A/N: I had a lot of fun writing this… I know both of them are a little "out of character" but this is exactly how I believe they would have acted while dating/before dating. I personally have a little bit of a head-canon that Lin's whole personality changed after her 'fling' with Tenzin. But yeah, so they're a little OOC so I apologize for that. I hope you enjoy reading it regardless! Please leave a review ^.^!
"Well, don't you just look… spiffy!" Tenzin flinches as he hears the voice, turning to see his older brother and sister in the doorway.
Kya smirks, "What's the special occasion, Tenz?"
Bumi laughs, "Is he finally going to get those silly tattoos of his?"
That was when Tenzin felt like losing his mind, "They are not silly, Bumi! I don't get them until next week, anyway." He mumbles angrily as he glares at his siblings. "I'm going…" he pauses, unsure of what exactly to tell them. "Out."
Kya and Bumi share a look and glance back at their young air bending brother, "Out?"
Tenzin began to lose his confidence standing there under their calculating looks, "Yes. Out."
Slowly Bumi began to catch on, watching his brother sit there nervously, "Oh," he called, a dopey grin splattered on his face. "Out. I get it… Who with?" That was when Kya raised her eyebrows and looked back at her youngest brother.
Tenzin's blush reached to the tip of his ears, "None of your business." He mumbled, biting his lip and looking away. The older siblings weren't going to let him off the hook though.
"Oh c'mon, Tenz!" Kya spoke, leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed, "Who is she?"
"Or he," Bumi muttered under his breath, flinching when both his siblings gave him a death stare, "What?" he asked, smirking.
Tenzin sat on his bed, twiddling his thumbs and looking down for a minute. "Lin." He mumbles the name under his breath, forcing his siblings to lean into the room even more.
"Who?"
He swallows and looks up at them, "I'm going out with Lin."
Kya blinks, a little shocked, "Bei Fong?"
Bumi just grins like a mad man, whooping, "I knew it! My little bro is going to get the Bei Fong girl!" Tenzin smiled shyly and blushed even more, nodding to them.
"Where are you taking her?" Kya asks after she shushes Bumi's yelling.
Tenzin shrugs, "Well I was just going to take her for dinner," he said, looking at his sister, "Do… do you think that would be a good first date?"
Finally it's Kya's turn to grin again, "I think that's fairly acceptable. Now go and get her!" She says, walking all the way into the room and shooing Tenzin and Bumi out. She stands at the top of the stairs with Bumi and watches as Tenzin climbs down and out the front door.
Bumi looks over at her, grinning, "You know what this means, right?"
Kya sighs, her shoulders sagging and she glances over at him, "That I need to do your chores for a month?"
"You got it!" he yells, winking at her, "Maybe next time you won't bet against your baby brother!"
When Tenzin finally arrived at the Bei Fong home he knocked timidly and waited anxiously. "Twinkle Toes junior, is that you?" He heard someone call through the door. He watched the large door swing open to reveal his parent's close friend Toph.
"Hello, Officer Bei Fong," he said, wanting to be formal for at least this occasion. He watched as she rolled her eyes though and shoo the formalities away.
"When have you ever called me that in your life, kid?"
Tenzin blushed, and was mildly happy she couldn't see it, "Never?" he offered, smiling sheepishly.
"Exactly." She stated, stepping back to let him through the door, "Lin! Tenzin is here!" Tenzin listened as he heard banging from the floor above, "What is she doing now…" Toph muttered to herself, walking partway up the stairs, "Lin?" she called again as Tenzin waited nervously.
They heard another crash, "Sorry! Coming!" Lin yelled, running out of her room and down the stairs past her mom, "Love you!" She said quickly, turning back to kiss her mom on the cheek before running the rest of the way down. "Ready?" She asked Tenzin, grinning at him madly. Before he could even answer her she was pulling him out the door. "So where are we going?"
Tenzin swallowed as he tried to keep up with the beautiful dark haired girl that pulled him along, "Pardon?" he mumbled a minute later once he realized she'd asked him something. His face turned to a scarlet red when he heard her giggle at him.
"I asked where we were going." She restated. She stopped where she was and waited for him to show her which way to continue walking.
"Uh," Tenzin muttered, coughing to clear his throat, "It's a new place downtown." He told her as he led the way to Republic City's main street.
"Really? What's it called?" She asks as she catches up to him, her footfalls matching his.
"Kuang's Cuisine," Tenzin said, looking over at her, "The restaurant is supposedly just going to be a small family business." Lin nodded and the two of them continued walking on their way.
It was obvious that Lin felt completely comfortable in Tenzin's presence, but the case for him was much different. The confident girl made Tenzin feel awkward, and extremely nervous, which in most cases was rare for the young airbender.
"You okay Tenzin?" She asked, laughing as he was staring off into space and seeming to not hear anything she said to him.
"hmm?" He mumbled, blushing scarlet once more, "Sorry, just… thinking."
Lin raises her eyebrows as they walk up to the small scale restaurant, "About?" she asked naturally.
His blush doesn't fade, "About… uh," he said. Tenzin, whenever you take a girl out… be honest to her, Kya's voice rings in his head after she had a nasty break up. "Honestly?" he mumbled, looking at the earth bending girl and then down towards the ground, "About how nervous I am around you."
Lin blinks, stopping in her tracks. She tilts her head at him a bit, her long dark hair spilling off of her shoulder, "Really?" she asks, quite confused. "Why do I make you nervous?"
"I-I don't know. I just never know what to say or how to act around you…"
Lin's partial frown lit up into a soft smile, "Just act like yourself, Tenz!" She muttered, rolling her eyes in a playful way, "Try not to be too nervous around me, okay? I'm no one special."
Tenzin could not help but think how wrong she was. Lin was special; especially to him. She was the second person ever to master metal bending, she was sweet to everyone she knew, and she loved helping people. Not only that, but she had always stuck up for Tenzin when they had been little. He would be teased constantly; by his brother and sister, by Zuko and Mai's daughter, and all the other kids that would come by. They'd tease the poor air bending child about silly things, but Lin had always been there to stick up for him.
"Tenzin?" Lin muttered, nudging him slightly, "You're doing it again… Staring off into space and ignoring me?"
Tenzin laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck and smiling helplessly, "Sorry?"
She just laughed and repeated herself one last time for him, "I said are we going in?"
"Of course!" he opened the door for her, just like his sister had taught him to do for girls, and followed in after her. They got a table for two and were seated in a small window booth.
After they sat down and began to chat Tenzin slowly felt more and more comfortable around her. They spoke of pointless things, made jokes about things they did as kids; really just talked about anything. By the end of the date Tenzin noticed how much he was talking and how much Lin was listening. And he found it utterly amazing. He had never told one person so much about pointless things before. Majority of all his conversations had a purpose, a reason. But with Lin he felt as though he could be his real self.
Finally, smiling goofily to himself, he thought, She really is special.