A/N: I haven't been writing as much Bumi-centric stuff since I finished up "Proud" but this one was just begging to be written.

Disclaimer: I don't own "Avatar: The Last Airbender" or "The Legend of Korra".

Bumi was trying hard not to think about the circumstances that had brought him directly to this unwanted destination. Disinfectant stung at his nose as he scrunched the delicate skin there in a grimace that soon turned to one of pain. The scratch that lay across his cheek and over the bridge of his nose was just one of the things on his body that currently ached. His mind wandered back to the events from earlier.

The ten year old had been in the courtyard with his friends just as he was every day. The Academy's shadow loomed in the background as its students played and studied and did whatever their heart's desired. Bumi, being Bumi, spent his free time flirting with the girls in his class who would blush and sigh whenever he told a joke and gave them his winning smile.

A group of boys had walked over then, all about three older than the boy standing in the middle of the giggling girls. There were three of them, two in green Earth Kingdom robes and trousers, and one in Fire Nation clothing. The looks on their faces, said it all.

They were definitely not there to joke around.

"Hey, kid," The one in the front called in a scathing tone, his emerald eyes already looking disapprovingly at Bumi who cast a weary glance his way.

"Yeah?"

"Don't say yeah to me, kid," The older boy reprimanded him, his arms crossing over his chest. The other two mirrored his actions with disapproving looks on their faces.

"Well, what do you want me to say?"

Bumi's eyes rose in challenge. This wasn't the first time he had seen these boys patronizing younger kids. It wasn't all that strange for Bumi to be the subject to that scathing taunting that they dished out.

He had been sent home with a bloody nose just the week before, and the week before that he had bruises peppered all along the tanned skin of his arms.

His parents didn't know what was going on, he had smoothly been able to make it sound like he fell or was stuck in the hallways with a gaggle of people trying to get to their classes.

But that wasn't the case.

The boy had stood there for a moment, looking the shorter boy up and down, his eyebrows also rising at the young boy's expression, "I've just got a question for you, boy. No need to be all defensive."

By now, the girl's had quieted and were watching the exchange with great interest. This was the age when the prospect of drama and fighting were the reason the children even interacted socially. It was thrilling, when you were on the outside of it.

"Then ask your question."

Bumi's arms were now crossed as well, a defensive look hardening his features as he watched his opponent's eyes gleam. Stormy grey eyes looked on to emerald ones as the boy's mouth turned up into a smirk.

"I heard you were the kid of the Avatar."

A few of the girls' eyes widened at this revelation. Bumi grimaced slightly. Not many people in the Academy truly knew of his parentage, and the ones who did only knew because his father dropped him and his sister off before attending his council meetings.

"Yeah," Bumi's voice was cautious, though he used the exact word the boy had told him not to, just to ruffle his monkeyfeathers.

"So, show it to us."

The three boys all gave him expectant looks, though in the way they held their tall posture and smirked in his direction, he figured they knew he couldn't give them anything.

"Show what?" Bumi had a terrible feeling he knew exactly what they wanted to see.

"Your bending."

All the girls' began to squeal and clap as they watched the young boy with rapt attention, one pushing the other just to get a better view of what he had to offer. He was the son of the most powerful man on the planet, surely he was a talented bender.

But Bumi wasn't.

The boy wasn't even a bender.

The child's eyes narrowed as he glared at the boys, "No."

The girls' began to whine, but the leading boy held a hand up to silent them, "Oh come now, surely you don't want to disappoint your audience."

"I won't do anything you tell me to do."

The boy's brows rose as his tone turned into one of ridicule, "Oh,
is that so?"

"Yeah."

"Or," The young man paused for dramatic effect as his eyes scanned the girls, acting as if he was the ring leader of a circus, presenting a wild animal to the audience, "It's because you can't bend."

The audience gasped at this, quieting for the moment as they waited for Bumi to say something. They waited for him to deny it, to do anything. But he didn't.

He just shook his head and turned to leave the scene before he got himself in trouble.

