apparently the big gossip there is that he writes letters all the time and half the palace is convinced he got a secret girlfriend while he was in the city all those years.
Weird.
The phone rings on the other end of the line, and Wu can’t sit down. He’s pacing the few feet he can while holding the phone.
The private line took far too long to install, but that palace is far from modern, and it wasn’t exactly a priority with everything else wrong with the Earth Kingdom. But the one perk of being the King is that people sort of have to do what he says. Which is how Wu ended up with a private line where he can finally talk to his boyfriend without having to think about what the operator would think if she tapped into their conversation.
Or how many people she would inevitably spread it around to, if Mako’s tip about her being a gossip is to be believed.
Mako is taking forever to pick up. Maybe he got caught up at work? Wu saw a few headlines about the ongoing chaos in Republic City, and he’s been keeping up with the briefings, of course, and Mako has that persistent sense of duty—
“This is Mako,” a familiar voice finally crackles to life in Wu’s ear, professional and serious as always.
Wu let’s out a sigh of relief and immediately says, “I love you,” without really thinking about it because it’s been a month and a half and he hasn’t been able to tell Mako that.
“Uh,” Mako says on the other end, and then he sucks in a breath and there’s a quiet rustle and his voice is closer. “Wu. You got the private line installed?”
“Yes,” Wu breathes, giddy with relief, and only a little disappointed that Mako didn’t tell him he loves him back. Wu knows that not How Mako Is. Mako is considered, he doesn’t like to show emotion. It’s hard, now that Wu is away, but he just has to remind himself that Mako does love him. Did love him. He really hopes Mako still does. “Yes I did and I miss you and now we can actually talk and not have to couch everything in this buddy-buddy talk!”
“I hated that,” Mako admits with a breath full of static. There’s another sound, more rustling like paper or fabric or something, and then stillness and a soft sigh. “Okay. I’m sitting, case closed. I’m here.” A quiet, loaded pause. “Love you too. It’s good to hear your voice.”
Wu lets out a sigh of relief, and finally sinks down into his own plush chair. At least they bought comfortable furniture for the palace. “It’s so good to hear your voice.”
“Did you manage to convince them to put the line in your suite?” Mako asks quietly. There’s a hint of a smile in his voice. Wu wishes he could see it. “Or are you in some random meeting room?”
“In my suite!” Wu sings out, then collapses back with a laugh. “I can’t say all the things I want to say to you in a meeting room. I convinced them by saying that I would need to communicate with the other world leaders in utter privacy.”
Mako snorts. “Yeah, I’m sure you have a lot of secret stuff for Tenzin’s ears only. Shouldn’t they just listen to what you want? You’re the Earth King. It’s not like this is some democratic decision. It’s a phone.”
“If only it was that easy. Everything is a battle, Mako, I swear! Everyone thinks that they’re right and that I’m wrong and I have to fight for every last little thing I want,” he groans, his head falling back. “You’d think that they would just do what I say, but they have to question it first! Just because I’m young and inexperienced-- It’s like they think I don’t know that!”
“They’re probably scared they’re going to get replaced,” Mako says quietly. “Trying to show how much they know, you know? Make yourself invaluable and you’re at less of a risk of getting booted out of the palace. It’s a survival thing. Kind of.”
“I’m not going to fire any of them!” Wu whines, shaking his head even though Mako can’t see him. “I’m not my Aunt. I swear! I want to do anything I can to be nothing like her! And that-- isn’t why I wanted to talk to you. We don’t have to talk about the Kingdom. I want to talk about you! How are you? How’s your arm? How’s working with your brother? Tell me everything!”
“You don’t have to convince me,” Mako says, almost laughing. He pauses, and Wu knows he’s probably gathering himself to actually talk about his own stuff, because Mako’s terrible at that, even in his own letters. “Things are good. Things are… actually, kind of chaos, right now. You called at a good time. I was on a raid tonight. If it’d gone well I’d probably still be at the office.”
“It didn’t go well?” Wu asks, frowning, “are you okay? Is Bolin okay?”
“Fine,” Mako says immediately, like he always does. “Mostly. I don’t know how much you know about what’s going on over here, but none of it is good. The Triple Threats have this new leader, Tokuga, and it’s all wrapped up stuff with the Spirit Portal—point is, Bolin and I got some info from this kid we know, but Tokuga was one step ahead of us. The whole warehouse he and his goons were supposed to be in blew up.”
