KAINORA WEEK - 2O14
[day one - connection]
(modern au)
{inspired by Next To Me, Sleeping At Last}
our futures were written with crayons in colouring books
Sometimes, you'll meet someone you have a connection with instantly. Sometimes, they'll stay for a while but eventually leave. Sometimes, you have to learn to let them go. And sometimes, if you're lucky, they'll be someone you ever only say 'See you later' to.
A connection can find you anytime, least of all when you expect it. And sometimes, if you're lucky, it'll find you when you're six years old and sitting in a sandbox on a sunny day.
###
Jinora has always loved sandboxes. While her younger siblings love the swings (well, Meelo enjoys the swings as much as a two-year old can), shrieking with delight that grates on her eardrums, she prefers the quieter activity of building a sandcastle. There isn't a sandbox back home, so she always tries to make the most of it whenever her family came to the park.
Carefully, the six year old shifts from side to side, not wanting to get sand in her shorts while she fortifies her sandcastle. It was a little too lumpy on one side, but otherwise it looks pretty good, she thinks, sitting back to examine her work.
A kid plops down beside her in the sandbox. He has a messy undercut and a lopsided smile. "Nice sandcastle," he says. She smiles, and decides that even though she likes her time alone, that this boy can stay.
"Thanks," she pats the side of it one more time and realizes an extension of the left wing is in order, "do you want to help me build it?"
The boy may look different from her - his clothes are scruffy, and there's a hole in his jeans, but she likes his smile, which only grows as he answers, "Sure."
Jinora sticks out her hand, like she's seen her daddy do to other adults. "My name is Jinora," she pauses, and then adds, "It's nice to meet you," because that's the polite thing to do, right?
Slowly, the boy shakes her hand, as if a little unsure. "My name is Kai. It's nice to meet you too."
As the afternoon wanes on, they work on the sandcastle together. Jinora finds herself surprised that sometimes Kai starts doing things she was going to say, but didn't need to. They seem to work perfectly together.
And his favourite colour is brown, she learns, which is nice, because it's the colour of her eyes, and nobody ever likes brown the best. When he asks what hers is, she goes to say blue, and then notices that his eyes are green. A very nice shade of green that seem to sparkle. "It's green," she answers, feeling all warm inside, because now her favourite colour is different because of him.
She wonders if he'll change anything else about her, but she doesn't have much time to dwell on it, because her mother is standing over her. "Jinora sweetie, it's time to go." Pema glances down at Kai. "Who's your friend sweetie?"
"This is Kai," she says happily. "We built this sandcastle together!" She gestures towards their wonderful creation, both of them beaming proudly.
Pema smiles warmly. "It's amazing," she agrees, "but I'm afraid we have to go now Jinora."
Jinora pouts. "Can Kai build more sandcastles with me sometime?"
"I don't see why not," Pema says. She talks to Kai's mother, a handsome young man who doesn't look a lot like him, but that's fine, because he and Pema set up another playdate for the two.
"Bye Kai!" Jinora calls, gripping her mother's hand as she leaves the park.
"Bye Jinora!" Kai calls back, leaving her feeling giddy. Her first real friend. A wide smile comes onto her face, a similar one on Kai's face. His first real friend.
###
"So," the principal looks up at Kai's guardian. The man doesn't look much like the second-grader squirming in his seat, legs dangling over the chair, still too tiny to touch the ground. "Bolin, you're Kai's uncle?"
"Guardian. My brother Mako and I co-adopted him. So yes, adopted uncle...?" Bolin gives the principal a somewhat nervous smile. He had been in the middle of work when he had received a phone call saying that Kai had gotten into trouble, and he needed to come down right away - which isn't surprising, actually. Kai isn't exactly the straight-A student. Oh, he's smart enough, but has trouble sitting still, and his impulsive nature doesn't help things either. A couple of times he's even stolen objects from other students; something Mako was sure they had straightened out for good now.
"And do you know why you're here?" the principal asks. Bolin feels the question is more directed at Kai, who still refuses to look up from staring at his shoes, but he shakes his head anyway. The principal huffs a sigh. "Well, that trouble was punching a fourth-grader Kenny Johnson in face at recess earlier today."
"A fourth-grader?" Even though it was bad, Bolin can't help but be a little impressed. Picking a fight with an older kid takes guts, no matter why it happens in the first place.
"I only did it 'cause Kenny was being mean to Jinora," Kai mumbles, finally looking up. Ahh, so that explains it. Bolin's expression of confusion shifts to one of understanding.
