Work Text:
As a Date:
Asami checked the address, before looking up at the huge pro-bending arena. Mako said for her to meet him at his place so they could go on a date, but this was his work, not his house.
“Need something, girly?” an older man with a broom asked, when she stood on the sidewalk a bit too long.
“Ah, do you know where Mako lives, the firebender for the Fire Ferrets?” Asami asked.
“Lives upstairs,” the man answered. “All the way at the top floor, tow doors to the left of the elevator.”
Asami started to walk off when the man called for her again.
“Wait, why’d you need to know?” he asked suspiciously.
“Ah, I have a date with him,” Asami said.
“Huh, I guess the kid has more game than I gave him credit for,” the man muttered before going back to his cleaning.
Asami ignored the man’s comment and made her way in the direction he had told her too. She found the door and knocked on it, hoping she hadn’t been directed wrong.
“Hey,” Mako said, opening the door. He smiled at her and Asami smiled back, caught up in the way his eyes lit up. It took her a moment to notice how he was dressed.
“Are you going to get dressed?” Asami asked, taking in his basic lounge clothes.
“Why we aren’t going anywhere?” Mako asked.
“Oh,” Asami said, slightly nervous, “did I get the day wrong? I thought we were going out?”
“No,” Mako said, inviting her in, a dropping a kiss on her cheek, “we are having a date, I just thought I’d cook for you this time. Eating out all the time is great and all, but homecooked meals are more, ah, intimate.”
“Intimate,” Asami repeated teasingly.
Mako rubbed the back of his neck. “Ah, yeah,” he said not looking at her. “I mean, no pressure but Bolin won’t be home anytime soon and well, if you wanted, we could but really I just wanted to eat and then get to know each other better.”
“Get to know each other better?” Asami questioned, enjoying the way Mako’s blush took over both his face and his neck at the implication she made. She wondered how far down his chest it would actually make it.
“Ah, food,” Mako said, walking over towards his kitchen counters. While Mako cooked, Asami took in their living area. It had a small kitchen and a living room and there were two small bedrooms and one single bathroom in the middle.
“Why’s there an apartment up here?” Asami asked.
“Ah, Bolin and I kind of built it,” Mako said. “there was really only just the one room up here. The walls aren’t as sturdy as they look. The plumbing is rigged and is always breaking. Sorry.”
“It’s impressive that you’ve build this,” Asami said, realizing she’d made Mako uncomfortable.
“Thanks,” Mako said, pulling the frying pan from the stove top and plating it.
Mako and Bolin didn’t really have a dining table so they sat on the sofa to eat.
“Streak fried rice,” Mako said, “and wantons.”
He presented it as if it was a five-star meal and Asami smiled at him. Mako wasn’t as funny as he thought he was but his enthusiasm for telling corny jokes was cute.
As Asami took a bite of the food, she told herself Mako could make as many lame jokes as he wanted, because he could cook, very well. Her mom used to tell her that was the sign of a keeper.
As a Helper:
Korra was kind of glad her friends were staying on Air Temple Island with her. It gave her people her own age to talk to.
She was also very glad to have her boyfriend on the island with her. She had initially been surprised at his new job, but apparently Lin had offered and Mako had taken it. He seemed happy, which she supposed was a good sign.
Another surprise from her boyfriend had been his kitchen take over. Pema, who had just given birth, was cooking a meal for the family, when Mako shooed her way from the kitchen. He took up the kitchen duty himself, telling her to go tend to herself and her new baby. Apparently, he was taking care of dinner.
Korra wasn’t sure that was a good idea. While she knew Mako had a very odd set of skills due to his upbringing, she wasn’t sure why cooking would be one of them.
She didn’t comment though, and instead watched him move around the kitchen with a practiced ease that Korra didn’t understand.
She moved forward to help him, but all Mako did was kiss the top of her head and turn her back around towards the exit. Korra huffed slightly but took the hint and left Mako to his cooking.
He surprised her a lot. It tasted great and Pema looked like she finally got a full night’s rest. Mako was bashful with the praise his meal got and blushed darkly when Pema explained Mako was the one who cooked it.
After the meal Korra found Mako on the gazebo.
“Hey,” Korra said, warping her arms around Mako’s middle. “You’re a really good cook, did you know that?”
“Eh, not really,” Mako said. “Bolin needed food growing up and contrary to the fact that he eats nearly anything now, he used to be a really picky eater. I quickly had to learn how to not burn things or Bolin wouldn’t eat.”
