Camp Amon

Only two days had passed in between his confession to Tarrlok, but not much had changed. He didn’t feel very different. He sat and listened to the lesson while Wu filed his nails. He wrote down his feelings about Vaatu and homosexuality in his journal. The food was still good and the counselors’ voices were still boring. But if it would help him become straight, Mako would do it.

“So who can tell me what this is for?” Varrick asked, holding up a tool.

“That’s a power drill,” someone answered. “For, like, making holes?”

“Correct!”

They were in the workshop— reviewing tools after a session of fixing furniture.

“Hey Mako,” Wu whispered. “Do you wanna go to the Spirit World tonight?”

“What? Uh, sure.”

“Great, cause we have to finish off that bottle of vodka in case someone goes out there and finds it.”

Mako gulped. “The Book of Vaatu” had said that drinking was a sin. And Tarrlok said that sinning made your body weak to invasion of the homosexual spirit.

“Uh… okay,” he said.

For lunch they had chili hot dogs. They were messy and beautiful. Mako had a laugh watching elegant Asami trying not to get cheese all over her make-up and Wu, who kept complaining about his nails. But the best part was Korra— who dove right in and made a mess of her face.

“What? Chili cheese dogs are the best thing in the universe!” she defended.

“I’m not kissing you until you wash your face and brush your teeth,” Asami muttered under her breath.

“What was that?” Wu asked, picking a bean off of his lap.

“Nothing,” she said sweetly.

Mako couldn’t help but grin. They were so cute.

“Close your eyes,” Tahno said with a laugh. 

 “Why?”

“Just close them, silly. Okay, tell me what flavor you think this is.”

Tahno fed Mako a… was it cotton candy? Or was it Tuti Fruti? It was taffy, he knew that much.

“Damn, I can’t figure it out.”

“The box says it’s strawberry lemonade.”

“What?! No way!”

Mako frowned.

“Stop it, dude, you can’t be thinking these things anymore. You need to become straight, remember?”

It was raining outside, so they had their journaling time under the awning of Cabin 16B; Korra and Asami’s home. The sound of the rain on the metal roofs of the cabins was amazing— combined with the steady stream of water falling from the leaves of the trees, and the sound of water colliding with itself on the lake. It was like a symphony.

Kuvira was sitting on the steps of Cabin 16A and reading, so any conversations the group wanted to have were infinitely riskier. Thus, they all silently wrote in their journal (each of them being careful to devote at least one page to the day’s activities), listening to the rain and sharing body heat.

Mako stared at a blank page. How did he feel about Camp Amon? Well, obviously he hated it here, but it was a necessity, right?

He looked up at the group.

Korra’s knee occasionally bumped against Asami’s. That was a risky fucking move right there, but Kuvira wasn’t really bothering to look at the group. From time to time they would glance up and smile at each other.

“I wish I could be as happy as they are,” he thought.

Wu had a pencil in his teeth as he tried to sketch Kuvira. Mako looked over at his friend’s journal and had to stifle a laugh.

His drawing of Kuvira was very well done— uh, if Kuvira was a badgermole… in a pink t-shirt. But the shading and gradient were very smooth.

“I didn’t know you liked to draw,” Mako commented.

Wu looked up and blushed, “Yeah… it’s a hobby. I don’t want to do art as a career or anything. I’m more of a choir kid.”

Mako smirked. Of course he was a singer. He couldn’t help but stare at Wu, who continued to draw.

The boy had perfect hair, that stuck out over his forehead in a kinda cute way— like Tahno’s. Wu was awfully handsome. He managed to bypass the camp uniform; technically he had to wear the blue Camp Amon t-shirt, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t wear anything over it. So he had on a green hoodie that worked pretty well with his white skinny jeans and converse.

The girls had followed his example with Asami’s red Future Industries hoodie, and Korra’s Water Tribe jacket.

Mako had elected to wear a long sleeve underneath his blue Camp Amon t-shirt. He didn’t want to jinx it.

But back to Wu.

He was focused on drawing Kuvira, and there was a little crinkle in his nose as he tried to draw a braid on the character in his journal. It was really cute.

“OH SHIT MAKO NONONONONONONONONONON—“

“Hey Kuvira, what are we doing tomorrow?” Korra called over her shoulder.

“Mako, is there something you need to tell me?” Toza’s voice was soft.

“Dad! It’s not what you think!” Mako cried.

Tahno grabbed his shirt and put his pants on. Toza gave him a nod and Bolin showed him to the door. Mako cursed himself for being so stupid.

Toza sat down on the bed, “Mako, why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought you would be angry.”

“Oh, son.” Toza wrapped his arms around Mako and put his chin on top of the boy’s head. “I’m not mad, I just want you to be happy.”

Kuvria marked the page in her book.

“I think we’re reading out of the book of Vaatu and discussing our future plans— after you’re cured of homosexuality.”

