Oh! That sounds fun. [ Wu skips after him with a smile, unbuttoning his jacket. It seems safer not to get his nice suit dirty, when he still hasn't found a dry cleaner in this town. ] Ah... what's "kneading" entail?
[ Mako should... really have known. He beckons Wu over to the counter covered in bowls. One has a half-kneaded dough in it, the other just flour. ] Have you ever cooked before? Anything at all?
I... have made myself some sandwiches. Since I've been here. [ Wu says it haughtily, not quite meeting Mako's gaze. ] Before this? No. Why would I have cooked, Mako? When would anyone have let me cook?
Mako gives him a look that says as much—amused, kind of flat—and gestures for Wu to step up beside him. ] Alright, well, kneading probably isn't the most useful cooking skill but it'll teach you something. We can make a smoothie later. For a break.
[ Wu beams up at Mako ] A smoothie! I knew you'd come through for me, buddy. [ He pats Mako on the back before hopping over to the sink to wash his hands. ]
I'm fine learning a useless skill. That's half of what my childhood was.
[ Mako just snorts, aiming his smile at the dough instead of at Wu to keep it from him. ] Sure. What are friends for if not making emergency smoothies.
[ He grins at Wu as he comes back over, scooting over just a little. ] Well, this one will have more application than—uh. What other useless skills did you learn?
[ Mako snorts again without quite meaning to, glancing sideways at Wu. ] I don't know, calligraphy's probably a little useful. My handwriting looks terrible.
[ And he practices, too, tries to make it more legible, painfully aware of his own lack of schooling working against him all the time. It's hard not to be jealous that Wu had so much access to school that he also got to learn things like flower-arranging and violin. ]
Why did you have to learn flower arranging? What good does that do you? How much of a need does the crown have for princes who can look at flowers and know where to put them?
What? It's overdone. [ He huffs, and starts to put a little more effort in, perching up in his tip toes to push down on the dough ] We want it to be stronger? I thought we wanted dough to be, to be sort and delicate.
[ He peers up at Mako, then winces, his ribs twinging as he presses in the wrong way. ] Ow.
Custard! [ Wu loves custard, and that's enough to get him to forget about his ribs for a second. He looks over the ingredients and picks up two eggs, then pauses. ] What do you want me to do with the eggs?
...okay. [ Wu stares at him for a second, then nods, placing the eggs back on the counter. Not in a bowl or container of any sort.
He searches around for a bowl. He finds one, places it on the counter in front of himself, and just as he turns to the eggs, one of them rolls off the counter. ]
[ Mako tries to catch it before it hits the ground, but he mostly just lunges to the side fast enough to make the egg slam into his foot and then the ground, which.... means there's now egg all over him.
He heaves a sigh, and looks up at Wu. ]
I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this, but: you've never cracked an egg before, have you.
...I think I just did? [ Wu says weakly, looking down at the mess on his foot. ] I, uh, no. I have never intentionally cracked an egg. I told you I never had to cook! Just, just tell me what to do.
Okay here is the thing, Mako now finally understands the depths to the statement I never had to cook. Wu has never cracked an egg or probably held a kitchen knife and he doesn't know what kneading is. It should be—sad, or something, but mostly it's just typical, and there is egg white dripping wetly from his foot onto the tiled floor, and Wu looks so forlorn about all of it that Mako, after looking at the egg for a drawn-out second, just starts laughing.
Really, actually laughing. It starts as tiny snickers and quickly escalates until his shoulders are shaking and he has a hand up to his mouth like he's trying to hide it. ]
Mako! [ Wu huffs indignantly, waving a hand at him. He frowns, crossing his arms over his chest. ] Why are you laughing? It's funny that I can't cook? The King can't fend for himself. It's so funny that I find myself in situation after situation that I'm horribly unprepared for. Hilarious!
[ Unfortunately for Wu, this protest just makes Mako laugh harder, his hand now pressed tight over his mouth like he's really trying to stop it. He looks up, meeting Wu's eyes for a second. ]
Sorry— [ He isn't. His words are coming through laughter. ] But yes, Wu. It's objectively [ another snort of laughter ] funny that there's an egg on my foot.
Next time you say you can't do something I'll take you at face value.
Thank you! [ Wu throws his arms in the air, which he immediately regrets because that makes his rubs hurt too.
