Don't We?
Because all of the groups had gone to some sort of restaurant (in Squad-16B’s case, Pema and Tenzin’s vegetarian cooking), the camp opted to skip dinner in the dining hall and go straight to bed. Or… Wu’s case… the Spirit World.
Mako gave a wink to Wu as they walked up the steps of their respective cabins. Wu’s cabin mate, some kid named Jun who never said a single word to him, gave him a nod and proceeded to go to sleep. Wu brushed his teeth and pretended to get into his pajamas (the lights were off) and laid down on the top of his bed.
Fortunately for Wu, Jun slept like a rock— which meant that he was out of the cabin within fifteen minutes.
The girls opted to skip for the night. Wu didn’t blame them— the excitement was exhausting, and they probably needed some time together… you know… I shouldn’t have to spell it out. So Wu had a certain someone-someone all to himself.
Sure enough, he silently rounded the corner and found himself face-to-face with Mako.
“Hey there.”
“Hey. Let’s go, before someone spots us.”
They walked through the woods, and Wu remembered Korra’s recollection of Kuvira catching the girls. He smirked, but walked at a quicker pace all the same.
Once they were well within the woods, Mako threaded his fingers through Wu’s. It felt… natural. As though fate had decreed— alright now we’re just getting pathetic.
I hope Tomo found someone. I guess I wasn’t really fair, was I? Dumping a guy and running off to the other side of the world, only to fall in—
“Hey, what’s that?”
There were lights on at The Spirit World. Someone was talking, and they could hear people moving stuff around. Instinct took over Mako and he shoved the top of Wu’s head down until they were lying on the forest floor— peeking over a mossy boulder.
“You know how fucking expensive this jacket it? And now it’s covered in—“
“Dude, can it for a sec.”
“Alright! That’s all taken care of, they won’t fucking bother us anymore,” Noatak said merrily.
“You’re taking this too lightly. What if there’s someone else who was working with them?” Tarrlok growled.
Who are they talking about?
“I’ve been thinking… some of the kids are acting weird. Sato’s kid and Unalaq’s niece— and those two boys they hang out with. And we found all that new stuff in the shack. The poster and those chairs. I mean, it looks like they’re just sneaking out to get wasted, which I don’t mind… but if they found—“
Wu’s foot slipped back and snapped a bundle of twigs.
FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK
“Shut up! Shut up! Someone’s out here!” Tarrlok hissed.
Mako and Wu held their breaths, gripping onto each other for balance as they desperately tried not to make any noise. They could hear Tarrlok coming closer and closer. Thank Raava the both of them were wearing dark clothes.
“I think you’re just being paranoid. It’s probably just a CatOwl. Nasty pests. Come on then, let’s get back to the house, brother,” Noatak said in his creepy-happy tone.
Tarrlok stood there for another few moments before shrugging and following his brother. The boys didn’t move from their spot for another twenty minutes.
“Fuck.”
Wu stretched out and ran his fingers through Mako’s hair, “Hey, it’s going to end up alright. We just… we just need to watch out. And we have to tell the others about this. Tomorrow.”
Mako raised his eyebrow, “Tomorrow?”
The brown-haired boy stood up, brushed himself off, gave Mako a hand up, and then a long kiss, “We were almost caught, but I’m nowhere done with you, Turtleduck.”
. . .
“We have some news,” Korra said grimly.
“Yeah we have something also.”
They were sitting together, pretty much as far away as Kuvira could get away with from the rest of camp. Varrick was also sitting with them, twisting his mustache in concern.
“Last night… someone came to our door to do nightly check. Someone we’ve never seen at the camp. Said that Zhu Li had turned in her two weeks’ notice a while back…” Korra said.
“Bolin wasn’t in the kitchen this morning,” Kuvira said with a frown. “Both of them were supposed to check in with me when we came back last night.”
Oh shit.
Wu glanced at Mako, who had suddenly gone very pale.
“Um… Kuvira… I think I know what happened to them… or… who’s responsible…”
. . .
