"Ugh..." Lin growled. She was sitting straight backed on a small stool in a tight dress in front of a ridiculous mirror.
Kya and Ursa were swarming around her in a frenzy of girly excitement about finally getting Lin Bei Fong into a dress with hair and makeup done. The earthbender was tempted to kill everyone.
"Ouch!" She complained when Ursa tugged too hard on her hair with a brush.
"Your hair is so weird," she remarked as she continued to brush it more gently.
"No, your hair is just inexplicably straight. How many people outside your family have perfectly straight hair all the time?"
"Look at me," Kya instructed. Lin turned her head towards the waterbender, but flinched back when she felt something on her lip. The oldest girl rolled her eyes and held up the small brush, "For your lips."
"No."
"It's not red, you'll barely even be able to tell it's there." Lin made a face at the brush, but in no way attempted to stop the application. "So what made you change your mind?" Lin had never allowed hair and makeup, and had only permitted being put in a dress because Katara said so, but earlier in the week, Lin had very begrudgingly mumbled a request for help to Ursa and Kya.
Lin's shoulders shrugged, and avoiding eye contact she mumbled, "I don't know."
"I think I have a pretty good idea," Ursa smiled and kept brushing the black waves.
The youngest whipped her gaze up to the princess and said, "I wanted to show everybody that I'm prettier than you are." Kya couldn't help the chuckle at Ursa's horrified look.
"You take that back, you Earth Kingdom peasant!" "Peasant" was one of the worst things you could be called according to Ursa. That, and "fashion backwards."
But Lin just smirked and looked forward, "I'm so rich I can afford a last name, 'peasant' doesn't really apply to me."
Ursa started grumbling and brushing her hair slightly more violently. "I'd be careful while she has your hair in her hands," Kya warned jokingly.
"I'm not worried. She knows I know where she sleeps, and that I could give her a hair cut from another room." Lin felt a hard flick to her ear, "Ow."
"Touch my hair and I will kill you," the princess informed. The earthbender just smiled.
"No peaking!" Kya scolded for the seventeenth time since the beginning of this process.
Lin took a deep, frustrated breath in. They had her sitting in front of the mirror for goodness sake. She was turned to the side and Ursa was standing between her and the glass- the Fire Nation girl had gotten distracted by her own reflection several times- but still, how was she not expected to look? Lin started to breathe out, but her ribs were restricted by the material of her dress. "Ugh! Why is this so tight?!"
"It won't be tight when you stand up," Kya assured.
"So I can't sit down all night?"
"Of course you can," Ursa said, "it'll just be harder to breathe. Unless you sit perfectly straight."
"I am!" Lin sighed. Ursa's hand rested on her back then pushed, Lin's back straightened out and her shoulders went back. Her lips pursed and she refused to admit that she could breathe normally now, Ursa already thought she was fantastic, there was no need to tell her when she's right. "Will I be able to dance?"
"You should be," Kya answered, running a thin brush dipped in black paint on her lash line. "Do you know how to dance?" She asked curiously when she went to re-dip.
Lin shrugged, "A little. Are you guys going with anyone?"
"Bumi," Ursa answered absently. She slid her thumbs into Lin's hair and pulled some of it back. "What do you think," she asked the waterbender on the floor, "up?"
Kya shook her head, "Down. Definitely." She looked at Lin's face and smiled, "You're so pretty. You're going to love this when you see it."
"Why don't you just let me see it now?"
"And ruin the big reveal?!" Ursa sounded appalled. "Never! It wouldn't be nearly as dramatic."
"You guys got to see what you look like."
"Because we got ourselves ready. As soon as you learn hair, makeup, and matching shoes and accessories, you can see each individual part, but as for now, you are in our hands."
"Is anything actually getting done with my hair? It feels like you're just playing with it."
"Remember how a second ago we said you don't know how to do hair?" Lin just rolled her eyes.
After what felt like forever, the two declared they were finally finished. "Does that mean I can finally look?"
"Yes," Kya nodded.
