It used to be when Bolin thought of girls he would think of their flirty glances, the smell of their light perfume as they leaned into him, the swing of their hips as they walked, and the thrill of knowing that to them, he was an idol.

He considered himself an expert on women, someone who had seen it all, and it was more than enough, it was bliss every day. The fame, the flirting, the kisses he could steal so easily, and he could make the girls happy too, with just a word. Yep, he was the expert, much more so than his brother.

Mako avoided the crowds and didn't respond to the people cheering his name, always too focused and serious to care about the girls' admiring glances, and so soon they all turned to him, as both he and Mako liked. A win win for them both, a style of life that Bolin had never disliked, never regretted.

Until now.

"Mako," Korra shouted across the room at his brother lounging on the sofa, "Come on! It's Friday night, we just won the semi-finals, and you want to read a book?"

Mako shot an irritated look at her with a sigh, not closing his book. "Yes, that's exactly what I want to do."

"Oh, come on! I bet someone's getting mugged somewhere in this city, there's sure to be some action!"

"Danger seeking again, Korra? If any of us gets hurt before the finals, we lose our chance at the championship. You can use that thing on your shoulders for more than head-butting you know."

Korra laughed, poised with her hands on her hips in front of him. "But that would be no fun! Besides, you do all the thinking needed around her, leaving me 'n Bolin free to roam. That's the way it works!"

And Mako let out another irritated sigh, eyes drifting back down to his book. "Well then how about you and Bolin go practice or do something productive, and not get into any street fights, and I'll sit here and do the thinking."

And he went back to his book.

"Oh, come on Mako!"

When he didn't react Korra sighed, turning to face Bolin with a grin.

"Fine, I guess it's just you and me tonight! We'll definitely go out to 'practice'." She threw a look at Mako over her shoulder as she said that, letting him hear her heavy sarcasm.

He merely sighed and Korra grinned again, that twinkling, alive look in her eyes that made Bolin's heart skip a beat.

He laughed out loud, pushing himself up off the couch and bounding over to Korra, acting like his usual light-hearted self even though, truthfully, he felt like joining Mako on the couch tonight. Too many thoughts were swirling in his head, too many feelings he didn't know what to do with, and Korra only made things worse.

When had it started? When did he stop caring about other girl's glances? When did he start to feel envious of Mako, of all people?

Watching the little glance she stole back at his brother as they walked out the door and the way her eyes softened as she did, Bolin thought he could at least answer his last question. He knew girls like the back of his hand, and it didn't take a genius to guess what her feelings were after seeing that look. He didn't know how it had turned out like this, to be honest. Mako didn't try anything, was downright mean to her most of the time, and yet she still looked at him like that?

"So, what you up for doin'?" he asked, trying to shove the thoughts out of his head as they walked through the training center.

Korra beamed up at him, those bright blue eyes of hers catching his. "Oh, I don't know, let's just wander around and see what we can find around Republic."

He snorted, seeing the usual mischievous light dancing in her eyes. "And this wouldn't have anything to do with picking a fight like Mako told us not to, would it?"

"Oh, of course not! You know I would never do anything Mako told me not to!"

He sighed with a smile and then grinned, trying to keep the mood light like he normally did effortlessly. "Sometimes I think you do it just to annoy him."

She sped up, an eager smile on her face. "'Course not, I love a good fight!"

"Anyone with eyes can see that. But it's a good thing I'm here, 'cause you'd probably disgrace the Fire Ferret name and lose to some northerner fresh off the boat."

"Like hell I would! It's definitely the other way around, 'cause last time I checked, I'm the Avatar in this twosome."

"Hah! Some Avatar, all anyone needs to do to beat you is throw a few insults and you'll lose it. Hothead," he teased, bumping her with his shoulder.

They were on the streets outside the arena by now, walking away from the bustling town center into the notorious west side which hosted the town's night scene.

Korra smirked, dropping into the confident strut she saved solely for this part of town. "Well you're even easier to beat. Any pretty girl with a dagger up her sleeve could take you down as you gelled back your hair and tried to sweet talk her with that puppy- dog look of yours!"

Bolin winced, watching her laugh as she looked around the street, scanning it for any signs of action.

He'd known, of course, that that's how she saw him, because that's how everyone saw him. Bolin the flirt, the womanizer, the guy who chased any pretty girl that gave him half a look.

That was the person he least wanted her to see him as.

He smirked on the outside, walking with his own stride now, the one that told anyone watching he could handle himself. "Well, maybe I was like that, in my younger years—"

Korra snorted.

"—but I think I've outgrown that phase. I'm a worldly man you know, an assassin of any shape or form couldn't touch me!"

Korra laughed, slapping him on the back like a friend. Like a brother. "Phase my ass, that's you to a T, Bolin. It's your personality."

