Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Avatar-universe.
Author's Note: My muse decided she wanted to have fun with Tenzin. This compilation is the result. Canon ships (past and present), but more focused on Tenzin than anyone else.
Tenzin learned early on that being the only Airbender born in well over a hundred years meant he would be the focus of attention for his entire life.
...
At the tender age of seven, he inquired as to why people came to Temple Island and, upon spotting him, would gawk and point their fingers at him.
Katara sighed. "Because you're an Airbender, Tenzin. You're unique."
"I know, but why does it make it okay for them to be rude?" He didn't like the feel of unfamiliar eyes on him. He didn't like the whispers and fingers either.
"It doesn't," his mother answered, "but that's how people are. They like to stare at what is different or unusual. They don't mean any harm." She planted her hands on her hips. "I'll speak to the acolytes though and make sure they keep any more sightseers farther away from the family quarters."
...
"Hurry up, Tenzin," Lin called. She rapped on the door to her bedroom. Inside, Tenzin yanked the sand colored tunic over his head. Beneath that, he wore soft green pants and undershirt.
"I'm coming," he retorted. He snatched up a coat of dark olive with an attached hood, donning it as well.
Emerging from the bedroom, he said, "I'm ready."
"Not quite." Already clad in a similarly cut coat, hers black, Lin reached out and pulled his hood up. "There. Your bald head would be a dead giveaway."
"Do you really think no one will notice?" he asked anxiously.
"Not if you keep your hood up - and we'll be outside so nobody should think twice about that," she replied, starting for the front door. She grabbed her gloves and a scarf from pegs on the wall. She tugged the gloves on and wrapped the scarf tightly around her neck. Keys dropped into a pocket, Lin pulled the door open, gesturing for him to precede her.
When they reached the stadium, Lin introduced him to her friends as "Lee, my mom works with his dad." The other teenagers accepted it without question. Tenzin spent a happy afternoon as an unremarkable sixteen-year-old watching Republic City's soccer team try to trounce Omashu's. He was jostled by spectators, accidently put his hands in spilled soda, and heard words he suspected his mother would wash his mouth out with soap for should he ever repeat them. As the match heated up, he found himself cheering and shouting at the players along with everyone else.
Afterwards, Lin and he refused an invitation to go for noodles. Instead, they rode the cable cars for a while, ending up at a cafe which Lin declared sold the best hot chocolate in the city. Tenzin insisted on paying. With his father, or if recognized by himself as an Airbender, shopkeepers tended to offer things for free, even becoming insulted if rebuffed. He knew the shopkeepers would often then boast of having the Avatar or the second-to-last Airbender as customers. Those kind of gifts unsettled Tenzin's stomach; as Lee, nothing of that sort occurred.
Waiting to catch a trolley back to Lin's house, he was delighted when a police officer passed and failed to recognize him. The officer tipped his hat to Lin, who greeted him by name, but squinted at Tenzin with some suspicion.
"Your mother knows you're out with - " he started.
"She does," Lin interrupted. "I have permission."
The officer nodded and bid them a good evening. Lin smirked. "He thinks I'm out with some strange boy and my virtue might be in danger. My mother might need to start remedial training if her officers can't recognize you."
"It's interesting how people see what they expect to see. They expect me to be in Air Nomad clothes. In Earth colors and clothing, they don't see me," Tenzin remarked.
"That was the plan; it's worked so far."
He cocked his head, "What was that about your virtue?"
Lin shrugged. "He probably thinks a fifteen-year-old girl shouldn't be wandering around with a strange boy. Although he should know better than to think I can't defend my own virtue perfectly well myself." Pointing down the street, she said, "Come on, here's our trolley."
They hopped aboard and returned to Lin's house. After changing back into Air Nomad robes, Tenzin folded his outfit and laid it on the top shelf of Lin's closet. For the remainder of that winter, until a hood became impractical, a young man named Lee frequently accompanied Lin on her excursions about the city.
...
"Is there any way to politely ask them to leave?" Tenzin entreated of his father. The pair stood in the Avatar's office, windows open to catch any summer's breeze that chanced by. The older Airbender shook his head.
"They have a valid reason for being here; they want to observe Airbending in action," he replied. "I can't send them away or request them to leave without giving a good justification."
"That is true," Tenzin conceded. "However, I don't believe it is a coincidence that this particular group of acolytes arrived two months ago."