"Wait!" Ursa yelled, making them jump. Her eyes were wide, "Wait! Don't look!" She put her hand out to Lin in a "stay" gesture. "I forgot, when we were in Omashu," she said as she riffled through a small bag, "I found this, and got it for you." The princess came back, she held part of Lin's hair in place as she pulled out a pin and replaced it with a small hair comb. Ursa smiled widely, "Beautiful."
Tenzin sighed, he never liked going to events like balls. He didn't like dancing, and formal events always put Lin in a bad mood, not to mention his brother would always act like a fool in public. The more proper the setting, the better. He was also not looking forward to when his older brother found out Ursa was there, not that he didn't want her here, but Bumi always acted worse around pretty girls, and Ursa was beautiful.
"Why does your face look like that?" His sister asked him.
He glanced at her, then went back to scanning the room, "What do mean?"
"You look mad, and mildy irritated."
"Thinking about how Bumi will behave once he sees Ursa."
She chuckled, "Why?"
"You know how he is around girls. And after his first tour..." Tenzin shook his head, "You should see how he acts around Lin now."
Her eyebrows drew together slightly, "How's he act around Lin?" He looked at her and raised his eyebrows in "you know" way. The young sibling was inclined to agree with the mildly disgusted face his sister made and turned his head. She looked like she'd just tasted something less than savory. "That's..." She didn't know what to say to that.
"Fortunately, he isn't as bad around her as he is around Ursa, but now you understand why I'm not looking forward to this night. Bumi's bad around pretty girls, and Ursa is b-"
Kya looked at her brother's face when he stopped abruptly. He was standing with a floored expression on his face. His parted lips were twitching, like he was trying to talk, but it wasn't quite working. She followed his gaze and smiled when it landed on the newly arrived earthbender. She'd arrived with her mom, who was in her uniform like always. Toph nudged her daughter's arm with her elbow and nodded towards Kya and Tenzin. The Bei Fongs separated, each going toward their respective group of friends.
Lin looked bored until she got closer and saw Tenzin's face. She hesitated for a moment before continuing forward. "What are you lookin at Fancy Pants?" She said with a defensive tone.
"You." It was a simple answer, the only one he could manage, and it wasn't in anyway sarcastic. She looked beautiful.
Lin was in a long, jade green dress that hugged her torso and flared out at the waist. A gold pattern on the hem went up from her waist and crossed her chest to reach just below her collarbone. Most Earth Kingdom dresses had necklines went up to the throat and loose sleeves, but this one didn't even cover her shoulders and had tight sleeves. He noticed she was wearing makeup as well, it was subtle, but her pale green eyes stood out even more with the black ringed around them and her lips were a little pinker and glossy. Her long hair had been swept over her right shoulder and a jeweled hair comb was holding the left side in place. Nothing could convince Tenzin that Lin looked better in any color other than green, and no one could have found a comb with stones that matched her eyes more perfectly. The jade was set in the center of flowers with delicate looking white petals.
Kya smiled as the teenagers continued to stare at each other and admired her and Ursa's handiwork. That was until her stupid other brother came and ruined it. "Tenzin! You've been standing here for like, half an hour! Lin isn't-" he was immediately interupted by his extended exhalation of breath. He stared at Lin with a more slack jawed version of Tenzin's look. "Whoa."
"That was intelligent," Lin snarked.
"Well, I don't know what you want me to say Bei Fong. You should definitely hang out with Kya and Ursa more often."
"Speaking of Ursa," Kya said before Bumi could speak anymore, "she's probably looking for her date. Let's go find her," Kya gripped his arm firmly, on the verge of painfully, and pulled him away. "What are you doing?!" She asked through her teeth.
"What?" He asked in a hushed tone.
"Don't look at her like that!"
Lin rolled her eyes at the retreating siblings and turned back to the youngest. She had a moment to take him in before he turned around. He looked equally as "Whoa."