"Doesn't mean it has to be for the rest of my life. People change you know," he said, his cheerful tone dropping, and on the inside he started sweating. He'd known it'd been a mistake going out with Korra tonight, when he was feeling so weird. The words were starting to come out uncensored.

She just laughed again, not picking up on his more serious tone. "Change, you? I don't think so, it'd actually be pretty creepy if you stopped flirting with girls. I feel kinda bad for them though, Bolin, you never look at the same one every night! You could at least choose a favorite," she teased, still looking around the street and not seeing his face grow darker with every word.

"I'm not that obsessed with girls, Korra! Stop blowing things out of proportion!"

Korra stopped, raising an eyebrow and meeting his glare with confusion "What's with you, Bolin? I've called you a flirt loads of times before and you never seemed to care then."

"Yeah, well, maybe it smarts coming from someone who constantly flirts with my brother!"

And there it came, slipping out in an instant. Korra froze, her friendly expression changing to pure shock. And worse still, the words kept coming.

"You think I can't see the way you look at him, all gooey-eyed and moonstruck? Mako doesn't date, you know, and I bet it annoys the hell out of him how you keep throwing yourself at him."

"Throwing myself at him? How could you say that?"

"Well, it's the truth! Sometimes I wonder if you're really on our team to improve your bending or if you just want to be closer to Mako!"

Korra trembled with rage, her mouth forming words but no sound coming out. And then she hit him, hit him hard, and he flew into the brick wall behind them. She took off in the opposite direction, running hard and rounding the first turn up to her right before Bolin could even get back on his feet.

"Korra, wait!" he yelled out, cursing under his breath as he scrambled to his feet and started after her.

He'd done it now, he was sure she absolutely hated him. He hadn't meant to say it, he really hadn't, and now she'd probably never speak to him again.

"Korra!" He yelled again, sprinting down the alley and turning the corner, catching a glimpse of her legs as they disappeared around another blind turn up ahead, headed deeper and deeper into the bad side of town.

His heart sped up and he ran even faster, worry lending his feet wings. He and Korra could handle almost anything together with their guards up, but her running blindly down these streets when they knew Revolutionists were after her was just asking for trouble.

"Korra! Please wait, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!"

The world seemed to slow as he ran after her, his breathing ragged and muscles burning from trying to keep her in his sight as she weaved and turned through alleys and dark streets, only the orange glow of a few sputtering lampposts providing light.

"Korra!" He yelled breathlessly, his muscles screaming, but he refused to stop. He couldn't leave things like that, not even for a night, because if he did—

A crash from around the next corner shattered the night, followed by a loud thump as if something big had hit the ground.

Bolin's blood ran cold. He sprinted as hard as he could the last few steps and skidded around the corner, coming to a dead stop as he took in the scene before him.

Korra lay crumpled against the alley wall, her body limp and limbs splayed out in all directions.

Bolin took a few halting steps towards her, his face frozen and stiff, and then she moaned and he saw her struggle to lift her head. Only then could he see the blood that dripped down the side of her face, the gash that split her forehead at her hairline.

And then they burst from the shadows. Daggers gleamed in the streetlight, winking in and out of view as the five people shrouded in black cloaks cut Bolin off, blocking Korra from his view.

He unfroze and dropped into a fighting stance, but before he could so much as knock them off their feet two of the men each sent their own attacks, a pillar of flame and a whip of water, both headed straight for his chest. He put a rock shield up in the nick of time and it held against the attacks but cut off his view. And then something hit him from behind, pushing him out from behind his shield and smashing him into the wall on the other side of the alley.

Water shot through the air quick as a bullet as soon as he was pushed into view and froze in manacles around his wrists and feet, pinning him to the wall like a bug caught in a web.

Bolin spit out a tooth, barely feeling the pain, and looked frantically towards the men surrounding Korra, struggling frantically against his bonds.

The sixth man who Bolin assumed had just hit him from behind stepped out of the shadows, his face uncovered by any mask.

"Stay away from her!" He yelled, glaring at the man who seemed to be the leader.

The man's hawk-like face, cold and insensitive, sneered down at him as he walked over.

"That girl's the Avatar, right? Korra, I heard you call her. Thanks for that, by the way, or else we might have just mistaken her for a regular water tribe girl we'd simply mug. But the Avatar, alive? Amon will pay a hefty price for her."

"You stay the hell away from her or I'll—"

"You'll what? In case you haven't noticed, you won't be doing anything unless we let you."

The man glanced back at his men still poised around Korra's crumpled figure. "Bring her over here! I want her bound and gagged right now and then let's get out of here! We made a lot of noise so the metalslingers can't be too far behind!"