When he started to lift his foot though, a slab of rock encased it and kept him from moving. He struggled slightly before allowing himself to release a low growl in frustration. Bending wasn't even allowed in the courtyard, but that didn't stop the children from using it.

"Where do you think your going, kid?"

The Earth Kingdom boy walked to where he stood directly in front of Bumi, face close to his, a smirk etched on his features, "I want to see some sort of bending."

Bumi's voice was firm, though inside he was quivering with anger, "No."

"Because you can't."

The boy turned to the group gathered around the spectacle and reported loudly, "Wouldn't you think the most powerful man on the planet would have talented children?"

The young man turned back to where Bumi stood, his eyes closed tightly, his fist clenched at his sides, "But instead he had this brat that tries to impress you every day, but can't even move a rock or light a flame."

What had prompted him to do this? Bumi may never know. But the more the words were repeated over time, over all the times he had been mocked and ridiculed, the more he believed them.

The boy walked over to stand in Bumi's face again, "You have anything to say now, boy?"

Bumi had never been more sick of the word "boy".

He kept his mouth closed in a firm line, trying his best to live up to what his father had taught him. Violence isn't the answer. Patience is the key to peace with yourself. But these teachings were soon diminishing in light of this new opposer.

Having his question not answered, the boy swiftly punched Bumi in the arm, causing the younger child to groan slightly, "I told you to answer me, kid!"

That was it.

With the surrounding audience laughing at the situation, Bumi threw a punch that collided with the older boy's pale chin, bruising sure to be there in the morning.

That had started a whole magnitude of reactions.

The boy fought back, him and Bumi throwing punches and kicks as well as they could in the commotion. Bumi's foot was still plastered to the ground but he could hold his own, despite being so much shorter than his older opponent. The girls' all gasped and began squealing in distress as if it was them being hit in the face and punched in the gut. The boy's friends were helping him, kicking Bumi in the back of his knees, trying to get him to fall forward and on to the ground.

That's when the headmaster showed up.

And that's what landed Bumi in the Academy's infirmary.

"Bumi, your father is here," The Academy's healer called to him from the other room. The child stood up slowly from his chair, the pain in his knees causing them to buckle as he fell into the chair again. He couldn't get up.

He didn't want to face his father either. He knew that the messenger that had been sent for the Avatar had surely told him that his son had been in a fight, and had been sent to the headmaster's office as well.

It took a moment, that felt like an eternity, but his father walked through the doorway of the room where the sick children were meant to stay to wait for their parent's. His child was the only one in the room. He closed the door behind him swiftly a look of mixed emotions on his features.

Bumi liked to say he didn't fear his father, that the Avatar hardly ever raised his voice or showed great disappointment, but in that moment it was hard for Bumi to say any of that. With his tall frame, imposing pale tattoos, and dark grey eyes, the Avatar looked positively intimidating.

This caused the injured boy to shake a bit.

Once Aang caught sight of the child and truly took him in, his breath caught in his throat at the condition his son was in. The messenger had told him that the child was badly banged up, but he hadn't expected it to be this bad.

"Bumi," Aang started, his voice level and face unreadable as he stood with his back against the wooden door, arms crossed over his chest, "What happened?"

"I got into a fight."

The Avatar sighed heavily as he ran a hand down the length of his face, walking over to where his son sat, "Bumi, I am not in the mood for vague answers today. You need to tell me what happened."

The young boy pursed his lips, shaking his head at his father and letting his gaze wander down to the ice pack that lay on the other side of him. He pulled at a brown string that stemmed from the hole that gaped in his trousers, the Fire Nation's boy's shoes had sliced clear through the fabric and had left a long cut on the tanned skin there.

Aang crouched down in front of his son, his eyes pensively watching as his usually rambunctious child looked up at him timidly, "Bumi, I know you are hiding something from me."

Bumi just shook his head again, the beginnings of hot tears forming in his eyes. He hadn't cried when it happened, but seeing his father look so concerned and disappointed cut him deeply.

"It's stupid."

The Avatar nodded, a brow quirking slightly, "I'm sure it is, you know better than to use violence in order to fight your battles."

