Title: Caught in The Middle
Pairing: Tahno/Korra, duh
Rating: T for arse-calling and people being mean
Words: 2,273
Summary: Korra meets Tahno's little sister.
Notes: I posted this over a year ago on my tumblr account and I've finally decided to put it up here! Gosh how I miss the Tahnorra/LoK fandom! I want to finish my other Tahnorra story, Little Bit, but it's still on hold until I finish my super epic story in another fandom. (cries in the corner because i just want to see tahno again)

Korra shifted to lie back on the plush settee and plopped her feet up on the coffee table in front of her. There was a twinkle of delight in her bright blue eyes as she casually looked around the receiving area of the spacious loft apartment her boyfriend was currently residing in. She still didn't understand why Tahno didn't spend enough on his living space when he had enough money from winning four pro-bending tournaments; he was surprisingly quite stingy, and Korra found it absolutely hilarious how he wasn't even aware of that fact.

But what amused Korra even more was the little girl sitting cross-legged across from her. She was definitely pretty, Korra noticed, what with her sunny yellow eyes also trying to scrutinize the Avatar, her high cheekbones, and how her ebony black wavy hair was in a stylish bob—a modern trend that Korra was sure she was never going to try out with her own hair. Plus, the girl looked like a porcelain doll with her pale skin and light figure. She was like one of those royal princesses, specifically from the fire nation.

(Yep, she was definitely from the fire nation.)

"Tahno never mentioned you," the Avatar told her with a big smile on her face. "Now that I think about it, he's never mentioned anything about his family before."

"Well, he didn't mention that he was dating the Avatar," the little girl huffed and continued to inspect the only other person in the room with her. There was something disconcerting about how she looked at Korra—it was probably the immediate feeling of distrust she was showing her. But after a while, she uncrossed her arms and placed them on her lap—like the little princess she was—and returned Korra's smile with a slight quirk of her thin lips. "I knew he settled down a bit, but I didn't expect you to be his girlfriend." Korra cringed at the accusatory tone. "I guess I shouldn't really be surprised, though. Brother always liked to dream big."

Korra's face perked with interest, and she planted her feet back on the tiled floor, leaning forward with a certain giddiness at trying to find out more about her boyfriend which could be potentially used for blackmail. "And could you tell me what one of those dreams would be?"

Reika—that's what she said her name was—caught onto what the waterbender's intentions were and indulged her. "Pro-bending was one, definitely. I was only nine when he left home to start his pro-bending career, but I can remember how he didn't shut up about it for the longest time. Dad was annoyed by him most of the time, but Mom kept him in check. I'm guessing he still doesn't shut up about how much of a winner he is?"

"Well, I constantly remind him that he's such a loser compared to me, so I guess you could say that I'm the one keeping him in check," Korra replied rather proudly, putting on a smug grin. "Speaking of your brother, where is he exactly?"

"Probably in his room, crying because you decided to crash his apartment when I decided to come over to check up on him for Mom and Dad," Reika answered nonchalantly with a shrug of her shoulders. "I mean, he's always been such a baby."

Korra almost snorted at how much she agreed with Reika's statement. Yes, Tahno was very immature—but in a different way from her childishness. Tahno was like that boy in the playground who would keep throwing insults at the other kids, but when someone would insult him back, he would run crying to his mother. Or to Korra. (Or sometimes when she wasn't around, to his cat, Miang Miang.)

He was basically a pretentious little arse. (But Korra still liked him, apparently.)

"So I'm guessing your parents had that cliché water-fire thing going on, hm?" Korra asked with interest, remembering her own little crush on a firebender almost over a year ago. "Tahno really hasn't told me anything about you or the rest of your family before, so I'm honestly curious."

"Yeah. Mom's from the Northern Tribe, while Dad came from one of the Fire Nation islands. They met in one of those parties here in the city, hit it off, and had Tahno," she supplied for her monotonously, and Korra's smirk was faltering due to her increased fear of the little girl and how cynical she seemed to be. "Almost ten years later, they had me, too."

The Avatar silently did the math in her head—Reika should be around thirteen years old, and yet she had the ability to scare her off with her apathy. (Sifu Katara, though, mentioned to her that the late Fire Lady Mai was also detached to many things—so maybe it was a Fire Nation thing?)

"Right. Well, would you like to establish any rules? Like, for me and your brother since I'm…dating him," she finished lamely with a lopsided smile. Still, she anxiously expected an answer from the little girl. (As Korra also had done with Tenzin, Mako and Bolin, Asami, and even Jinora, when she asked them for their approval of her dating Tahno—not that she needed it, but it was still nice to know that her friends were okay with him.) When Reika didn't give a direct response, she pressed on, "Come on, Reika, I'm sure there's something you'd want to warn me about—"

"Actually, no."

"As in nothing at all—?"

"Avatar Korra," Reika cut in impatiently with a light tap of her foot. "I hope you don't find it disrespectful or insulting when I remind you that you're probably his hundredth girlfriend in five years. Seeing as he hasn't told me or my parents about you, I don't think our opinion of you matters to him—not that we don't think highly of you, because as you're the Avatar, we're required to put you in high regard, but despite that, I honestly think you're nice."

…nice? Reika thought she was nice?

Thankfully, Tahno decided to man up and grace the two girls with his presence before Korra could shrink in her seat due to how intimidating the little girl was. She was up for challenges in new people, but for some reason, Reika was a special case. But Tahno looked terrible, though, with his clothes all crumpled, his hair styled differently (probably in a half-assed attempt to fix it after he rolled around in his bed), and his gray eyes looked even more hollow than usual. He looked more haphazard in a hung over way than a 'help, my-sister-is-terrorizing-my-girlfriend' way. (Which was proof for Korra that Tahno didn't care about her. Pfft.)

