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If the hostess’ exhausted half-wave in the direction of his friends’ table when he mentions he’s ‘with the Avatar’ isn’t an omen of the situation he’s walked into, the fact that Korra and Asami are bickering does the trick.
“I was his friend before you were!”
“Sure, but his family lives in my house! That has to count for something.”
“That’s not fair; I don’t have a house to offer!”
Mako crosses the tiny restaurant in a few steps and slides into the booth next to his brother. “Sorry I’m late,” he apologizes. “Got held up at work.”
“Ugh, finally!” Bolin — who, previously, had been slurping his depleted lychee juice while watching both women with a mix of fear and exasperation — falls to his side, collapsing heavy onto Mako. “Put me out of my misery. Please!”
In unison, both Korra and Asami turn to Bolin. Asami raises a brow, and can’t quite manage to keep the smile off her face as she says, “You could’ve avoided this, you know.”
“Yeah,” Korra agrees, her arms crossed over her chest. “If you’d just said yes when we asked…” Then she turns to Mako with a shrug, and — in an incredibly suspicious manner — prompts him with, “So, Mako, we’re best friends, right?”
“Uh —”
“Maybe” — Asami sets her elbows on the table, gently bumps Korra out of the way with her shoulder, and offers a winning smile of her own — “but you love me more.”
“Uhm,” Mako repeats, intelligently. He glances between them, trying to determine what they’re really asking, before giving up altogether. “I feel like this is a trap.”
Bolin claps him on the back, apparently the only one at the table pleased by this answer. “You have good instincts, my friend. They’ve been fighting over you for like an hour — I can’t take it anymore!”
Fighting… over him?
“Okay,” Mako admits, as he throws his hands up in defeat. “I’m lost. What the hell is going on?”
Korra groans as she sits back in the booth. “Aw, come on, Bolin, you ruined all the fun!”
… so Mako glances to Asami for an answer instead. As Korra and Bolin start to kick each other under the table, Asami humors him. “We’re planning for our wedding, as you know,” she explains. “And we’d each like to have someone up there with us while we get married. Problem is, there are two of us, and one of you.”
Mako frowns. Asami is generally smarter than him, and knows full well that he has a brother. More importantly, he has a brother whose feelings would be hurt if Mako was fought over to fill a best-man-role right in front of him. “And Bolin said no?” he guesses, though that idea is almost as improbable as Korra and Asami not asking in the first place.
“Yeah,” Korra grunts, with a particularly swift kick that leaves Bolin whining. Mako’s so surprised he can’t come up with anything to say until she adds, “He asked to be the officiant instead.”
Of course. Leave it to Bolin to take the path of most resistance because he thinks it’ll be more fun. “Gee, thanks, bro,” Mako says sarcastically, bumping Bolin’s shoulder with his own.
“Hey! I’m much better at marrying people than at standing still and being quiet for a long time. You know this.”
And… yeah, okay, that’s a fair point. But Bolin’s still his brother, and he can’t let him off the hook that easy. “So you’re gonna leave Korra and Asami hanging?”
“Of course not!” Bolin perks up, suddenly proud. “I offered Pabu in my place!”
“And we appreciate that,” Asami is quick to add, probably before Mako can break his own nose with an epic facepalm. “But… I think we both love Mako a little more than we love Pabu.”
Bolin nods in understanding while Korra leans in over the table. “Sooooo,” she prompts. “Any interest in being my best man?”
“Or mine!” Asami reaches over and gives Korra a light pinch. “And hey, our wedding’s not for a few months at least. If you’re seeing anyone by then, we apparently have a spot open for them…”
The idea is so outlandish that Mako can’t help but snort. “Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.”
“Oh, come on, Mako.” Korra’s face worries itself into a frown, sympathy winning out over her theatrically over-the-top praise. “Don’t be like that. I know it didn’t work out with me and Asami, but that doesn’t mean it won’t work out ever.”
“Yeah!” Asami gives him a bright smile. “You’re a great guy, Mako. Someone’s gonna be lucky to have you one day.”
By the time Bolin starts up some affirmations of his own, Mako realizes what’s going on. They’re trying to be supportive. “Wait, guys, no,” he protests, cutting off his brother’s sure-to-be-long-winded spiel before it gets off the ground. “I don’t want that.”
They regard him with skepticism, which — okay, fair, he has dated half of this table before. “Are you sure?” Asami asks. “You don’t have to pretend to be happy if you’re not.”
“I am,” Mako argues. “I… well, it’s like how you and Korra both like more than one gender, I think. Except that I’m not interested in any of them.”
“Whoa.” Bolin’s eyes grow wide. “Is that even an option?”
Mako shrugs. “I think so. When I asked Tenzin about it, he seemed to think it wasn’t unusual among the old Air Nomads.”
“Wait. Wait wait wait.” Korra drops her elbows onto the table and studies him closely. “You told Tenzin before you told us? Since when do you and Tenzin even talk?”
“Not on purpose! When I brought it up to Chief, she suggested he might know something about it!”
“Oh, and Lin too?” Korra lets out an overdramatic huff. It’s all for show, though — Mako knows what Korra looks like when she’s pissed, and right now, her eyes are shining. She’s just teasing him.
Well, teasing and being excessively generous. Not only has she guided the whole conversation into more comfortable territory, she also can’t help but add, “Forget what I said earlier. Asami, he’s all yours.”
Mako rolls his eyes, but can’t help a smile of his own. “It’s not like it was a secret,” he protests. “It’s just… never been relevant before.”
Bolin, who still seems a little confused about the whole thing, speaks up again. “Wait. Not relevant? But you dated both Korra and Asami! Multiple times! Sometimes even at the same time! Wouldn’t it have been relevant back then?”
And… there’s a lot Mako could say in response to that.
Most importantly, Bolin’s not wrong. It sure as hell would’ve been relevant back then, if someone was around to slap Mako upside the head and get him to really, really think about whether he was attracted to Korra and Asami or whether he was just desperate for friends, and a little overexcited at the prospect of having two. But he punches his little brother in the arm instead. “Hey, I needed some trial and error — apparently a lot of error — to figure it out.”
That seems to satisfy Bolin enough, which leaves only Asami. But when Mako spots the grin on her face, he knows that she has no problem with it either.
Until she opens her mouth. “I’m happy for you,” she tells him, “but I’d argue that it’s still relevant, even now. You’re free to tell us whatever you want, but if it’s important to you, it’s important to us, because we love you. That’s why we want you at our wedding, after all.”
And Mako takes a look around the table, and finds himself saying, “I… I know. Thanks, by the way. I’d love to be your best man. For both of you. I’d rather not try to choose again.”
Clearly, it’s the right answer. Korra’s eyes light up, Asami starts babbling about logistics, and Bolin cries out in relief before trying to flag down a waiter.
Mako, meanwhile, just smiles as he watches it all play out. It took some practice, sure, but he’s much better at being their friend than he ever was at being anything else.
How could he not be happy with that?