The Not-So-Fun House

"Lin! Lin! Did you see the paper? The carnival's in town!" Bumi went over to her to excitedly point to the newspaper article. " Can we go? Pleaaaaaaaase?" he begged like a two year old. Lin looked at him with an arched eyebrow.

"Why on earth would we go to a carnival?" she asked, having never cared for the childish even when she was in the proper age range for the intended audience. He frowned, looking at her sadly while the excitement drained out of him.

"I thought it'd be fun…" he replied dejectedly with a sigh following his statement. Whatever it was about Bumi, the way he could always get to her was by being genuinely sad. She put her hand on his chest softly, allowing a smile to come to her lips.

"Oh… all right…" she caved, the smile on Bumi's face immediately returning. He hugged her tightly.

"You're the best!" he exclaimed with an emphatic squeeze. Lin hugged him back, rolling her eyes. She never knew how to respond when he said that to her, and this time was no different.

"I know." was the best she could come up with.

A Few Days Later

"Bumi? Have you seen my sweater? It's supposed to maybe get cold late-" she was cut off as the sweater was pulled over her head from behind.

"Yes, I figured you'd want it." Bumi smiled, helping Lin get her arms into it. "Perfect. Ok let's go!" he grabbed her hand in his and started to lead her to the door.

"Bumi! Bumi wait!" she pulled her hand from his and went to the mirror, fixing her hair after the sweater knocked it out of place. Lin grabbed her wallet, the one from the police department that had her badge inside since Bumi refused to go if she wore her uniform, as he put it, 'Like a square'.

With a deep breath she turned back to him. "You look great. Let's go!" he said, answering the question before she even asked it. He took her hand once again, but she held him back slightly. She wanted to be with him, and that meant she had to enjoy this as well. Lin made him walk slower than he wanted, but he figured that it wasn't that big a deal. 'At least she's going…' was all he thought in his mind.

The carnival was in the park – at least, the part of the park that was still the park and not overtaken by spirit forest – not too far from their residence. Lin was right, it had chilled considerably over the past few days. Luckily Bumi loved the cold… Lin? Not so much. They walked slowly, hand-in-hand, down the sidewalk towards the park. It took only around five minutes to reach there, but the music could be heard the moment they had opened the door to the street. As they got closer, there were other couples and families walking around to different booths and stalls. They brandished all sorts of prizes and foods and toys, undoubtedly spending well more than any of it normally would have cost. But they were paying for the experience more than the items.

"Hungry?" Bumi asked, nodding towards a vendor. Lin looked over to see what was offered and shook her head.

"Not particularly. But don't hold off if you are." she smiled, resting her head against his arm as they walked.

"Nah, it's alright." he replied, continuing to walk with her and gaze around at the flashing lights and music and buzzers. Then he stopped dead in his tracks as he heard the signature deep evil laugh. Bumi smiled and turned his head slowly to behold the haunted house. "Ohhhh yes." he laughed and turned to head over.

"Bumi no. That's for little kids." Lin said, tugging on his arm to head the way they had originally been walking. "Let's go on the Ferris Wheel instead, see the city at the top?" she tried to take his mind off the building before him.

"Come oooon, you're not afraid. Are you?" he looked at her with a sly grin and a raised brow. Lin sternly looked back to him, narrowing her eyes.

"No. I just find those cheesy."

"Well I want to go. I mean… You can stay here if you want, I guess…" he offered. He would rather go with her than on his own but he was not going to go to the carnival and not go into the haunted house!

"Ugh. Fine. I'll go. But don't say I didn't warn you that it'll be bad."

She held onto his arm still as they approached and entered the house. It was dark, low music and sounds playing to set the tone for the thriller. If it was brighter, it would have been evident that Lin had moved closer to Bumi the second they entered the structure. There was fake lightning and spooky laughter, a few creatures of the night shown now and then.

"Bumi…?" she started, looking at him, "T-this is dumb. Let's just go."

"Oh come on… please?" he asked, his eyes pleading. She sighed and looked back ahead, her rip on his bicep tightening whenever they rounded a corner. A few poor hand-made cut outs sprung forward now and then, nothing so bad. The worst was yet to come when a fake wall burst open, a man dressed in some sort of folk legend outfit jumping forward and screaming at them.

Bumi laughed briefly, stopping as his arm was tugged roughly and he was tightly hugged. He looked down, Lin pressing her face into his chest. His expression fell into a frown. He never would have guessed, but now he knew.

"Oh, Lin… I'm so sorry. I… I didn't think that- I didn't know you'd be- I'm…" he stumbled to find words, but settled to hug her. He turned them around and walked out with her, heading to the side. "Lin I'm so sorry…"

She looked at him, "It's embarrassing…" she admitted. "I knew you wanted to and just… I couldn't take this away from you." She frowned, looking away from him.

Bumi hugged her, pressing a kiss to her cheek. "Lin, it's ok. Next time tell me if you don't like something. You don't even need to tell me why. Let's go home."

"No…" she pouted. "It cost 30 yuans for us to get in here, we aren't going home yet." Bumi laughed, still holding her in his arms.

"Alright, well let's get some ice cream then. Or go on the Ferris Wheel like you wanted." he rubbed her shoulder and stood up with her. They walked back over to the vendor stand from before and got two ice cream cones. Bumi had a small smile on his face at the idea of Lin Beifong actually being scared of something. It made her seem… more real, or something.

He led her to the Ferris Wheel line, both of them still enjoying their ice cream as they waited. It took a few minutes for them to actually get onto the ride, the door closing and wheel slowly turning them up. Soon, they reached the top. They had a view of the city, the Bay lit up by the lights. The statue of Aang standing watch over everyone. Bumi said a silent hello to his father, wishing he could still be there.

As he looked at the bay, Lin held closely against his arm. She tapped his arm, "Bumi?" she asked. He turned his head to look at her and immediately received a dab of ice cream on his cheek which she had been holding in place for the gag.

"Oh, very mature!" he laughed, smiling at her. He was about to say 'I'll get you back for that one!' but instead he was silenced by a tender kiss.