“Were you there?” Wu gasps, sitting up straighter, his heart in his throat.
“Uh.”
“Mako,” Wu sighs, and starts needling him with questions about if he’s taking care of himself. He isn’t, it sounds like, and he made his arm worse bending the explosion away from everyone, and more than that there’s something off in his tone. He sounds tired, which makes sense if he just escaped an explosion—life on Team Avatar really is wild—but more than that, he sounds worried.
“Kya just cleared me,” he’s saying, “and now I’m here. Bolin’s staying on the island tonight, so. We’re safe. Just us.”
“Okay. Okay,” Wu repeats quietly. All he wants is to be there and to see for himself that that’s true, that Mako is okay. But he’s talking, and that’s better than after everything he did with the mech. “As long as you’re okay.”
“I am,” Mako says firmly. “And I don’t want to take up your time with all this stuff. It’s really okay. Everything’s just kind of… crazy, since Korra got back.”
“Take up my-- Mako,” Wu holds the ear piece tighter to him, “that’s not what this is at all! I want to know about this. I want to hear what’s going on in your life. I really, really miss you.”
There is a moment of silence, and a tiny curl of fear roots itself in Wu’s belly. Maybe Mako doesn’t miss him the same way. Maybe it’s different now that they’re talking on the phone, maybe things aren’t working—
“I miss you too,” Mako says quietly, cutting into his thoughts. “If you were here—there’s something I want to tell you.”
“Oh,” the sound is out of his mouth before he can stop it. His heart is in his throat, and he cradles the ear piece against his face, bracing himself. He’s so scared, scared that this has changed, that things are different now that they’re not together. That maybe Mako doesn’t want him the same way now that they can’t touch each other. He lets out a soft breath before asking, “um. What’s that?”
Mako makes a strange little sound in his throat. Wu can just imagine the accompanying frown as he picks his words out. “I found something out, and it’s pretty weird. It shouldn’t be. But it is. Or I’m making it weird. I don’t know.”
“Um, okay,” Wu says quietly, alongside his own frown. He wishes he could see Mako, hold him, kiss that frown off his face. “What did you find out?”
“Korra and Asami,” Mako starts, almost hesitant. “After everything in the Spirit World, they’re a thing. Dating, I mean. Each other.”
That isn’t at all what Wu expected.
He blinks, staring at the filigreed wall in his suite.
Korra and Asami. Are dating each other.
Korra, the Avatar, and Asami Sato, the CEO of Future Industries.
Korra and Asami, Mako’s exes.
Korra and Asami are dating each other.
“Korra and Asami are dating each other?!” He gasps after far too long.
Mako makes another little sound. “I know! It’s weird, right? It’s weird. I don’t know why it’s weird. I guess two of my exes have never—they met because of me, and now…”
“And now they’re dating,” Wu finishes for him, and now his mind is ticking, having caught up with what Mako said. “They’re dating each other, which means that they might be okay with, ah, us. You and me? Maybe. That, is it public? Do people know?”
“They kissed in front of half the force,” Mako mumbles. “But don’t, I don’t know, call up your reporter friends with a tip. I don’t know how far they want it to spread. It might get buried by all this stuff with the portal.”
“Mako, this is good!” Wu tried to reassure him. “This might be really good! If they, if everyone knows about them, then if you and I, if we ever—” it’s hard to say out loud, but he fights through it, the words sticking in his throat, “if we ever want to go public, this might make it a lot easier for us. Or at least we’ll know what to expect.”
Another long silence. It’s so much harder to bear when Wu can’t see Mako thinking through it like he does. He has an expressive face for such a closed-off guy. Wu can practically track his thoughts as they happen, or he could.
“No,” Mako says eventually, thoughtful, “You’re right. It’s like a test. Would you, uh. Is that something you were thinking about? Going public?”
“What? Oh. Not yet, no. I don’t think it’s a good idea, right now,” he trails off a bit, biting his lip. “It’s, someday, right? Someday, we could. If,” we’re still together, he doesn’t say.
“If everything goes well,” Mako completes anyway, softer. “Yeah. I was going to try and tell Korra and Asami, but they went on vacation and now with this, I… don’t know if it’s the right time. I guess this will it less weird for them, once I do. I should be fine with it.”
