Chapter Text
Lin was not enjoying herself.
Not only had she been dragged out of Republic City for two weeks (quite literally; Toph had resorted to earthbending her out of the house), but she was being forced to spend her rare time off with other people.
More specifically, her mother, Su, and Avatar Aang and his family.
Lin couldn’t escape them; Ember Island was a small place, and the lockable doors in the beach house Zuko had lent them never stayed locked for very long, not with Suyin running around.
So, needless to say, Lin was not having the best of times.
“C’mon, Lin, it’ll be fun!”
“No.”
Su pouted and planted her hands on her hips, scuffing her feet in the sand.
“Quit being a brat,” Lin said, pointedly not taking her eyes off the paper in front of her.
“You can’t just sit there and do paperwork the whole time you’re on vacation!” she exclaimed, jabbing a finger down at her. “I mean, that’s just a whole new layer of sad. C’mon, where’s Vacation-Lin at?”
Lin glanced up long enough to give her little sister a withering look. “Vacation-Lin is not a thing that exists. Now, go away. I have work to do. Go find someone else to bug.”
“Spirits, you’re such a stick-in-the-mud,” Su grumbled. “Moooom, tell Lin to stop being boring and come swimming with us.”
There was no response, but the sand beneath Lin surged upwards, forcing her onto her feet and sending her stumbling forwards. She swore loudly. “Hey!”
From where she was sitting next to Katara, Toph cackled loudly. “Oh, man, I love doing that. Loosen up a bit, Lin; your work can wait. Go do kid shit.”
Lin huffed loudly, then yelped as the sand started churning around her feet – she wouldn’t put it past her mother to projectile-launch her into the ocean. “Okay, okay, jeez! I’m going!”
Silently lamenting leaving the shade of her umbrella, Lin padded across the sand towards the ocean. She had to admit, it was beautiful here. Long stretches of golden-white sand, broad-leafed palm trees and a cloudless expanse of blue sky: it was picturesque to the point where it was hard to believe it was even a real place.
Of course, what was far less charming was the sight of Bumi gleefully attempting to drown Tenzin.
Lin glanced back at the adults, who weren’t actually that much better. Sokka was working on burying Aang up to the neck in the sand, and Republic City’s esteemed Chief of Police was gleefully using her bending to sculpt him a nice pair of tits.
“Lin!” someone shouted. When Lin looked back at the water, she saw Kya standing there, waist deep in the water and smiling at her. “We’re having a chicken fight, and I need someone on my team. You in?”
It took Lin a moment to get her brain back online, because, for some reason, she really hadn’t put two and two together before now: Kya plus beach equals half-naked Kya.
And, oh boy, was this not helping the really embarrassing crush she’d had on Kya for years now.
Kya stood in the waves in nothing but her bindings and a pair of shorts, her toned midriff shining with flecks of saltwater, long hair soaking wet and plastered to her back in a way that only she could make look incredibly hot, and all Lin could think was uhhhh.
“Lin? You okay?” A concerned expression crept onto Kya’s face. “You’re all red. Do you have heatstroke?” Before Lin even knew what was happening, Kya had made her way out of the water and was pressing her hand to Lin’s forehead. A jolt of electricity danced down her spine at the touch. “Oh, man, you’re burning up.”
She was stood close enough that Lin could see the droplet of water sliding down her neck.
(I want to lick it off, Lin’s brain helpfully supplied.
Shut the fuck up, Lin replied.)
Embarrassed, Lin pushed Kya’s hand away and took a shaky step backwards, exhaling for the first time in what felt like minutes. “I’m fine. Just… sunburnt.” (As if she hadn’t spent the last hour filling out paperwork in the shade.)
From the water, Bumi yelled, “You ladies playing or not?”
Kya raised an eyebrow at Lin, mischief dancing in her eyes. “You know, I promised them I wouldn’t use my bending, but between your muscles and my unparalleled knowledge of both my brothers’ weak spots, I think we’re definitely in with a shot. You game?”
Lin hesitated, then sighed. “Sure, okay.”
--
After a little bit of awkward manoeuvring from both parties, they’d ended up with Kya sitting on Lin’s shoulders and (after a fair amount of arguing between the two of them) Bumi on Tenzin’s.
(Lin was absolutely not thinking too hard about the fact that her head was currently between Kya’s thighs. Nope. No siree.)
Having declared Suyin too small to play, she’d grumpily agreed to be the referee for the match. “Alright!” she called. “Tenzin and Bumi versus Kya and my stinky sister-“
“Hey!”
Suyin continued on like she’d never been interrupted. “On three: one, two-“
Lin looked Tenzin square in the face and growled.
He actually looked a little bit terrified.
“Three!” Suyin cried.
--
Lin realised pretty early on that it wasn’t exactly a fair fight.
Her and Kya worked well together, always had done, and Kya was surrounded by her natural element; even though she wasn’t using her bending, she was far more at ease in the water than the other three.
And even if they hadn’t worked as a team as well as they did, it wouldn’t have mattered very much, because Tenzin and Bumi seemed like they were fighting each other half the time. Bumi would randomly lean his weight in different directions, making Tenzin need to quickly readjust his footing or risk falling over, and then Tenzin would yell at him to stop wriggling and end up choking on a mouthful of water. It didn’t seem to matter that Kya was less physically strong than Bumi; they’d somehow gained the upper hand regardless.