He was so tall now, he had started to shoot up in his early teens and was about as tall as his father now, with growing still left to do. And she had been trying to deny that he was actually...handsome, now. She hated thinking any word that meant attractive in relation to him, but she knew that's what she thought. Whenever girls looked at the tall, handsome, stoic airbender, she felt fiercly posessive and jealous. And tonight would most certainly be filled with that with the way he was dressed. Dress robes had always suited him, red over black with the sash at his waist and the obligatory yellow for airbenders. She swallowed, he should not be allowed to look that good.
Right now, Lin was so glad that he couldn't feel how fast her heart was beating.
She also decided he shouldn't be allowed to wear that expression, girls always paid more attention to him when he looked this serious and unapproachable. She almost laughed at the thought of what would happen if someone asked him to dance- provided Lin didn't do anything horrible to her- he would no doubt get a shocked and confused look before he started to bumble. He was always so clueless about the female attention he got.
Tenzin finally turned back from his siblings and looked down at her. She felt tiny under his gaze.
There was a long silence in which they just looked at each other, until Lin crossed her arms over her stomach and asked, "Have you been bored out of your skull?"
"Yes," he answered with zero hesitation, making her smile. "Uncle Sokka, Aunt Suki, my parents, and Zuko and Mai have all been socializing, and Bumi has been...Bumi."
Lin chuckled, "As opposed to Tenzin?"
"If he could act like me-"
"We would have some pretty seriously boring lives," she teased, deadpan.
"-it would be much quieter and more civilized. I was going to say," he smiled at her.
"If Bumi acted like you for even a day, you'd demand to know what was done with your brother and what replaced him."
"It would be cause for concern." Lin laughed softly. There was another silence. Tenzin cleared his throat and avoided her eyes until he'd asked, "Would you like to dance?"
"I don't know how," she shrugged. "And we can't translate sparring into dancing because of this ridiculous dress."
"It's a slow song, not much moving involved."
"What if you step on me?"
"I'm an airbender, we're light on our feet," he smiled.
"Well," she glanced down before meeting his eyes, "I guess we don't call you Twinkle Toes Jr. for nothing." He smiled when she accepted his arm and dragged him onto the dance floor.
It was a bit rough at first; they both were nervous and Lin was worried about stepping on his toes, but they got the hang of it pretty quick. The ever competitive Bei Fong had the amazing ability to make massive improvements in something she was having difficulty in as soon as Tenzin excelled. Soon they were moving around the floor with the grace and elegance you'd expect from an airbender.
Across the room, Kya interupted Ursa's conversation with her oldest brother by tapping her on the arm excitedly and pointing to the young couple. The princess's hand clapped onto Kya's with an iron grip as her eyes widened. Ursa started shaking Kya's hand, there was too much excitement and she didn't know what to do with it. Squealing and jumping up and down hardly seemed the appropriate thing to do for royalty in public.
Even from their distance, they could see the smiles and the light in the eyes of the teenagers as they looked at each other.
"It's hot," Lin said awhile later. A room full of people and a floor length, long sleeved dress did not make the best combination.
"Do you want to go outside?"
"Please," her eyes widened slightly in gratitude.
Tenzin followed her out to the gardens, almost putting his hand on her lower back before he caught himself. Neither of them realized, but his siblings and friend were still watching them.
"Oh I have to see this," Bumi declared, starting to go after them.
Kya caught the back of his collar, causing him to make a choking noise, and pulled him back. "And let you ruin the most important moment of their young lives? I think not!"
"But now we'll never know who made the first move!" He pointed out with a pleading look in his eyes.
Lin exhaled slowly. It was nice outside, there was a light breeze that quickly cooled her off. She put her hands on the stone railing surrounding the low balcony and looked up at the full moon. It was always a little mind blowing that she knew someone that had made out with the moon. She felt Tenzin come stand next to her so she looked up at him. He was so tall.
She wasn't used to that. She was used to this skinny little bald kid that would glare up at his older brother when he pointed out how he got Mom's growing genes; this new, tall...well built and handsome airbending master was still new. She looked away again because she felt herself blushing. Again, she cursed puberty.