“With them?” Wu asks softly, shaking his head. He’s too wrapped up in politics right now, clearly. He forces himself to refocus on Mako. Mako isn’t an advisor, he’s Wu’s boyfriend “You’re not fine with it?”
“I am,” Mako says, a little too quickly. “Of course I am, it’s just—I don’t know. If we hadn’t all… you know. But we did, and I guess that’s weird.”
“Kissed each other?” Wu asks with a little laugh, biting his lip. Mako never did tell him much about his relationships, aside from what he said at Asami’s manor. “Are you, uh… jealous?”
Mako snorts. “No. Definitely not that. I’m happy for them. And it makes sense.”
Wu lets out a soft breath of relief. He wasn’t exactly worried, but he wasn’t not worried either. “It does! I always thought there was something between them. I thought they were just competitive, but this makes way more sense.”
“You,” Mako starts, with a hint of something like a smile in his voice, “thought there was something? Why didn’t you tell me? If I’d seen this coming maybe it’d be less weird.”
“You saw how they were at that lunch! Or maybe you didn’t, because you were so mad at me…” that wasn’t Wu’s best day. He bites his lip. “Uh, they were really mad at each other. Like a lover’s spat! I didn’t know that they were together, together, but there was tension.”
“Huh,” Mako sounds thoughtful. There’s another rustle. “See, this is why I needed to talk to you. You see this stuff. I don’t. I thought they were being weird, but I didn’t… see that coming at all.”
“Just because they dated you?” Wu laughs softly, “bet they’d be just as surprised if you told them about us.”
“You’re probably right,” Mako says, his voice a little softer. “I do want to tell them. Eventually. When things calm down and they’ve had some time to, you know. Be a couple. I should probably talk to Korra. I was being pretty weird when I found out.”
“You have kissed both of them,” Wu teases. At least he doesn’t have any exes to be weird around, except Mako’s.
He thinks for a moment about Korra finding out about them, and swallows, hard. He really doesn’t want to get punched. “Uh… yeah maybe we wait. To tell them. I want to see your face again, first.”
“Yeah,” Mako agrees more vehemently than Wu maybe expected. “What’s your schedule looking like? Do you think you’ll make it out here for the election?”
“I—really wish I could,” Wu sighs again, shaking his head to himself. “I really, really do. I don’t think so, there’s too much I need to do here. But I would vote for Ms. Moon if I could!”
“I’ll vote for anybody but Raiko,” Mako snorts. “But I think she’d be good at it. I mean, she kept Varrick in line. That has to be the hardest job in the world.”
Wu can’t help but laugh, leaning on his hand. “Yeah, I don’t know how he got here. She’s way too good for him.”
“Some people are good at dating above their stations,” Mako says with a laugh of his own, and then, suddenly, talking to him is easy. It’s like a wall breaks. Wu tells him about some of the palace gossip he’s finally in on, and Mako leans close to the phone and laughs.
The sound stays with Wu for hours afterward, even when they’re forced to hang up by the fact that Wu has a meeting early tomorrow.
Being able to talk candidly with Mako again makes everything immediately easier and harder. It’s easier because he can share his frustrations with Mako, and Mako can offer advice and solid support. It’s harder because the more they talk, the more he wants to talk to Mako, to see him, to kiss him again. He hasn’t been kissed since the wedding, and he feels that lack like an ache. He dreams about it, sometimes, about Mako’s hands on him, his lips pressing against Wu’s, making him feel loved and cared for in a way he never really let himself.
But Mako seems to be offering it. There’s something freeing about talking only over the phone, about not being able to rely on physical affection. Before, that’s all they really had. They weren’t honest (Wu wasn’t honest, didn’t let himself be), but now honesty is really all they have.
“You did what?” Wu gasps, trying to wrap his head around everything that’s happening in Republic City right now. It all makes his three years there (if you ignore the whole war thing) look totally unexciting.
“I didn’t actually do much,” Mako says, almost defensive. He sounds exhausted, as well he should, because apparently there was a massive fight at the new spirit portal today and a lot of people almost died. Wu’s probably going to hear about it in his morning briefing tomorrow. “It was mostly the airbenders and Korra.”