Cured. It was a sickness. Mako had to keep reminding himself of that. He was sick. He looked at the group. They didn’t look ill. They were all perfectly fine with who they were and their sexuality. Asami tapped Korra’s foot with her own; it must’ve been some sort of code-language between the two of them.

“I’ve got to grab something inside, excuse me,” Asami said—  gracefully stepping over each of them and entering the cabin.

“Oh-uh… me too! I need to uh… pencil sharpener!” Korra said hastily, knocking Wu over as she stood up.

“You horny dorks.”

.               .               .

Wu met up with Mako at 11:18pm, according to the older boy’s watch.

“Where are the others?”

“They didn’t want to come,” Wu said. “They said they wanted to get some sleep tonight.”

“Yeah, right. They want to make out where no one will see them,” Mako thought.

They stumbled as quietly as they could (practice makes perfect— no one heard them) through the forest as they attempted to find The Spirit World.

“This shack is like Narnia. You can’t find it twice in a row,” Wu grumbled.

“I see it,” Mako pointed.

The two of them pushed the heavy metal door open with all their might.

“Oh, it’s damn cold out.”

“Well let’s have some of that drink, it’ll warm us up.”

Wu unscrewed the cap of the transparent bottle and took a large sip. He let out a little gasp.

“Strong stuff?” Mako had yet to drink at The Spirit World.

“It’s cheap but it does the trick. Here.”

Mako hesitantly held the bottle and stared at it.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want. I don’t want to peer-pressure you,” Wu said calmly.

Tahno handed him a beer. They were at the beach; or the closest thing Republic City had to a beach. The boys were shirtless and tanning in the summer sun.

“I’m glad your Dad was okay with us.”

Mako toasted him, raising his bottle high.

“What do you want to do this summer?”

“I don’t know. I want us to hang out with our other friends, you know,” Mako said.

“Maybe I don’t want to share you,” Tahno teased him.

“Yeah, but I’m friends with Ming and Shaozu too, you know. It would probably be okay with them. You know. The whole us thing.”

Tahno frowned. He looked out to Yue Bay.

Mako took a large drink. The stuff burned his throat. He might as well get all of his sinning over with.

“Woah there… easy, pal,” Wu said with a raised eyebrow.

The boys sat on the dirt floor of the shed, chatting about Camp Amon and having a good laugh at Kuvira’s expense. They kept taking turns drinking from the bottle, until they were good and drunk.

“So then I said to her… so then I said to her, ‘I get enough sleep…’ and then something about teenage angst,” Wu said, his speech slurring.

Mako laughed loudly, “I remember that.”

“You get along with her alright.”

“Well I try to get along with her. But I-I-I think I… I’ll never be ssssstraight at this rate,” he said with a little frown. Wu was looking really handsome right now.

Wu sat up, “Wait, you… you want to be… sssstttrrrraaaaiiiiggggghhhhttt?”

Mako shrugged with a smile.

“Man, remind me to get you drunk more-more-more often,” Wu slurred.

Sometime later Mako checked his watch. It was past three in the morning.

“Come-on,” he said, woozily standing up.

“Aw, I don’t wanna,” Wu whined.

Mako, with all the strength of a Republic City Turtleduck batter, pulled Wu up with one arm, but the momentum was too much for both drunk boys, and they crashed into the wall of the shed. Instead of moving away from each other, they simply stood there— Wu pressed against Mako’s chest.

“Mmmm you’re really handsome Mako, you know that?”

“Maybe I can enter the Ms. Republic City pageant.”

“No,” Wu said, shaking his head, “I’m serious. You’re the best looking guy I’ve eeeeeeeeevvvvvvvveeeeeerrrrrrr met.”

Mako looked at him curiously. They held onto each other to steady themselves as the alcohol messed with their inner balance.

“Okay, so you have a boyfriend?” Bolin asked, poking his head around the kitchen wall.

“Um… yeah.”

“Like the kissing kind?”

“What other kind of boyfriend would I have?”

Bolin blinked at him and broke into a large smile.

“WE CAN GO ON DOUBLE DATES. OPAL IS GOING TO BE SO EXCITED!”

“You’re not mad?”

“Dude, you can bring home a dude or a chick or someone in-between. It doesn’t matter to me. As long as you come home with a smile on your face— that means my job has been done!”

“Do you think I should tell Dad?”

“Oh, that’s up to you. But he should be cool with it. Maybe you could put a rainbow flag in his stocking?”

Wu pressed his lips against Mako. He tasted horrible— from the vodka. But he smelled like fancy cologne and felt really nice in Mako’s arms.

“Hang on, Mako. Didn’t you want to be straight a few hours ago— WAIT WHAT THE FUCK!?!”

Mako pushed Wu away and stumbled through the door gasping for breath like a fish out of water, tears running down his face.