He turns away from Mako, his face feeling hot, arms crossing over his chest again. ] I'm not lying to you. This isn't what my life was like. Ever. I have no idea what I'm doing. And I apologize for the egg on your foot, but I would appreciate it if you'd stop laughing at me.
You don't have to apologize, I just said it was funny—
[ He really needs to get this under control, though, because obviously it's making Wu feel bad. His shoulders are so stiff, and guilt curls up coldly in Mako's belly.
Mako sucks in a breath and reaches for a kitchen towel, his smile fading into a small frown. ] Why are you upset?
I'm upset-- [ Wu sucks in a breath, taking a step back from him. He can't be that close to Mako right now, even if since he's been in Deerington, touching him is the one thing that calms down the swirling of nerves and fear in his stomach. ] I'm upset because since I got here, all you've done is tell me that I'm wrong, or that I'm bad at something, or that I'm unprepared. Don't you think I know that? Don't you think that I know that I was never prepared for, for anything real! I was prepared to spend my life locked in the Upper Ring like my parents, and their parents, and my entire family for the last two hundred years!
I don't know what I'm doing, and you're the person here who should understand that more than anyone else, but you just keep, keep laughing at me.
[ Mako bites down on his own words before they escape. He wants to snap, that isn't what I meant and you're not listening to me, then, but he thinks about Korra storming out and the betrayal on her face after he'd talked to President Raiko. He'd thought she wanted his support, but what she wanted really was his trust, his understanding, his belief. Mako hadn't realized that, at the time.
Had messed everything up, because he wouldn't actually listen.
Anger and frustration and, oddly, hurt, flare inside him, sharp and hot, but Mako swallows around them and presses his own teeth together and listens, watching Wu's face. He lets Wu's words settle into silence.
He's so thin. It's not the right thing to be thinking at all but the thought is there before Mako can do anything about it, followed quickly by, I can't mess this up, and he doesn't know what this is but he remembers Wu in that stupid car, too, his expression shattering, and remembers his own resignation and panic.
Mako sucks in a breath. ] Okay. I... get that. I'm sorry. That isn't... what I meant.
[ If he were at the pinnacle of his personal growth he would leave it there but there are words clawing at him and he doesn't have the strength to keep them back, so he continues, quiet, a little urgent, ] But you have to give me time to catch up to this version of you, Wu. Most of the time I've known you, you had no idea how unprepared you were. You just waltzed into everything assuming you'd be fine because you'd always been fine.
You're... changing, but I, uh. I guess you did it when I wasn't looking.
He stares at Mako for a long second, his lips pressed together against another bout of tears, which he really doesn't need right now but he's been really stressed and confused and he's had to face a lot about himself in the last month and that's hard.
And here is Mako, apologizing like he means it. Not because he thinks he offended a Prince or a King, but because he thinks he offended Wu, the person.
He sucks in a breath. ]
I don't know what you mean, Mako. You do know me. I saw you. Right before I came here. Well, sort of. You were sort of brainwashed. Sort of... helping them brainwash me.
That's beside the point. I'm still me. I don't, I don't understand what you're saying.
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[ Mako should... really have known. He beckons Wu over to the counter covered in bowls. One has a half-kneaded dough in it, the other just flour. ] Have you ever cooked before? Anything at all?
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Mako gives him a look that says as much—amused, kind of flat—and gestures for Wu to step up beside him. ] Alright, well, kneading probably isn't the most useful cooking skill but it'll teach you something. We can make a smoothie later. For a break.
First, go wash your hands.
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I'm fine learning a useless skill. That's half of what my childhood was.
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[ He grins at Wu as he comes back over, scooting over just a little. ] Well, this one will have more application than—uh. What other useless skills did you learn?
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Friends. Mako called them friends.
He can't help the grin on his face, too happy, too dopey. ]
Ah... I think that's exactly what friends are for.
[ He nudges Mako in the ribs. ]
Oh, you know. Violin, calligraphy, flower arranging... Well, I like flower arranging.
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[ And he practices, too, tries to make it more legible, painfully aware of his own lack of schooling working against him all the time. It's hard not to be jealous that Wu had so much access to school that he also got to learn things like flower-arranging and violin. ]
Why did you have to learn flower arranging? What good does that do you? How much of a need does the crown have for princes who can look at flowers and know where to put them?
