Chapter Text
Mako always gave Bolin more food. It took the young earthbender a little while to notice it, but hey—he was a little kid and whenever they were able to get food he was a little too busy trying to stuff the small morsels into his mouth to see how much his brother was taking in comparison. When he did notice, Bolin was startled to see the difference between their portions. No wonder his brother was so thin.
When Bolin brought it up for the first time, Mako tried to shove off the concern with an excuse that with Bolin as the younger sibling he needed more food because he was still growing. Bolin pointed out the flaw in the excuse because even though Mako was two years older, the fact remained he was still a kid as well. They actually got into a bit of a heated discussion about it—one of the few fights the brothers ever had. Mako refused to budge on the issue though, and Bolin soon grew to accept it. He came to the understanding that fighting his brother about it caused more harm than good, so despite his better judgement he agreed. Bolin did, however, get his brother to make his portions a little bigger.
And so, in order to counteract his brother’s borderline suicidal tendency, Bolin made a vow with himself to become strong and muscular. If his brother wanted to be the stupid hero and not feed himself well enough, then Bolin needed to be able to protect him. The amount of food Mako allowed himself to have only gave enough energy for him to work the odd jobs he had. Street fights were not uncommon, and even though Mako was a powerful firebender, Bolin knew that without enough energy his older brother would be a sitting turtleduck.
Bolin grew strong, and used the excuse that the ladies found men with well-defined muscles more attractive. Mako always bought his cover with an amused sigh and ruffled his hair—
—To which Bolin had no other choice but to respond with a tackle to the ground to show just how strong he was.