“Well, it’s a useful skill to have,” Korra said. “I certainly can’t cook.”
Mako smiled slightly. “I don’t mind cooking for you,” Mako said, pulling her into a kiss.
“I guess that makes you a keeper,” Korra joked. She pulled him into another kiss when she saw how brightly his eyes lit up at that comment.
As a Family:
Korra had brought Mako to the South to meet her parents and while her dad was taking forever to warm up to Mako, her mom was seconds away from adopting him.
The two had been in the kitchen for hours talking and joking and cooking.
The smells drifting from the kitchen were killing her slowly. She was pretty sure her mom was teaching Mako to make seal jerky, which was just another unfair weapon for Mako’s arsenal.
Her dad had grunted at the interactions going on in the kitchen before leaving the house and only returning right before dinner.
Korra herself took to peaking into the kitchen when their backs were turned. She knew Mako, and she knew her mom, if either of them thought Korra or her dad were listening to them, they’d stop talking.
“She’s just,” Mako paused, pulling the pan from the oven as Korra’s mom turned the jerky over, “she’s just so enthusiastic about things and life. She’s not afraid of the unknown and that in turn makes me braver to step past my comfort zones. She’s also a lot gentler than first expected. I kind of like that even more than when I thought she’d be rough?”
Mako sounded confused but Korra nearly melted into the floor as she listened to Mako talk about her to her mom.
“Are we still talking about your relationship, right, or have we shifted to your sex life?” Korra’s mom asked.
Mako choked on nothing, and truthfully Korra nearly did too, as her mom’s laughter rang around the room.
“I haven’t,” Mako stuttered. “I – I mean we haven’t, ah, not, um.”
“I’m kidding. Korra’s always had a soft center,” her mom said, interrupting Mako’s panic. “Her dad’s the same say. All big and bad and strong on the outside with the gooy and sweet side hidden.”
“I love her,” Mako said, softly, staring down at the counter top.
“I’m glad,” Korra’s mom said, running a hand down Mako’s back. “She’s happy with you. I can tell. You’re good for her. Korra doesn’t have many people who challenge her.”
“I hope you’re right,” Mako whispered.
“I know I’m right,” she answered. “You’ll be part of the family in no time.”
Korra bit her lip to keep quiet, as she took in the raw and vulnerable look on Mako’s face.
Dinner that night tasted better then ever with two good cooks in the kitchen versus one.
“You’ve out done yourself, Senna,” Korra’s dad said.
“Having Mako around, certainly helped,” her mom replied.
Her dad’s only response was a thoughtful humming sound.
“He’s a keeper, Korra,” her mom said, winking at her.
Korra smiled. “Yeah, he is,” she agreed, watching with amusement as Mako blushed.
As a Friend:
Asami was glad that they had all managed to put the past behind them and remain friends, even if it was a bit rocky at the start.
The fact that Mako was so supportive of her and Korra’s new relationship had been surprising but welcomed. She had worried they would make him uncomfortable but he seemed very okay with it. It was nearly suspicious until she realized the reason.
Mako had invited her and Korra over for dinner. Asami hadn’t realized Mako had invited them over for a triple date. Having Bolin and Opal over wasn’t odd, what threw her off was Wu’s presence as he leaned over Mako’s shoulder the entire time he cooked.
Asami was surprised Mako was letting him do so. Mako usually hated people hovering over him in the kitchen.
Wu seemed to feel right at home messing with Mako in the kitchen. She wondered for how long that had been a thing, or even how long the two had been dating. She though Mako didn’t even like Wu.
“So, when did you two start dating?” Asami asked over dinner, a dinner that was oddly enough the exact thing Mako first cooked for her. It was making her a bit nostalgic as she stared across the table at Mako. He was blushing darkly, that blush that she did eventually learn traveled to his navel before giving up.
“After Zhu Li and Varrick’s wedding,” Wu answered. “So, only a few weeks really. I’m going to have to head back to Ba Sing Se soon, but Mako and I are made of some strong stuff, so I’m not too worried about long distance.”
Asami traded a look with Korra, as Mako dropped a kiss in Wu’s hair. They both knew that despite Wu’s beliefs, that probably wasn’t true. Mako wasn’t a distance person, even now he was crowded into Wu’s side. He wanted he’s significant others with him. He was too affectionate of a person for anything else. He’d go crazy having his boyfriend so far away.
