A/N: Thank you everyone for your reviews! I really appreciate your feedback and insight, so keep it up! I've decided I want to write this story all from Tahno's perspective, since most of the fics I've read have centered on Korra's POV or it switches between the two. As I write I am realizing this is a very, very difficult thing. Let me know if it's working for you or not.

Also, I'm looking for a beta. I need someone who not just knows grammar and punctuation, but who will be a critical reader and keep an eye out for pacing issues, sentence flow problems and characterization. PM me if you're interested.

And now, on to chapter 2!


He's surrounded by thick dark water; it's crushing him and he keeps falling into its depth. He can't breathe so he moves his arms, but the water still presses against him. It fills his mouth, his lungs; this must be what drowning is like. Tahno twists and turns and tries to right himself, to find the surface and swim, but it's futile. He opens his mouth, desperate for air, and inhales…

He wakes up, coughing and panting and covered in sweat. It was just a dream. A nightmare. He's at home, in his bed, and the water is as immovable as ever. It takes a moment, but right after he opens his eyes, and right before the splitting headache of a hangover arrives, he almost remembers a pair of blue eyes and the feel of smooth, dark skin brushing against him. But then it's gone and he half-crawls to the bathroom in order to puke out whatever still might be sloshing in his stomach. The cold tiles feel nice against his skin and he struggles to remove his shirt, eager to feel the cool porcelain collide with as much of his body as it can. He lies there trying to pretend the way he's feeling – the pain of a hangover, coupled with the haziness of one still drunk from the day before – is a result of a party in the Wolfbats honor, celebrating their latest victory.

Only, he was never very good at pretending.

He closes his eyes, drifting back to sleep, unconsciousness, whatever will make him forget for a little while longer, however –

He's suddenly doused with ice cold water, and he bolts upright ready to bend at his assailant, but then he remembers…

"Tahno, you're awake!" Blue eyes appear in front of him and he blinks once, twice, just to make sure he's not having another dream.

"Korra?" he asks, "What are you doing here?"

"You… you don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

"Last night. We came back here and…"

Oh shit, he thinks. Please don't tell me we did and I don't remember.

"I told you to go to sleep and that I'd check on you in the morning." She looks at his blank face. "You really don't remember? You told me you'd be fine and to get the hell out."

Tahno sinks back down onto the tile. Oh, thank the spirits it wasn't that. He has no recollection of last night, just his pathetic words to the avatar, the humiliation of the police interrogation, and a bottle full of amber liquid.

"So then get the hell out," he groans.

"But I brought you breakfast." She produces a bag from behind her back. "Seaweed soup."

It's all Tahno can do to make it to the toilet before he starts dry heaving.

"T-Tahno?"

"Just leave," he ekes out in between heaves.

"But I –"

"Go!" he yells. His voice is scratchy and broken, not at all like she's used to hearing it. It scares her into compliance.

He doesn't watch her go; he keeps his head down, staring at the tile. Once he hears the door shut he gets shakily to his feet and sees it – the soup she left behind.

Tahno flushes it down the toilet.


Something like a day passes, maybe more than one, and it's not like he's sick of seeing the four walls of his room, exactly; most of the time he's just too drunk to notice them. Still, when he's good and half-sober, he decides to take a walk, and it's not because he's drunk all of his booze.

He doesn't know what time it is, only that it's night. And the very minute he steps outside it begins raining.

All those tiny raindrops that fall around him are just that – raindrops. Not weapons or tool or toys, just raindrops. Tahno half-heartedly lifts his fingers and tries not to scream when nothing happens. He can't be surrounded like this, taunted and ridiculed by the only thing that used to bring him comfort. Since that night at the arena, was it three days ago? Four? But since that night, he's stayed away from water as much as he could. Every time he comes in contact with it, or forces himself to drink it in between bottles of cheap liquor, he shudders and sighs and tries to pretend it doesn't bother him when he feels absolutely nothing.

But he's already outside and he's hungry and he will not let a little rain break him. It's pretty much force of habit that he ends up at the noodle shop and sits in the back just like he used to. He's alone, though. No teammates or tittering girls hanging off his arms. It's fine, he tells himself. He's just going to eat and leave and then wake up tomorrow with no memory of it.

A bowl of noodles appears on the table in front of him and he digs in, vehemently ignoring the pictures of himself on the wall behind him.

He's only about halfway through his dinner when he hears it – the unmistakable laugh of the Avatar. He looks up and spots her; she's sitting at the same table she did on the night they first met. She's with that earthbender too and Tahno wonders if they're dating. Bolin doesn't seem her type, but what does he know? It looks like they're having a good time

The Avatar slurps down her noodles in between chuckles, and then she stops smiling altogether. She catches Tahno's eye and it's not like that first night at all. Whereas before she was curious, undaunted; now she is pitying and timid. He watches her with disdain as she says something to Bolin. The earthbender quickly swivels in his seat to stare at Tahno, then quickly turns around again when he sees the ex-waterbender staring daggers right at him. Korra stands and Tahno's focus shifts to her; he grimaces when he sees her approaching.

"Hi, Tahno," she says carefully, as if she were approaching a wild hogmonkey.

"Avatar," he responds with what he hopes is an even, nonchalant tone.

"How are you?" she asks. Her voice is so kind, and so caring; it pisses Tahno off.

"I'm just fine, uhvatar."

"Good," she says brightly. "Mind if Bolin and I join you?" She smiles at him. He hates it.

"I was just leaving actually," he says.

Korra glances at his half-eaten bowl. "Really?"

"Yes, really," he tells her tersely, standing up and flipping a few coins onto the table. "Maybe some other time." He brushes past her and heads to the door. Bolin pointedly looks away as Tahno walks by his table; some things never change.

The rain has stopped by the time Tahno makes it out of the restaurant. It's a little foggy, and the streets are damp, but Tahno's glad to no longer feel the pressure of a thousand tiny water drops hitting his skin. After a few blocks he hears footsteps behind him, and he already knows who it is before he even turns around.

"Korra," he says. The footsteps stop abruptly. "I don't need you to follow me home. I'm not drunk." Much. "Unless…" His voice trails off, an unasked question hanging between them. But as always, the Avatar is a little slow on the uptake.

"Unless what?" she asks.

He turns to look at her, smirk firmly in place. "Unless you want to take me up on that offer?"

"What offer?"

"You remember," he grins. "The one for private lessons?"

Korra's blank for a moment, and then she remembers. "As if," she scoffs.

And now that they're back to this Tahno feels so much better. It's just like how things used to be – Tahno incorrigible, the Avatar indignant.

"You shouldn't be so quick to decline," Tahno says. "There are lots of things I can teach you." He slinks closer to her and his heart quickens – the thrill of intimidation. "Things your boyfriend can't."

"My boyfriend?" she asks.

"The earthbender from your team," he says. "What's his name?" He pretends to think for a moment. "Bolin?"

"He's not my boyfriend," Korra tells him. "He's just a friend."

"Oh?" Tahno raises his eyebrow. "Maybe you should tell him that."

"He knows," she says. "I told him that after –" She stops herself, looking alarmed.

"After what, uhvatar?"

"Nothing," she replies sharply. "Just go home, Tahno."

He smirks again, so unbelievably happy to have riled her up. "Good night, uhvatar." He turns on his heel and starts walking home.

He barely hears it when she mutters, "Good night, Tahno," behind him.