"Jinora Windson," the principal says, "the first grader?" Kai nods.
"They're best friends," Bolin supplies. "Do everything together." A small smile comes onto his face.
"That may be," the principal says, "but punching a boy is still uncalled for. You'll have detention Kai, this time. And," the principal's lips twitch upwards, "I promise to make sure Kenny never bothers Jinora again."
"Good," Kai says, taking the principal by surprise. He doesn't even seem to care that he'll have detention. As the boy and Bolin leave her office, she can't help but smile softly.
Jinora has a very good friend by her side, and the principal hopes the little girl knows it.
###
They get into a fight once over a game of hide-and-seek when she's eight and he's nine. It's horrible and they don't talk for two whole days. But in the end, they make up and realize how silly the fight was in the end. They swear they'll never fight again. And for the most part, they stick to it. Or, at the very least, they stick to their promise of always making up in the end, anyway.
###
Kai's sitting in Aaron Burns' basement with a couple of other boys playing video games, when he looks down at his watch and realizes what time it is. He pauses the game and the others look to him quizzically as he gathers his bag next to the couch and goes to stand up. "Where're you going?" Aaron asks.
"Meeting Jinora at the park - we planned for four o'clock so I need to head over now," Kai explains. Aaron groans.
"Why do you always want to hang out with a fifth-grader? Whose a girl," Aaron says, wrinkling his nose. Kai scowls at the fellow sixth-grader.
"She's my best friend," Kai tells him simply, and begins to climb the stairs. "See you guys later!" he calls.
The walk to the park is short, only five minutes or so, and when he arrives Jinora's already there, sitting on a bench. Her green bookbag, practically full to bursting, is beside her, and her face lights up when she sees him. He tries to ignore the way his heart flutters when she smiles. "Hey," he greets. He takes the spot beside her, setting down his own bag. "Got the candy?"
She pulls out two bags of skittles and some chocolate bars. "Used up all my pocket money. You wouldn't believe what I had to do to keep Ikki and Meelo away from this stuff."
He chuckles, because he can only imagine. He pops a skittle into the air and catches it in his mouth. "I don't even want to know... How's your mom, by the way?" Nobody had expected it, but Pema had gotten pregnant. She was almost five months along now. Kai finds it crazy that they'll be a baby running around Jinora's place soon, especially since he doesn't have any younger siblings.
"Morning sickness, but other than that it's the same old same old," she answers, opening up a chocolate bar and then taking a bite. "So, where were you this afternoon?"
"Playing video games at Aaron Burns' house," he says and her smile turns into a teasing one.
She raises an eyebrow, her eyes sparkling mischievously. "Not wanting to keep hanging out with the most popular boy in both of our grades just to see me? My my Kai, I'm flattered."
Kai's cheeks are pink. "What can I say Jinora?" he teases. "You're my favourite person." She nudges his shoulder playfully, feeling touched because she knows it's true. They stay in the park for the rest of their Saturday afternoon, stealing candy from each other. Kai can't think of a better way to spend an afternoon.
###
Jinora rolls her eyes as the girls giggle by their lockers while Kai walks by, flashing her a smile. A smile just for her. She locks it away in her memory, heat rising to her cheeks. She knows what the girls think - what they say. That Kai is so cute and funny and oh, I wish he'd ask me to the school dance. Girls in grade seven are pretty predictable. And what they say doesn't bother her at all, because he smiles - just for her.
Kai tries to convince her to come to the grade seven-eight dance this Friday. She's not one for loud noises and parties so instead they hole up in the treehouse in her backyard. They bring lumpy sleeping bags and flashlights and try to scare the other with spooky ghost stories, all while eating way too much junk food (thanks to Bolin).
Eventually once it's almost three in the morning they quiet down but still talk for another hour. With Kai, she never seems to run out of things to say, even though after over five years of friendship you would think the conversations might slow down.
Meelo finds them in the morning, curled up in their sleeping bags with candy wrappers everywhere and a discarded flashlight that had rolled into the corner. And the two friends decide that this is their new tradition, at least once a month.
They stick to it.
###
It's his first day of high school and he's nervous. Which is stupid, really, because he's cheery and people like him quickly enough. But it's his first year where Jinora won't be there. She won't be there to sit with at lunch, or to walk all the way home there. For what feels like the first time in forever, she won't be there. It hurts in a sort of way he didn't know was possible.