Bumi sighed, "I didn't have a choice."

Aang frowned, looking up to where he could capture his bloodied son's gaze, "You always have a choice."

The boy's eyes blazed at this, his anger and frustration resuming to the peak it had been earlier, "No I don't!"

"What do you mean?"

"You say I have a choice! But what about bending, huh?! I never got asked whether I wanted to be a bender or not! Do you call that a choice, pops?!"

Aang was silent for a moment, sitting back on his heels with his mouth slightly open as he tried to form a response. But he didn't know what to say. Regaining,
his composure the Avatar placed a firm hand on his son's shoulder.

"Bumi, that has nothing to do with choices."

"Really?! Because bending was what made that boy come up and start picking on me! He taunted me about how I couldn't bend! He told me that I was a failure to you because I couldn't live up to what the world wants me to be! He said I was a waste!" Bumi's anger grew with every word, his tanned hands running frustratingly through his frizzy hair, "I hate this! I hate that you and mom are who you are! I hate that Kya can waterbend! And I absolutely loathe that Tenzin is an airbender! As if it wasn't already bad enough with the little princess skipping around flaunting her magic water and stuff, but now the little cue ball can shoot puffs of air from his fingertips!"

During his rant, Aang's eyebrows furrowed. His heart was being wrenched within his chest as his son's words cut like daggers.

Bumi was openly sobbing now as he raised his palms to cover his eyes, "I just don't know what to do! This isn't the first time this has happened and I just don't understand what people want from me! I don't even know what I want from me!"

The Avatar firmly grasped his child's hands within his own, his voice soft as he tried to calm the boy, "Bumi, shhh-"

"Pops," Bumi's voice still quivered as he allowed his father to remove his hands from his eyes, "Please tell me what to do, what can I do to make you proud? What can I do to make everyone else proud?"

His father shook his head slowly, a few tears appearing in his eyes as he gently cupped his child's face within his pale palms, "Bumi, my son," he choked back a bit on a sob in that moment.

When he looked at Bumi's face, he saw a young child who had no idea of what an amazing young man he was. Bumi was the one who rushed into the house every afternoon with mischief on his mind, but all in good nature. Bumi was the young boy that he had held on his shoulder's and listened to laugh for hours as the he sped around on his air scooter. Bumi was his son, was a part of him and a part of Katara, and to know that someone was threatening this perfect child of his was absolutely heartbreaking.

"You are worth so much more than you give yourself credit for,"
The boy shook his head in response, but his father made him keep his gaze locked with his, "Bending doesn't make anyone who they are, Bumi."

"But it makes you the Avatar."

"That is just a title," Aang explained gently, rubbing his thumb over the slightly swelled skin of his son's cheek, "It doesn't make me Aang, and it doesn't make me your father."

"But everyone-"

His father shook his head firmly, "You can't worry about everyone else," He smiled slightly as he tapped the end of his son's nose gently, "I mean yes you do need to worry about others, but not their opinions. Those don't matter."

Bumi's eyes fell downcast at his father's words, "But what about my opinion?"

The Avatar nodded, "That matters. But your opinion needs to be who you think you are, who you know you are. Not what everyone thinks about you."

"I think I'm the son of the Avatar."

Aang nodded, "Yes, you are."

Bumi continued, "But I'm also related to the Aang who couldn't sleep days before an invasion because he thought he was going to fail his math test."

The Avatar chuckled slightly at that one, "You sure are."

"But I also am the son of my father, who has never treated me as any less because of what I can't do."

Aang's smile grew as he nodded slowly, "Now that one's a real winner."

Bumi smiled a bit hesitantly at first before a frown appeared on his face again, "I'm sorry about letting my temper get the best of me. I know I shouldn't have hit him, but I didn't listen."

His father nodded at the apology, "I know you have learned your lesson," His expression grew nervous though as he shared a glance with his son, "Your mother's opinion may be very different though when we get home."

Bumi shrugged, heaving an overdramatic sigh, "Oh well, her opinion doesn't matter anyway."