Wu had made up his mind at dinner. He was done hiding. His aunt had told him that he couldn’t ascend the throne as a homosexual. Fine. He was more than happy to denounce the royal family. He’d made up his mind many years ago… but for the first time in his life he was going to fucking do something about it. Even if… even if it didn’t work with Mako… Wu was going to be gay for the rest of his life. The world was stupid if it thought a fucking summer camp could change that... then Wu wanted no part of it.
Spirits give me courage.
Wu pulled Kuvira aside after dinner.
“Can I borrow your phone?”
“What?”
“Can. I. Borrow. Your. Phone?
“Kid… you do realize that two of my officers are missing? I need to keep this cell on me at all times in case RCPD needs to contact me, or if they manage to check-in at any time.”
“Thirty seconds of phone time. Please? What are the odds they’ll call within that margin?”
Kuvira let out a huff and handed her iPhone over.
Wu dialed the palace phone from memory— you know, in case he’d ever wander out and get lost in Ba Sing Sei. You’d be surprised how little they notice him there.
“Hello? This is the office of the State. Our hours are between—“
“It’s Prince Wu, and if you hang up, you’re out of a job.”
“Oh… uh… of course, Your Majesty… to whom shall I patch you through?”
“The Queen.”
“The Q— The Earth Queen?”
“Look, I’m the only other Raava-damned queen who lives in that palace, patch me through to my Great-Aunt Hou-Ting!”
“At once, Your Majesty!”
Kuvira, hanging around for her cellphone, let out a small laugh.
“What is it? Whoever’s calling me at this hour better have a good reason.”
“Hello, Aunt Hou-Ting.”
“Who is this? Wu? This is Wu!? Why are you calling me at eight in the evening?! My two-hour beauty sleep is about to begin!”
“You’ll want to shoot for three hours.”
“What did you just say to me… you… you punk?!”
“Oh… I am so, so sorry— what I meant to say was fuck you, Your Majesty.”
And then he pressed the “End Call” button, handing the phone back to a very shocked Kuvira.
. . .
“Come on, why don’t we just confront him about Bolin? He can’t directly lie to Mako, right?”
“Asami, I hate to break it to you, but he’s kind of been lying since… like… the beginning of time,” Korra said, shaking her head.
Kuvira paced around in front of the cabin porch, “We have to do something…”
“I’ve got an idea!” Korra exclaimed.
“Well let’s hear it!”
“We could punch Mako a bunch of times and then pretend he’s sick and—“
“You sound like my Grandma Toph,” Kuvira said, pinching the bridge of her nose. Wu decided that she did that a lot.
“Maybe it’s not the worst idea…” Asami thought aloud.
“No it really is,” Mako interrupted, “It’s the worst idea ever.”
“No… what if we came to Tarrlok with a homesick camper? And we just hand him a sobbing, blubbering mess that wants to talk to his brother.”
“Fine by me,” Korra said. And then she slapped Mako. Really hard.
“OW! What the hell?!”
But there were already tears forming in his eyes. Wuss.
For the next few moments, poor Mako had to endure Asami pinching his arm (where the sleeve could cover it) enough times to make tears stream down his eyes.
“We could have just grabbed a knife and an onion from the kitchen…” Wu trailed off.
“I hate you guys.”
“Whatever, you love us. Now let’s go find us a Bolin.”
They knocked on the door of Tarrlok and Noatak’s house. After a few moments, a tired-looking Tarrlok answered the door… drink in hand.
“Hey… um… Mr. Tarrlok… Mako was having a rough night… he really... you know... misses home… we were wondering if you knew where Bolin was?”
Tarrlok looked unfazed, “He was fired last night.”
Mako played his part perfectly. “Wh-why didn’t he call me?”
“Who knows kid, tough love.”
“Mr. Tarrlok!” Kuvira chided.
“Kuvira, see to it that these children get to bed.” Tarrlok moved to go inside. “I have better things to do.”
“Tarrlok— wait!” Korra called after him.
He stopped short of shutting the door.
“Why was he fired?”
Tarrlok pondered his answer for half a moment, and then narrowed his eyes. “Bad things happen to those who stick their noses where they don’t belong.”
He then slammed the front door of his house, leaving four stunned kids and a pissed off cop to figure things out for themselves.
Shit… I think I know where they are…