“Mako! Stop downplaying everything! Are you okay? Did you get hurt?” Wu asks, aching to be close to him. If only Republic City weren’t a three hour train ride away. If only he weren’t trapped in constant meetings and audiences. Who knew there was so much work associated with being King? Auntie never seemed to do anything but snap at people.
“I’m fine, Wu,” Mako says again, almost exasperated. He sighs, a huff of static in Wu’s ear. “It wasn’t like the last time. Didn’t even take my arm out of the sling. All I did was lose Tokuga in the Spirit World. Asami’s fine, Korra’s fine, and all the citizens are fine. I think it’s over. Which just means more work mopping up the rest of the Triple Threats and keeping Jargala from getting a big head about her territory.”
“I—” Wu sighs. Mako is frustrating, sometimes. He doesn’t share very well, he doesn’t communicate verbally. It was easier when they were together, when he could tell how Mako was feeling from his expression instead of having to parse through his sparse words and his tone. “Okay. As long as everyone is okay.”
“You don’t have to worry about it,” Mako says, like that’s supposed to make Wu feel any better about all of that danger. “Now we just have to get to the election without anything exploding. Have you made any progress with yours? Gotten anybody to listen about the timeline yet?”
“I think so! We decided that Gaoling is the best candidate. I have a meeting with the current government in a few days,” Wu knows Mako is trying to distract him, but he lets it work, for now. Pushing Mako on anything never works. He’s one of the most stubborn people Wu knows.
He might be the most stubborn, actually.
“Your life is just meetings now,” Mako says. “Doesn’t that get tiring? You didn’t exactly love all the ones before the invasion.”
“Well, people listen to me now, so that’s kind of better,” Wu laughs, even if it isn’t funny. His advisors alternately take his words too seriously and question his decisions. “I, I’m okay with it. It won’t be forever. Soon, all the provinces will have their own democratically elected governments! And then I won’t have to be the King anymore!”
“And you can go full-time with those lullabies,” Mako points out with a kind of teasing warmth in his voice that Wu misses more and more. “Make sure you find the rich badgermoles. You might have to support yourself afterwards. My pay won’t cover your lifestyle.”
Wu’s cheeks flush at the thought. That Mako might want to support him, after all this is over, even if he is right. A cop’s salary can’t be anything like what he’s used to. “Yeah, I’ll find some rich badgermole patron to fund my career. She might get jealous of you, though. Might want me all to herself.”
Mako snorts, that little half-sound that says he wants to laugh but isn’t letting himself. “She’s gonna have to deal. I don’t share that well.”
A groan escapes Wu before he can stop it. He doesn’t know why, but the idea of Mako getting jealous over him… well. He’s seen it, and he hates to admit that he likes it. He wants to be Mako’s. “I’ll see what I can do. You might have to deal, there, big guy.”
“Is that really what you want to do?” Mako asks with even more laughter creeping into his voice. “The song thing?”
“Well, maybe! I have no idea what else I’d do,” he admits, and it feels like he’s even admitting it to himself for the first time.
“You know you probably have time to figure that out,” Mako tells him quietly, shifting again. He’d told Wu that he dragged a soft armchair over to the wall by the phone and usually ends up curled up in it, which sounds very cute and also like something Wu really wants to see in person. He can just imagine Mako with his toes tucked into the cushions, pressing the receiver to his face. “I doubt they’d actually just cut you off like that.”
“I hope not! After all this work I’m doing for them,” he drops his head back dramatically. He wants to curl up in that arm chair with Mako, Mako’s arms around him, his face pressed into Mako’s throat. He misses Mako’s scent, how his fingers felt in Wu’s hair, the sound of his voice in the morning, gruff and scratchy. They spent so much time together, and now all he has is the quiet sound of Mako’s laughter in his ear and the knowledge that Mako still says he loves him.
“You’re doing a lot of good,” Mako reminds him. “You should hear the way people here talk about you. Zhu Li actually has nice things to say.”
“Really?” Hope stirs in his chest. Hope that maybe he won’t only have Mako, surges in him. “That, ah. Good. Good! I’m sure she’ll be a great president if she’s elected.”
Mako huffs. “Has Raiko even tried to talk to you since you got back to the city?”
