Preface:

1. I own nothing of Legend of Korra/Avatar. © Nickolodeon and respective owners therein.

2. This was encouraged by a friend. This is a partial AU, mostly canon events implied except for Lin and Su in this are trying to work out their problems before Toph leaves. At the time of this piece, Bumi is 35, Lin is 30, and Suyin is 23. I placed the linzin breakup when Lin was 29, so it has been 1-1.5 years since that occurred. Su returned from 'finding herself' and Toph has yet to leave. Lin is employed for the police force under Toph but hasn't climbed too far in rank. Su and Lin's relationship is at a difficult stage where Su wishes to try and patch things up but Lin is willing to try, although she is skeptical. Bumi is in the military, currently on leave and staying at Air Temple Island temporarily until he ships out again. While there, he found that Su is back and wanted to see how she was doing.

Bumi walked up to the door which corresponded to the address on the piece of paper he had written down from the conversation he had with his Auntie Toph earlier in the week. Walking up to the door, he knocked a couple times and waited. Getting no response, he knocked again harder. Again, he received no response and figured she must have been out. Turning to leave he took a step when the door flung open and he was swiftly hugged from behind.

"Bumi! How are you?! I didn't know you were coming over how are you I haven't seen you in so long how's the military why are you here?" Suyin rambled questions off as she led him inside and nearly threw him to the couch. She plopped next to him, her hair wrapped in a towel – clearly he had arrived and interrupted her in the shower or just getting finished with one.

"Oh, I'm good. I have a two week leave I had to take so I'm in town and heard you were back. Figured I'd stop-" Su put her finger on his lips.

"I was making tea, want some?" she asked, standing and heading to the kitchenette before he could even reply. He sat there, dumbfounded at her behavior. Su took a little tray back and set it on the coffee table. "Sugar?" she again acted without his answer and placed two cubes of sugar in the cup before pouring the tea and handing it to him. Su adjusted how she was sitting to have her calves under her and leaned against the back of the couch. "SO!" she exclaimed suddenly, "Any love interests in the military yet? I bet you have a girl in every port, don't you?!" she playfully hit his arm with a classic display of Beifong love.

Bumi took a sip of his tea and smiled, "No… There was this girl in Kyoshi Island that I was sweet on, but I shipped out before we could even go on a date… That was four years ago now. Nobody since then." He looked down into his tea briefly before taking another sip, trying to not answer too many questions about himself. "Uh… What about you? How're things? Anyone you meet while… uh… travelling?"

She smiled, "Well, a few. Nothing serious ever though. I just had a few crushes, a few… 'dates' now and then." she said the word 'date' in an odd way that made Bumi suspicious of just how much Su had grown up since he had last seen her. "I'm officially on the market now!" she laughed and nearly spilled her tea. "I want to meet someone soon. That's why I came back! Do something with my life that's more permanent than drifting about. But between you and me?" she leaned in and whispered, "I still want to just goof around for a few more years, it's too fun to quit cold-turkey!"

He felt a little strange talking to her about the subject, and finished his tea. Before he could set it down, she had already plunked another two sugar cubes in and poured more for him. "Oh… thanks." He took a sip at the risk of burning his tongue just so he wouldn't have to answer another question.

"Do you think Lin's hot?" she asked out of the blue. He burned his tongue quite a bit more than he expected when he gulped half his tea down in one sip and coughed heavily.

"What-?" he managed, setting his tea down. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve and pretended to be… offended seemed to be the correct term for how he looked. "Su… she's dating my brother!"

Su got a mischievous smile and shook her head side to side slowly. "Nu-uh! Not anymore!" she said excitedly, much to Bumi's surprise.

"What… what do you mean?" he asked, unsure of whether or not she was teasing him for a shocking answer.

"I found out yesterday! They broke up about a year ago! Apparently it was quite the spectacle!" she smiled and for the first time took a sip of her tea.

He sat there without saying anything for a minute, his mouth partly open. Su gently knocked on his forehead.

"Hellooooo, anyone there?"

He blinked a few times in response and looked at Su, "Uh, yeah. I just… I didn't expect to hear that." He coughed again, this one fake to cover his discomfort at the conversation.

She nudged his ribs with her elbow and set down her tea, "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Do you think Lin is hot?!" she smiled and clearly wasn't going to let the subject drop.

"I… uh well that is… I think…" he stammered, "Your sister's attractive, yes…"

"I knew it!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up and pressing further back into the couch.

Suddenly she changed the conversation back to the military and travelling, and he found that they had been to a few of the same places. After a grand total of nearly three hours, he had to leave for a prior engagement with his sister to catch up and promised to be back soon to continue their chat. What he didn't know, was that Su was up to something.