Bolin watched helplessly as one of the men in black unceremoniously dragged her unconscious body over the cement to the center of the alley where the leader advanced on her, tilting her face up to what little light the streetlamp offered.

"Yep that's her all right, I recognize her from when she gave that cheeky little speech a few weeks ago. All right boys, let's finish this—"

And a pillar of flame came blasting into the alley, knocking the leader off his feet and sending him hurtling back into his own men.

Bolin jerked his head to the side and saw a guy emerging from the flames, his face twisted in anger and disgust, fire hurtling from his palms at such a breakneck pace the men in black didn't have a single second for retaliation. Mako.

The men screamed in pain as their clothes caught fire and they were blasted off their feet, weapons clattering to the ground. The leader lay where the first blast had thrown him, unmoving, and still Mako didn't stop. He sprinted up the alley and flipped through the air, bringing his hands down at once, a ball of fire erupting from them towards one of the men lying on the ground. The man barely managed to roll to the side, the fire making a crater in the ground where he'd just been with a tremendous boom.

One of his friends who'd managed to regain his footing tried to send a disc of rock hurtling at Mako's head, but with the smallest flick of his wrist Mako sent another pillar of flame to meet the rock in midair and sent the conflagration onwards towards the attacker, sending him hurtling even farther back down the alley.

"Retreat!" called one of the men in black, scooping up their fallen leader and running after the man Mako had just sent flying back into the shadows. His comrades followed, picking themselves up off the ground and sprinting away. Mako let them go, a murderous look on his face that Bolin had never seen before.

"Mako," Bolin croaked, voice breaking with stress and relief.

With a flick of his fingers Mako sent four little strands of fire to meet Bolin's bindings, melting enough of the ice with a hiss that Bolin could wrench his hands out. By the time he was free, Mako was already kneeling besides Korra, examining her injury with such a worried expression it almost made Bolin pause. Mako never looked like that, not over anything.

"Mako, thank God! How did you find us, I was—"

"Shut up, Bolin! Just shut the hell up!"

Bolin froze, completely taken aback. Where was his cool, rational brother?

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Mako continued to yell, jumping up to his feet and advancing on Bolin. "You know this part of town is dangerous and Kora's a wanted girl, and you think it's fine to let your guard down and let her run through alleys blindly? I trusted you to protect her!"

"Wait, you think I let her run like that?" He yelled back angrily, feeling each of Mako's words like blows. "I was trying to catch up to her, and besides I didn't want her to run off in the first place—"

"Yeah, running after her screaming her name like an idiot, how many water tribe girls named Korra do you think there are in this city? And I know you said something to her to make her run like that, she's always reckless but she's not stupid!"

"I can't help it that what I said upset her, I tried my best to protect her—"

"Well you didn't! And she got hurt, she could have been killed!"

Mako was an inch away from him, eyes burning with rage, the ends of his fingertips smoldering as if he could barely rein in the fire.

"Oh, and you care so much, don't you? It's not like you even talk to Korra, you only ever berate her and roll your eyes! Stop acting like you care so much now because you've gotten your chance to act like a freakin' hero—"

Mako punched him.

Bolin staggered sideways with the force of the blow, shocked. His brother had never hit him for real before, not once in his life.

Mako stood there, panting, his eyes wide as he looked at his fist. Slowly, hand shaking, he lowered it to his side and looked at the ground, letting his hair hide his expression. "Don't you ever," he said, voice shaking along with the rest of his body, "ever say that to me again. You're my brother, Bolin, and I love you, but I swear right now I want to tear out your guts. So back off."

Bolin remained silent, unable to say a word, only able to stare with wide, frozen eyes at his brother. Mako let out a heavy breath and glared up at him for a few long moments before abruptly turning around and running to Korra, gently picking her up in his arms and cradling her injured head. The sight of it struck something deep inside Bolin, something he'd never felt before.

Shame. A deep, burning shame that consumed him. He was in love with Korra, and yet he'd let her come running into this trap, he'd been unable to save her. He'd been so frustrated that Korra didn't see he liked her, that she'd always only seen Mako, but did he really deserve to be the one she liked anyways? Mako had done the saving, probably had been following them from afar just to make sure they'd be ok.

To make sure she'd be safe.

As Mako stood up with her in his arms, Bolin saw that his anger and rage had been replaced with another expression he'd never seen on his brother's face before, an expression so tender and concerned it made his throat catch and his heart throb in pain.

"You like her, Mako, don't you?"

Mako paused, looking back at Bolin with an intense, deadly look.

"She's hotheaded, stubborn, reckless, unpredictable, and irresponsible. She's also mine. Don't forget that, Bolin."

And he walked away, Korra in his arms, leaving Bolin to trail behind as each word repeated itself over and over in his mind. They stabbed deep, like a dozen daggers to the heart.