“Once, to ask for aid,” Wu sighs. Raiko is one of the reasons that they got into the whole Kuvira mess in the first place. “I’d rather not have to work with him. No grace, you know.”
“Yeah, that’s the issue,” Mako drawls. “Not that he’s a self-absorbed idiot more worried about getting re-elected than an actually helping anyone. You know he ran away? Varrick’s making another mover about it, apparently. Got a whole shot of Zhu Li running back down to save some kid from the poison. I don’t think he can win after that.”
“Well. Good!” Wu says it, even as fear drops in his gut. He would probably run away, too. But at least he isn’t in an elected position. One perk of a monarchy, he guesses. “Good.”
“Wu?” Mako’s voice is very close to the phone all of a sudden. “Are you okay? I promise I didn’t get hurt. I didn’t want to worry you, after last time. Or get yelled at by Kya. Again.”
“Oh, oh! No, no, I’m okay. Just, uh,” he shakes his head quickly, trying to get his tongue to unstick from the roof of his mouth. “Uh… just missing all the action! Here. Stuck here, in meetings all the time. You’re out there protecting the people! It’s, it’s good. Great. I’m glad you’re okay. Don’t worry me like that again, okay?”
“Okay,” Mako says, slowly. Wu can practically see his brows drawing together, that little line pressing itself into his forehead. He’s going to get wrinkles so early, the way he scowls. “No promises. You know as soon as Korra’s involved things get wild. I’m not trying to get hurt.”
“I know! I know, you just like, uh, putting yourself in danger. Not a great hobby, really. Have you tried puzzles? Crochet? I think those might be less perilous,” he laughs tightly, gripping the arm of his chair.
Someday, they’ll be together again. Someday, the Earth Kingdom won’t need him and he can live the life he wants.
He just wishes that would happen sooner.
Wu doesn’t make it out to Republic City for election night. Between the preparations for the election in Gaoling and dismantling Kuvira’s camps and sending actual aid to the corners of the kingdom that need it and starting to rebuild the Earth Kingdom’s relationship with the other nations, Wu barely has time for the sauna in the morning (barely. He still makes time, obviously, and just… reads notes in there and ignores how they get kind of damp).
He’s been on edge all day. It isn’t part of the Earth Kingdom, of course, but he’s so invested anyway. He loves Republic City, for one. He has to work with whoever wins pretty closely, and it’s a test of democracy. Raiko was the United Republic’s first president, and he wasn’t exactly a stellar success. Wu can only hope that he was part of the growing pains of a progressing society.
More importantly, they don’t get radio from Republic City out here, so Wu has no way of knowing.
When the phone rings in his suite when he’s getting ready for bed, Wu rushes over to it with his robe half on. “Hello?”
“She won,” Mako says, instead of a greeting. Most of the time when he answers the phone Wu still gets a formal, clipped Mako here. It’s kind of funny.
“She won?!” Wu gasps, throwing himself down into the armchair. “She won? She won! That’s amazing!”
“By a landslide,” Mako laughs. His voice is strangely light. “68%. Raiko’s out! He can’t do any more damage. This is really good, Wu, it’s—you didn’t hear? What do all those advisors do?”
“It’s a good question. I don’t know! News takes forever to get here,” Wu laughs, and he feels lighter, too. Zhu Li Moon is certainly more reasonable than Raiko ever was. “You should be out celebrating!”
“I was,” Mako snorts. “Why do you think I’m calling so late? The party was in the ballroom at the Four Elements. They just finished renovating it.”
Wu sighs wistfully, “that sounds wonderful. I really wish I could be there. I bet I could keep you at a party until at least midnight.”
“I probably would’ve stayed if you were there,” Mako admits quietly. “It wasn’t the same without you. Just kept thinking about what you’d say to people. There were some pretty bad jackets. You should’ve been there.”
“I do love making fun of bad jackets,” Wu laughs, and he misses Mako acutely with an ache in his gut.
Soon. Soon he’ll find a way to go back to him, to kiss him again, to see him and feel Mako’s body against his own.
It turns out that loving someone is hard. Painful. But he wants it anyway, wants to keep this love close, horde it for himself. It fights back against the crushing loneliness of the palace, of his life in Ba Sing Se. At least he has Mako. Mako loves him, Mako wants to talk to him, Mako wishes he was there. As long as Wu has that, he can figure this whole King thing out.