His day isn't bad. He had a place to sit in the cafeteria and there's only one teacher who hates him so far. As soon as he gets home, walking all the way by himself (and it's horrible) he goes to call Jinora, only to find the phone ringing for him instead. The caller ID says it's Jinora. He picks up the phone and his words rush out exactly the same as hers: "I miss you."
They make another tradition: to talk for at least an hour every day. On weekends, that stretches onto six or more hours, even if they're not talking all the time. When Jinora finally gets to high school and they get to have lunch together, both are really happy. Something about Jinora just makes Kai feel really happy, he realizes, and he doesn't think it's just because she's his best friend.
He thinks about the way her smile still makes his heart flutter, even after five years. How it's been almost ten years of friendship and he looks forward to ten years more.
They read 'Romeo and Juliet' in class. Most of the girls think the ending's romantic. Kai wonders if that's love, because it seems like what he feels for Jinora is a lot stronger.
It scares him a little.
###
They go to the beach often that summer and build sandcastles like when they were young. They have more sleepovers, although Tenzin's starting to be stricter about them having them. Kai can't figure out why, at first, but when he does, he can barely look Jinora in the eye for a week.
From then on, he always makes sure their sleeping bags are at least three feet apart.
###
The second time Kai punches a boy on account of Jinora is one afternoon after English class. The guys are getting dressed for gym, and talking about the class. Due to Jinora's academic excellence, she had been bumped up into his grade eleven class. And Kai does not like the way the guys are talking about her. At all.
"She was such a skinny thing when she was younger," Aaron Burns says. Kai had long stopped being friends with him. "Who knew she'd look like she does now."
So much for 'a dumb fourth-grader'. Kai tries to stifle the scowl on his face, pulling on his gym shirt with maybe a little too much force.
"I think I'll ask her out. Maybe even get lucky, if you know what I mean-"
WHAM.
As Kai sits outside the principal's office, he knows it was uncalled for (well no, not really) but he's still so angry he doesn't care about anything. Bolin comes by again (thank the Spirits it's not Mako) but under the circumstances, Bolin's not even mad.
After detention (for a week, this time) Kai heads to the park and sits on the rim of the empty sandbox.
"I thought I'd find you here," a voice says, and Jinora plops down beside him. "Bolin told me what you did today, and why." She smiles ruefully at him. "Thanks, I guess." Her hands fold loosely around her knees. "But next time, just be reassured by the knowledge I never would have said yes to a single date with that scumbag."
It manages to pull a smile out of him - Jinora always manages to, somehow. The bag of skittles she's brought with doesn't hurt either. "What about this scumbag?" he asks, pointing to himself. She blinks in surprise, which is stupid, because this has been years in the making.
Instead of speaking, she simply leans forwards and kisses him. It's one of the best moments of his life. They sit on the rim of the sandbox for the rest of the evening, and once they're done their candy, they build a sandcastle. All is right with the world, in the end.
###
When he goes away to college, they Skype all the time, their policy of talking for at least an hour a day coming back into their lives. They meet on the weekends when they can, and for the most part, make it work.
It's hard being away and so busy all the time. It's harder still when Jinora goes to another university on the other side of the country. But they make it. People ask them how they do it. Quite honestly, they don't really know. They just have a connection that's never been there with anyone else and never want to let it go. She knows he loves skittles and he knows she doesn't love dances and they both know they love each other, and somehow, it's enough.
When they buy a house together after their wedding, they make sure it doesn't have a sandbox. Jinora has always loved sandboxes, but it always feels better to go to the one in the park.
"I love sandboxes," she tells him one day as they watch their own daughter play in one. Her eyes get misty, and Kai knows exactly what she's picturing, a similar sunny day twenty years ago.
He presses his lips against her cheek. "I do too."
###
Sometimes, you'll meet someone you have a connection with instantly. Sometimes, they'll stay for a while but eventually leave. Sometimes, you have to learn to let them go. And sometimes, if you're lucky, they'll be someone you ever only say 'See you later' to.
A connection can find you anytime, least of all when you expect it. And sometimes, if you're lucky, it'll find you when you're six years old and sitting in a sandbox on a sunny day and never leave you.
Kainora week whoot-whoot! As some of you might have noticed, this is one of the oneshots from the poll in my profile. The other two most popular oneshot ideas - "20 Questions" and "Love is like the wind" - shall tie into the themes/prompts of Kainora week.
This story, Heart Thief, shall be dedicated to this year's Kainora Week, and future ones as well.