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[ Wu does his best to mimic Mako's kneading of the dough, watching his hands work.
This conversation is a nice distraction, at least, from what he wants to say. ]
I got very bored and bothered one of my aunt's florists into teaching me.
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[ Who are you and what have you done with Wu? Mako is doing a terrible job keeping his smile down, now, especially since Wu is clearly trying. ]
Put a little more power into it. The point of this is to make the dough stronger. The more you work it, the stronger it gets.
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[ He peers up at Mako, then winces, his ribs twinging as he presses in the wrong way. ] Ow.
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Okay, maybe you don't knead right now. You can get the eggs ready for the filling. We're putting custard in some of these.
[ SURELY Wu can crack eggs. Surely. ]
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Looks at the eggs.
Looks at Wu.
He can't be serious. ] Crack... them. Into a bowl.
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He searches around for a bowl. He finds one, places it on the counter in front of himself, and just as he turns to the eggs, one of them rolls off the counter. ]
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He heaves a sigh, and looks up at Wu. ]
I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this, but: you've never cracked an egg before, have you.
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Okay here is the thing, Mako now finally understands the depths to the statement I never had to cook. Wu has never cracked an egg or probably held a kitchen knife and he doesn't know what kneading is. It should be—sad, or something, but mostly it's just typical, and there is egg white dripping wetly from his foot onto the tiled floor, and Wu looks so forlorn about all of it that Mako, after looking at the egg for a drawn-out second, just starts laughing.
Really, actually laughing. It starts as tiny snickers and quickly escalates until his shoulders are shaking and he has a hand up to his mouth like he's trying to hide it. ]
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Sorry— [ He isn't. His words are coming through laughter. ] But yes, Wu. It's objectively [ another snort of laughter ] funny that there's an egg on my foot.
Next time you say you can't do something I'll take you at face value.
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He turns away from Mako, his face feeling hot, arms crossing over his chest again. ] I'm not lying to you. This isn't what my life was like. Ever. I have no idea what I'm doing. And I apologize for the egg on your foot, but I would appreciate it if you'd stop laughing at me.
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[ He really needs to get this under control, though, because obviously it's making Wu feel bad. His shoulders are so stiff, and guilt curls up coldly in Mako's belly.
Mako sucks in a breath and reaches for a kitchen towel, his smile fading into a small frown. ] Why are you upset?
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I don't know what I'm doing, and you're the person here who should understand that more than anyone else, but you just keep, keep laughing at me.
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[ Mako bites down on his own words before they escape. He wants to snap, that isn't what I meant and you're not listening to me, then, but he thinks about Korra storming out and the betrayal on her face after he'd talked to President Raiko. He'd thought she wanted his support, but what she wanted really was his trust, his understanding, his belief. Mako hadn't realized that, at the time.
Had messed everything up, because he wouldn't actually listen.
Anger and frustration and, oddly, hurt, flare inside him, sharp and hot, but Mako swallows around them and presses his own teeth together and listens, watching Wu's face. He lets Wu's words settle into silence.
He's so thin. It's not the right thing to be thinking at all but the thought is there before Mako can do anything about it, followed quickly by, I can't mess this up, and he doesn't know what this is but he remembers Wu in that stupid car, too, his expression shattering, and remembers his own resignation and panic.
Mako sucks in a breath. ] Okay. I... get that. I'm sorry. That isn't... what I meant.
[ If he were at the pinnacle of his personal growth he would leave it there but there are words clawing at him and he doesn't have the strength to keep them back, so he continues, quiet, a little urgent, ] But you have to give me time to catch up to this version of you, Wu. Most of the time I've known you, you had no idea how unprepared you were. You just waltzed into everything assuming you'd be fine because you'd always been fine.
You're... changing, but I, uh. I guess you did it when I wasn't looking.
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He stares at Mako for a long second, his lips pressed together against another bout of tears, which he really doesn't need right now but he's been really stressed and confused and he's had to face a lot about himself in the last month and that's hard.
And here is Mako, apologizing like he means it. Not because he thinks he offended a Prince or a King, but because he thinks he offended Wu, the person.
He sucks in a breath. ]
I don't know what you mean, Mako. You do know me. I saw you. Right before I came here. Well, sort of. You were sort of brainwashed. Sort of... helping them brainwash me.
That's beside the point. I'm still me. I don't, I don't understand what you're saying.
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