The only thing that distracted her from her embarassment, besides the fact that he had been staring at the moon while she'd done her inspection, was how fast his heart was beating. She was wearing shoes, but they were basically pieces of silk sewn into a shoe shape, not much was between her and the stone ground. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and saw him looking at her. Instead of quickly averting her eyes and pretending she hadn't been looking at him, she held his gaze. He swallowed nervously. What did he have to be nervous about? "You look..." She was suddenly very interested in how she looked. But he didn't finish, just looked down at his hands, which were also resting on the rail. She could only guess what his heart was doing, she couldn't hear or feel anything over her own. "Lin," he looked back at her with a sudden confidence. She nodded. Internally, she groaned and rolled her eyes at herself. A nod? The best she could do was a nod? "I...We've known each other a long time."
"If you call my entire life a long time, sure."
"I do." Neither of them were handling sarcasm as they usually did; it came out unintentionally and he responded to it seriously. "I'd say I know more about you than I do anyone else; like I know what your favorite story behind a scar is to your favorite color, but there are a few things I don't know."
Lin turned to face him, "Like what?"
"Like..." He swallowed again. "Like how you feel-"
Tenzin was cut off by a sudden noise from one of the trees near by and a shout, quickly followed by the emergence of his upside down brother from said tree. His eyes were as wide as saucers when he looked at them, hanging by his knees from a branch. Kya was next to him, one hand extended towards his opposite arm and the other on his knee in what looked like a steadying gesture, frozen with shock. Bumi pointed an accusatory finger up at Kya and said, "It's her fault. I told her we should give you guys privacy, but she and Ursa made a bet on who would make the first move."
An indignant noise came out of Kya's open mouth and her hands went to her hips. Bumi wasn't ready to support himself entirely apparently, seeing as he fell to the ground immediately. Kya made a vain effort to catch him before he fell, but she just ended up putting her hands over her mouth. Bumi groaned. "You kinda deserved that, but I'm also sorry," the older sister said, moving her hands away from her mouth briefly.
The young adults looked back up at an extremely embarassed looking Tenzin and an angry Lin. They shrunk back immediately. "You wanted to see who'd make the first move?" They weren't sure if it was a rhetorical question, but they were too scared to answer anyway. Luckily, Lin wasn't looking for a response. She turned sharply and brought the ground under her feet up to propel her to Tenzin's lips. Everyone was taken so off guard, Tenzin included, that Ursa nearly fell out of the tree.
Tenzin got over it first and move his right hand to cup her neck, his thumb rested along her jaw. Lin put one hand on his free arm and the other on his chest. Tenzin move closer and squeezed her hip gently. Her lips closed around his bottom one, starting to turn their first kiss into a first make out session.
Bumi watched semi-uncomfortably as his little brother ran his hand from her neck to her shoulder, then Lin shivered. It wasn't that his brother had made it to first base that was bothering him, especially since it was with someone that looked like Lin, it was the shiver. And the upside down view point did nothing to help.
Tenzin wet his lips when their lips separated for less than a second and slid his fingers over her smooth skin. He didn't know how long they stood there, he really didn't care. When you have Lin Bei Fong in your arms, and she's looking the way she does, tonight especially, it's hard to give even a fraction of your attention to anything else. He didn't know why tonight, because he was going to "make the first move" before his siblings ruined the moment, maybe it was because he was exhausted from keeping himself from looking at her all the time, or he was tired of not being able to do simple things like hold her hand when he really wanted to (or kiss her, like he always wanted to do and was finally doing), or he was tired of boys being able to look appreciatively and not being able to do anything about it, or maybe it was just how perfect she looked in that dress tonight, with the colors that matched her gorgeous eyes so perfectly. It was probably all of that, Tenzin decided, the dress was the tipping point. Especially with all the attention she got in the dress.
After a moment, they separated their lips. Then the Bei Fong equivalent of going weak in the knees happened to Lin, the stone pillar fell back into the ground without her consent. They looked up at each other, green locked on blue and it became impossible to move any further away from each other than they already were, leaving them close enough for their noses to still bump each other.
"I think they forgot about us," Bumi "whispered" to his sister. The earthbender and the airbender looked down at him. "Please don't hurt me," was his request to Lin.