Chapter Text
Mako knew before he even opened his eyes that they were late. He could tell by the way the sun fell on his face that they were supposed to be at the port hours ago. In all likelihood, they had already missed their ship back to Republic City, but on the off chance that it had waited, he forced his leaden limbs to shed the covers and roll out of bed.
When he ventured out into the living area, Lin was on the couch, reading a newspaper with a look of disapproval on her face, while Zolt talked on the phone with someone, muttering curses under his breath about the faulty connection.
“Oh, you’re awake,” Lin said once she noticed him approaching. “Are you feeling any better?”
“The boat back to Republic City was today, right?” Mako asked, his voice strained and rasping. “Do you think it waited? Where’s Bolin? We need to pack and—” He turned away from Lin and cut himself off with a deep cough that burned through his lungs. It continued on for a few moments, leaving him shaky and breathless. “We might still be able to catch it if we hurry.”
“Mako, relax,” Lin said. “We’re not late; we’re rescheduling our trip back.”
“Really? Why?”
“Because the last thing you need when you’re this sick is to be on a boat in the middle of frigid waters.”
Mako’s brow furrowed. “I would have been fine. But the comptroller’s office and the railroad…don’t you guys need to be back at work?”
Lin rested a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry. We have contingencies in place,” she said. “Your health is infinitely more important than all of that, anyway.”
“But—”
“Just focus on resting for now,” Lin said. “I’ll come check on you when I’m done training Korra.”
The next time Mako woke up, chest tight and eyes misty after a dream about his mother, Bolin was sitting at his bedside, face scrunched up in concentration as he doodled on a sketchpad with his set of colored pencils.
He drew in a breath to ask what his younger brother was doing there, but it caught in his chest and he ended up burying a coughing fit into the crook of his arm.
Bolin started at the sound and rushed to pour out a glass of water from the jug on the nightstand. A bit of water sloshed over the side of the cup, and Mako moved to wipe it up as soon as he could breathe again.
“Don’t get up,” Bolin said, handing him the slightly overflowing glass. “I’ll clean it.”
Once he was finished wiping up the small puddle, Bolin narrowed his eyes, studying Mako. “Lin said to go get her if you got worse. Are you worse?”
“No,” Mako said, though the throbbing pain in his head and the heaviness in his chest seemed to suggest otherwise. “And you shouldn’t be here. Trust me, you don’t want to catch this.”
Bolin frowned. “But you always stay with me when I get sick, like mom did.”
“That’s different.”
“No it’s not. You’re being a hypno-crite.”
“You mean hypocrite,” Mako said with a gravelly sigh. “And I’m not. It’s my responsibility to look out for you.”
“Then you’re my responsibility, too,” Bolin said. “I think that’s how mom and dad would have wanted it.”
Mako considered his brother’s words and thought back to his dream—to helping his mom make five spice duck to celebrate the summer solstice, while dad and Bolin decorated the apartment. “Fine. Stay if you want to,” he said after a pause. “Just don’t get too close. This cold would make you miserable.”
When they finally made it back to Republic City—almost two full weeks after they were originally scheduled to arrive—Mako was surprised by the lightness he felt as he caught sight of the Mansion Row estate.
“We’re home!” Bolin said, barreling through the front door as soon as Zolt unlocked it.
The protest that hung on Mako’s tongue—a reminder that they were just visitors, that all of this wasn’t theirs—faded away when he spotted his probending stats book on the arm of the couch, where he’d left it.
“I wasn’t sure we’d make it, the way this one was driving back from the port,” Lin said, glaring at her husband.
Zolt grinned at her. “What? I got us here before the evening rush,” he said. “Besides, the kids like to go fast. Right, Bolin?”
“Right!”
Lin rolled her eyes. “Just know that I’m driving when we come back from the Fire Nation.”
“The Fire Nation?” Bolin said, bolting up from the couch he’d splayed himself across. “We’re going to the Fire Nation?”
Lin shrugged. “Izumi did invite us to go this summer,” she said. “I thought I’d take her up on it.”
“I can’t wait!” Bolin said. “Our mom always talked about how beautiful the beaches were, but I never thought I’d actually get to go!”
Mako’s brow furrowed as he looked from Lin to Zolt to Bolin, all of whom had started talking about their next trip. “Will we still…be here in the summer?” he finally asked.
Lin and Zolt exchanged a glance—her with a raised eyebrow, and him with a nod—some shorthand conversation that Mako couldn’t decipher. Then they turned to him and Bolin, looking more serious than he could ever remember seeing them.
“Mako, Bolin,” Lin said after a pause. “Zolt and I talked about our situation while we were in the South Pole. We’re not entirely sure when the Children’s Bureau will find your family in Ba Sing Se, or what it’ll mean when they do, but you two will have a home with us for as long as you want it.”
Mako, too stunned to speak, could only stare, while Bolin started jumping up and down.
“Are you sure?” Mako asked, once he found his voice. “Is it really alright if we stay?”
“Of course,” Zolt said. “We’re always happy to have you here.”
In that moment, Mako allowed himself to picture a future he’d been too skeptical to imagine—attending school with Asami and his other friends, mastering firebending, going to dinners and probending matches and seeing the world with his…family. For the first time he allowed himself to entertain the word.
And of course, as soon as he started to believe it, to harbor hope, the Children’s Bureau called with news—they’d managed to find their relatives after all.