"Spirits, Rei," he half-mumbled, half-cursed as he made his way to the kitchen to get a glass of water for himself. "Stop scaring off my girlfriend."

Reika glared at her older brother. (This was when Korra realized that they did look like each other and had the same snarky attitude—except Reika obviously bit when she barked.) "If you really believe that I can scare off the Avatar, Tahn-Tahn, then you underestimate your girlfriend." Then, she redirected her gaze to Korra. "This is why you should break up with him."

Korra blinked once. Twice. "I'm not going to break up with him just because of that."

Tahno reappeared in the living room and made to sit in another chair and groaned, annoyed, "Stop calling me Tahn-Tahn, Rei."

"But that's what I call you at home."

"You're not at home."

Reika frowned. "Jerk."

Oh, tell me about it, Korra thought, but didn't say out loud in fear that she would only add more tension to the two siblings. So instead, she gave an awkward laugh. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Reika, buy maybe I should just go—"

"You're not seriously leaving, are you?" Tahno asked in exasperation. And Korra would have found his expression funny since Miang Miang jumped onto his lap and Tahno was slowly rubbing the cat's back, but Korra knew that she had terrible timing and it was already getting tenser in the room by the second. She didn't want to get in the way of two siblings (at least, not again) and decided that if it would be better if she left the two to sort out their own issues. "Korra, please."

Korra was near the door when he called her name and she immediately knew what that meant: please don't leave me with this little devil, please; if you leave me here with her, I'll deny you for a whole month just to spite you. Was he really that desperate?

"Fine," she sighed and walked back to the settee. Then she put a hand over her mouth (just so Reika couldn't see the motion of her lips) and mouthed to him: but you owe me.

"Babe, I can already think of the ways I'm going to repay you," Tahno said with a suggestive wiggle of his brows.

Korra blanched. "None of this babe names; you got that, chump?"

"Whatever you say, darling," he teased with a challenging leer. Korra scrunched her nose up in distaste, but Miang Miang was hissing at her again, so she directed her annoyance to the stupid cat instead. (Spirits, that cat hated her so much.)

"Ew, Tahn-Tahn. Are you forgetting that I'm here?" Reika quipped, putting on a face that clearly showed that she was disgusted. (She most likely was, though.) "Can't you be lovey-dovey when I'm not around?"

"If you think this is lovey-dovey already, Rei, I bet you'd be traumatized if I went up to kiss her right now—"

"You're not going to kiss me, Tahno," Korra cried desperately. "Stop being so mean to your little sister."

Reika nodded approvingly. "You should really listen to your girlfriend."

Tahno rolled his eyes and gave his girlfriend a pointed look. "And you should stop listening to the spoiled brat if you know what's best for you."

"She's your sister, Tahno," Korra argued warily. At this point she just wanted to get out of the apartment before Reika could set fire to Tahno's hair or before Tahno could freeze Reika in place or—spirits forbid—before he would dare to use bloodbending on his own little sister. Korra would most likely try to calm them both down (just like she does whenever Bolin and Mako really argued—as rare as those fights were) and avoid getting hit at the same time. She would also probably fight back, but she wasn't sure who she'd side with because Tahno was her boyfriend, but she was also growing a fondness for Reika. (Yeah, she would probably side with Reika just to spite him.) "Spirits know the people around you could use some niceness from you every once in a while."

"Hey, I'm nice to you, Avatar."

"No, you're an ass, Tahno."

"But I've a lovely bum, no?"

Korra blushed. "That's not…not what I meant—you, you know what I meant!" She bent some water out of his glass and flicked it at him, but he evaded it on impulse. (Freaking pro-bender that he is.) "If you're just going to be a prick all day to both me and Reika while we're here in your apartment, then…uh, I should just take her out to the city. Or Air Temple Island. Yeah, we'll run away from you together." (She wasn't really sure about what she was saying.)

"Oh, go for it," Tahno took up her offer with a rather sardonic smirk. The idea of having his hands clean of the two troublesome women (who he did love, really) for the day appealed to him, and he wasn't one to refuse such a wonderful suggestion as what Korra proposed. He stood from his chair, stretched his limbs for a second, and walked his way to his girlfriend (who had just realized what she said) and pulled her up, grinning when she had to lean on him to balance herself. "I'm sure you two would get along fabulously."

He dragged her along to Reika, but his sister put her hand up and stood up primly, stiffly telling him off, "I can lead myself out, thanks."

With Reika walking in front of them, Korra attempted to elbow his gut, but he swiftly caught her arm with his other free hand (he knew most of her tricks; she wasn't the most creative person when it came to trying to land a hit on him) and she glowered at him. "Oh, you're going to regret this, pretty boy."

Tahno's laugh was deep and throaty, sending uncalled shivers down Korra's spine. (She hated the affect he had on her.) "Guess you'll just have to punish me later for it, huh, little girl?"

Korra didn't even realize she was already standing on the other side of the doorway when she answered, "I'm looking forward to it."

"Love you," he told her before roughly planting his lips on hers. Their kiss lasted only over a second because as soon as he stepped back from her, he slammed the door to her face. Korra stood indignantly, her hands on her hips as she scowled ferociously at the wooden door.

"Love you, too, you jerkface," she mumbled beneath her breath before turning to face Reika—who had looked away to give them a little privacy. (Or not to scar herself, as Tahno would probably have put it.) "Okay, come on."

Reika bit her lower lip and scrunched her thin eyebrows. "Where are we going exactly?"

"To look for a bathroom."

("…wait, what?")