Aang repressed a smile. "You mean, you don't believe the other Temple elders saw fit to send the youngest, and most attractive, female acolytes here when you and Lin were having a tiff by accident."
Given Tenzin's stormy expression, he read his father's amusement and was not pleased by either it or his theory.
"Lin and I are fine - we were working it out when they arrived." Tenzin flailed a hand at the open window. "I don't know what they - even if we had split up - which isn't going to happen - I wouldn't - what are they expecting?"
"I know," said Aang. "I had the same sort of trouble when I was your age. It drove your mother crazy. Speaking of which, what does Lin think of the situation?"
"She vacillates from amusement to irritation on my behalf."
"The amusement part I can easily imagine, but what do you mean by irritation on your behalf?"
"She gets annoyed with them because she knows I hate feeling like - like a particularly appetizing cake in a bakery window or a prime piece of meat in a butcher's shop," he exclaimed. Aang giggled at the imagery. Tenzin scowled at his father. "It's not funny."
With effort, Aang sobered and asserted, "They don't mean any harm, Tenzin. In another couple of weeks or a month, they'll become discouraged or bored and turn to their own pursuits or leave the island for other Temples. In the meantime, try to be patient and bear these young ladies' attentions as best you can. Without encouraging them, of course."
"The problem is that I try extremely hard not to encourage them, even attempting to dissuade them by informing them I'm with Lin, but nothing works. They still follow me about on the island, press me to show them Airbending moves or take them flying, and drop hints about how much they love children." He sighed heavily. "Frankly, I don't know what else to do that wouldn't be outright rude or hurtful."
Aang mulled the problem over in his head. The distress in his son's voice was real and it sounded as if he was reaching the end of his willingness to tolerate the situation. A voice, suspiciously akin to his wife's, reminded him that Tenzin, unlike himself, never sought the spotlight or relished attention from outsiders.
Finally, he spoke, "What if I handled all the meditation sessions, performed any requested Airbending demonstrations, and dealt with any sort of Temple disputes for the next month to, um, to let things cool off? That should minimize the time you would have to spend on the island."
"I have no intention of shrinking my responsibilities, Father," Tenzin replied. "You have other duties."
"You wouldn't be 'shrinking your responsibilities'; I'm volunteering," Aang insisted, brightening. "It would give me an excuse to stay here for a while. Your mother claims I've been neglecting her, and it's only fair as you've dealt the majority of the Temple concerns for the past couple of years."
Tenzin hesitated for a moment before accepting. "Thank you. I appreciate it."
"Good. Out of sight, out of mind." He then grinned mischievously. "And if that doesn't work, try convincing Lin to help you give them a nice visual display of why you're not interested."
Indignant, Tenzin squawked, "Father!"
Aang chortled.
...
In hindsight, Tenzin realized how fast his relationship with Pema progressed. They went from acquaintances to spouses within a single year. And he doesn't recall Pema ever asking for them to slow down, to allow a chance for them to learn to be together as a couple. On his part, the thought of being The Last bore down on him like an oncoming train, its whistle blaring in his ears and its lights casting his shadow in front of him. Pema was sweet and gracious and ready to love him, to marry him, and Tenzin responded in kind.
The Temple elders rejoiced in their marriage as did the White Lotus. Many expressed relief that he had settled down at long last, and with a proper Air Nomad acolyte. Pema smiled at their comments; Tenzin wished they hadn't felt the need to point that out.
Three months later, he overheard Pema speaking to the merchants who supply the Temple's food staples. She referred to him as "my husband, Master Tenzin." The phrasing stuck in his mind.
It took him almost eight months, and several more conversations or introductions, to figure out why.
Even in formal introductions, no one in his family called him "Master Tenzin" and very few did outside the family. During official occasions or in Council, Lin and Sokka used "Councilman Tenzin." Pretty much anytime else, and to anyone else, he was simply Tenzin. Toph often forwent his real name completely and used whatever nickname popped into her head. "Master Tenzin" was reserved for emphasizing his position as the head of the Temple by virtue of being the only living Airbender.
This was the name which his wife elected to use when she spoke of him.
Tenzin wondered what name she called him in the privacy of her own mind. If she ever thought of him as "Master Tenzin" rather than plain "Tenzin."
...
In time, Pema lost the habit. Tenzin was not sorry to notice its absence.
Secret:
Every once in a blue moon, Tenzin wonders if Pema would have been so eager to fall in love and marry him if he hadn't been the Last Airbender.