Neither of them said anything, as Mako and Wu seemed to want to ignore their potential down fall.
“Well,” Asami said, “I wish you the best. You have a really keeper there Wu.”
“Yeah,” Korra said, her voice sounding slightly off. “He’s something special.”
As an Opportunity:
Mako was in the kitchen of Asami’s manor. He and his grandma were drifting around each other as they cooked. Mako’s grandma was cooking something for their family, but Mako was just cooking for Asami and Korra.
He had called them, a week or two before, asking if he could stay with them a bit. He had to awkwardly explain that his apartment was fine, but he just didn’t want to be alone. His last conversation with Wu kept drifting through his head and he needed to get it out.
They had broken up, the distance shattering them in a way Mako had been fearful of. Wu had just seemed so confidant about them making it, that Mako painfully wanted to believe him.
Korra and Asami hadn’t been surprised, which made Mako feel worse. Of course, his relationship didn’t go anywhere with Wu, he still even three, nearly four, years later, sucked at relationships.
He was tired of failing. He was also tired of pretending.
He had loved Wu, in his own way, but it hadn’t been enough to overcome how Mako still felt about Korra and how he was starting to feel about Asami again.
He stirred the pot of noodles he was making just a bit too harshly as he tired to push those thoughts back again. He didn’t have time to fall back in love with his ex-girlfriends, particularly when they were dating each other.
Korra and Asami were waiting for him on a balcony table that overlooked the pool. There were light strings lighting up the area and the mountainsides outside the city could be seen in the glow of the full moon.
Mako paused in the doorway his heart beat picking up rapidly as he watched them backlit by such a romantic view. Mako realized in that moment it was far too late to not fall back in love with either woman. He’d just have to deal like he always did.
“Well, don’t just stand there, Mako,” Korra said. “We’re hungry.”
“And,” Asami said, gesturing him to sit, “we have something we want to talk to you about.”
“What’s up?” Mako said, placing the tray of food down.
“Well, we were wondering if maybe you’d want to try a poly relationship,” Asami said, quickly. “I know you just broke up with Wu but Korra and I realized our feelings for you might still run deep. No pressure though, just we wanted to tell you.”
“Really deep,” Korra muttered looking down. “I wasn’t joking when I told Wu you were something special.”
“And I wasn’t joking when I told him you were a keeper,” Asami said. “I think we’ve all grown up enough in the past few years that this could really work.”
“I,” Mako said, before pausing. “I’d like that.”
For a boyfriend:
Mako came home to the smell of something burning. He found his grandma outside the kitchen shaking her head, as Korra and Asami screamed about something on the other side of the door, Mako was pushing open.
“You can’t pour water on a grease fire,” Asami shouted.
“I’ve figured that out now,” Korra replied, sarcastically. “How do we put it out, then?”
Mako watched with wide eyes as Asami reached to cover the pan with the lid. Mako raced forwards, grabbing his girlfriend’s arm and calming the flame.
“Oh,” Korra said, watching the flames disappear under Mako’s control, “firebending.”
“Did you really forget you were a firebender?” Mako asked, turning to Korra and releasing Asami’s arm.
“Hey, I remembered I was a waterbender,” Korra defended. “Not that it helped much.”
“Well, I needed to remodel the kitchen anyway,” Asami said, looking around at the charred mess.
“What were you two doing anyway?” Mako asked, pulling the pan off the stove and trashing the contents.
“We were trying to make you dinner for your birthday,” Korra replied. “Your grandma was helping us but we messed up and then everything was on fire.”
Mako took one look at Korra and Asami’s shamed faces before laughing.
“You two are something else,” he said, pulling first Korra and then Asami into a kiss. “I love you both but let’s just go to Kwong’s before we don’t have a house left.”
“I guess,” Korra said, pouting. “We just wanted to do something nice for you.”
“We can make it up to him later,” Asami whispered, before dragging Korra off to get dressed. Korra laughed as they made their way down the hall, with Asami still whispering in her ear.
Mako’s face heated as he watched them leave, with dread as to what the two women meant by that.
“Those girls can’t cook at all,” Mako’s grandma said, coming up beside him.
“Nope,” Mako said, dropping the scorched pan into the sink.
“And you want to spend your life with them?” she asked, seemingly confused by that idea.
“Yeah,” Mako said, feeling a dopey smile stretch across his face. “They are keepers, even if they can’t cook.”