Disclaimer: I do not own Mako, Korra, Bolin, Asami, or any other element of The Legend of Korra you may find in this story. They are all copyright their respective owners. This story is written purely for my own amusement, and now yours. Please do enjoy.

I do, however, currently own the game Rock-Water-Fire, a game found in this fanfiction. Please PM me if you would like to use the game.

Most of my stories are written from prompts or requests that I receive on my rp account on tumblr (freshkorra). This one, however, was not. To request a prompt, send me an ask at my tumblr, or send me a private message directly here on FF.

Thank you for reading! Please review. I am always open to constructive criticism; I know I need it.

"Go on, dance with her," Bolin urged. "Look at her; she's not gonna stay without a partner for long. Any second now, someone else is gonna-"

"Don't even," Mako argued, folding his arms across his chest and grimacing at the thought.

"I'm serious, bro. Loooook at heeeeerrrrr," Bolin pressed, pointing across the room at the dark-haired beauty. Pressing so hard that Mako couldn't help but at least glance at her.

She was wearing just the lightest bit of makeup, only enough to accentuate the feminine charm of her face. A graceful smile greeted acquaintances as they passed her. Her sleeveless dress hugged her slim but fit torso, flaring out slightly at her hips and stopping at her knees. Certainly more suiting than the last one he'd seen her in, but probably because it wasn't nearly as elegant.

It also wasn't as revealing in her chest area, which Mako found strangely comforting. In fact, it cut from one shoulder to the other, straight across, leaving everything to the imagination.

"Are you looking?" Bolin asked.

"Of course I'm looking," Mako growled. "And if you're thinking it'll mean I'll go over and talk to her, you're wrong. You look at her, Bolin. She's beautiful; perfect in every way." He sighed. "She wouldn't even think about dancing with me."

Bolin pouted. He'd made a promise to her; a promise that he wouldn't tell Mako how she felt. Why'd he go and do a thing like that? If he could just tell Mako, this entire thing could get sorted out real easy-like. For a few minutes, inner turmoil progressed in Bolin's mind; did the ends justify the means or did he owe it to her not to tell her secret? On the one hand, if he told Mako and Mako went to ask her to dance because of it, then she would get what she wanted. But on the other, he was still betraying her trust.

His inner turmoil started to show on his face.

"What's the matter? You constipated or something?" Mako asked, scowling.

"I'm debating."

"Debating what? With who?"

"Whether or not to tell you something. With myself."

"What? You've been keeping a secret from me?" Mako asked, surprised and a bit offended.

"Not by choice," Bolin answered, rolling his eyes.

"You have the choice now. You can tell me or you can keep on keeping your secret."

"It's not my secret; that's the problem. It's hers."

"Oh, so she's gota secret from me, too?" Mako demanded.

"Not 'too,' dumb dumb. She's got the same secret."

"From me."

"No, from Amon. YES FROM YOU."

"Who else knows?"

Bolin glanced around the room. "I'm sure most of the people here can tell just by looking at her face, but you seem a bit… what's the word… oblivious."

It was true, if you followed the young lady's gaze, you could see that it was locked on Mako, and whenever he glanced at her, she swiftly looked away, hiding a faint, out-of-character, feminine blush beneath her powder. Anyone could tell she liked him; it was obvious. Anyone, that is, except Mako.

In Mako's mind, he was imagining things. There was no way she could like him, not when she could have anyone she wanted. What could she possibly see in him? Emotionless, pessimistic, poor, out-of-date… The only redeeming quality he saw in himself was his care for his brother, but that wasn't a characteristic to him. It was a necessity. An inevitability. A given.

"Just tell me what the secret is, or I'll hide your cookies again."

Bolin paused, weighing this new consequence into his debate. "Rock-Water-Fire[*] for it," he finally decided aloud; "I win, you have to go ask her to dance. You win, I'll tell you the secret."

Mako agreed to the somewhat childish request.

"Rock, Water, Fire!" the brothers exclaimed quietly, and Mako watched as his brother threw a fist, a rock.

Then watched as he, himself, threw water, losing.

Casually, without saying a word to Bolin he walked over to the Avatar. "Would you care to dance?"

Bolin grinned, knowingly. Mako knew how the Earthbender was. Bolin always threw Rock. Always. Had for most of his life. So, naturally, Mako always threw Fire so he could win.

But that time, he threw Water.

Obviously, Mako had wanted to lose.

*Rock-Water-Fire was really a very simple game: The two players would say, "Rock, Water, Fire!" then hold out their hands in one of the following symbols: A fist if they wanted a rock, fingers spread and wiggling if they wanted water, and a snap if they wanted fire. The elements had a pre-designated set of winners over one another; Rock blocked water, water put out fire, and fire burned rock.

A/N: Yes, I just designed Rock-Paper-Scissors in the Avatar world; what are you gonna do about it? Anyway, I left Korra nameless throughout most of it because: a. I can, b. I wasn't sure if I wanted to make her Asami, just to throw you guys off.

But my Makorra shipperness broke through. Sorry, Masami shippers.

Also; I've been told that the game I created is similar to a game on Club Penguin, so I researched it to ensure that I wasn't breaking any copyright by claiming this game, but that game is; A. Called "Card Jitsu" and B. Actually Water, Snow, Fire. Not Rock-Water-Fire. While I appreciate the warning, please keep this in mind.