( dick lists towards him like a flower growing towards the sun. mako doesn't pull away, but he doesn't. really do anything else, either, ever when dick's hand is at his nape, fingers working a slow circuit through the short hair there.

he'd really rather be anywhere but here. it's the place more than the company. and them being what they are to each other, it's. weird. hard. awkward. mako reaches up and catches at dick, pulls his hand away from his neck until he's holding it between them. the only problem is he forgets to let go. he just. stands there, fingers a circlet around dick's wrist. )

I'm not even going to dignify that with an answer.

( it doesn't occur to him that he's being flirted with. he just does the obvious thing. )

Dick, I do like you. And maybe if I was anyone else, that would be enough.

( he's doing it again. backsliding. putting himself — by choice — into that same bleak place that beifong has been in for decades. he doesn't want to. it's just. he doesn't really have a choice, does he? duty is the same thing that pushed he and korra apart, at the end of the day. his work as a cop, hers as the avatar. he's still surprised, gratified, grateful their friendship survived it intact. but he barely knows dick, the foundation of whatever it is they've shared is a tenuous thing on porous ground.

mako swallows once, his gaze is fixed on the contrast in their skintones, how stark it seems in the low light. )

There are other guys. People, whatever you're into. It'd be easier.