Lin was surprised to find that she was actually enjoying herself. She hated to admit it, but it was nice to take a break for a while. Above her, Kya was taunting Bumi – something about his new, half-grown-in beard looking dumb - and her laughter was such a joyful, contagious thing that Lin couldn’t help but crack a smile.
Tenzin took half a step back to regain his balance, and Kya, using the moment to take a breather, lowered her arms down to rest them on Lin’s head. She was laughing at something Bumi had said – Lin had no idea what, though, because she could only focus on the weight of Kya’s fingers curled loosely into her hair.
As Lin stood there, stock still, just trying not to look too much like a dope, one of Kya’s hands accidentally slipped from their spot in Lin’s hair. Her fingers grazed Lin’s cheekbone, and her pinkie brushed over the corner of Lin’s lower lip ever so slightly, and suddenly every molecule in Lin’s body was hyper-focused on those small points of contact. Her touch was almost unbearably warm, like her fingers were burning a brand onto Lin’s skin. Where Kya’s finger had brushed her lip, little sparks of electricity zipped through her veins, radiating out like a shockwave. Lin genuinely thought she’d blacked out for a second.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she was vaguely aware that she’d let slip a hitched gasp at the unexpected contact.
The next thing she knew, Kya was letting out a startled shout, and then the two of them hit the water with a splash.
Lin was almost glad; the water was pleasantly cool against her burning cheeks. For a moment, she let herself drift, eyes closed, letting the bubbles sting her skin as they whirled past. She briefly contemplated the pros and cons of letting herself drown right then and there, because holy fuck, that was embarrassing.
Pro: wouldn’t have to deal with my stupid crush anymore.
Con: might traumatise everyone else here. Also, I plan to die in process of heroically saving someone’s life, not drowning like an absolute loser.
In the end, the mild burning in her lungs made up her mind for her. When she opened her eyes, initially intending to swim up and take a breath, she was surprised to see Kya sitting cross-legged on the sea floor a few metres away. She was absently moving her hands in slow, easy circular motions, making thin streams of water swirl around her body in lazy ribbons. Her brown hair floated eerily around her head, and, in the filtered light, her eyes looked bone-pale, unnatural. She was watching Lin with a strange expression on her face, but when Lin locked eyes with her, she ducked her head slightly for a moment, looking almost embarrassed. She was quick to meet Lin’s gaze again, though, this time with a small, questioning smile on her face. You okay?
In the split second before Kya had noticed Lin watching her and her expression had changed, Lin’s heart hurt, because Kya looked ethereal, like some kind of sea spirit. She had looked completely and utterly untouchable, and Lin knew in that moment that she would never be able to have Kya, to know Kya. Not the way she wanted to, anyway.
It had always been that way. Lin had found Kya fascinating for as long as she could remember; Kya and her soft hair and long, flowy dresses, not to mention the plethora of broken hearts she’d left all around Republic City. They’d used to tease Lin for following Kya around all the time when she was a kid; little Lin and older, mature-er Kya. Got yourself a shadow, there, Kya? Bumi used to say, ruffling Lin’s hair like she was a baby, like she wasn’t eleven years old and looking after Su more than her actual mother was. Kya would laugh and squeeze Lin’s arm. Lin’s my best friend, she’d reply. She’s like my little sister. Lin had only understood why Kya calling her “little sister” had hurt so much when she was older.
Though the surface was only half a metre above their heads and the boys were just a few feet to their right, Lin felt like the rest of the world was miles away. And Kya felt lightyears away.
At Lin’s lack of response, Kya’s head tilted slightly in concern, a small furrow appearing at her brow. Her hair swayed with the small movement, looking for all the world like strands of seaweed.
A sea spirit, Lin thought again. I wonder, if I reached out and touched her, would my hand go straight through her?
Kya leaned forward as if to tap Lin’s wrist, and Lin, suddenly (desperately) not wanting to put her question to the test, because she didn’t know if her heart could handle the answer, jolted backwards in alarm. Her movements were slow and sluggish in the water, but it was enough to shake herself out of her weird headspace.
She gave Kya a small thumbs up. Fine, she thought as hard as she could, as if she could somehow transmit her thoughts to Kya like a radio signal. I’m fine. Everything is fine.
In response to the gesture, Kya relaxed, gracing Lin with another smile. Then, she made a sharp twisting motion with her hands. Lin had just enough time to recognize it as waterbending and think, Huh, wonder what she’s doing that for? before she was violently launched out the water.
Lin burst through the surface as if she had been shot from a cannon. She flew several feet up into the air, having just enough time to register Tenzin and Bumi’s surprised faces (and Su’s laughter) before falling back into the water with a splash, causing a minor tidal wave to ripple out around her.
Kya got her feet so that most of her upper body was above the water and positively cackled.
Lin pushed her sodden mop of hair out of her face and glared at her friend. “Holy fucking spirits. Not cool.”
With the way Kya was grinning, though, Lin couldn’t quite bring herself to be mad.
Instead, her heart just ached.