Summary: Lin loses a bet and has to pay up.


"I can't believe you managed to work in 'astrobleme'," Lin grumbled as they stepped through the doorway.

Tenzin smiled. "It's simply a matter of knowing who to talk to. Madam Gao's father was an amateur geologist and astronomer. He passed on his passions to her."

Lin hmmed and flicked the catch of her cloak's brooch. Tenzin caught the cloak before she could, and slipped it from her shoulders. He hung it in the entryway closet. After he removed and stored his cloak, they continued into the living area of their apartment.

Supporting herself on a chair, Lin unbuttoned and drew off her dress boots one-handed, emerald skirts hiked up and revealing each of her long legs in turn. When finished, she sighed. Her toes wriggled on the floorboards.

"Better?" asked Tenzin, having watched this production with fond appreciation.

"Much."

She reached for the pins holding her hair up, but paused when Tenzin interrupted with, "Allow me?"

He hastened to her and carefully pulled out the pins, laying them on a side table. Soon, her hair tumbled about her shoulders in soft waves.

"By our agreement, you owe me a forfeit, Lin," he remarked, brushing a lock from her face.

Lin huffed. "Yes, I guess I do." She raised a brow, looked up at him challengingly, and asked, "What would you like? Re-organize the bookshelves only by author? A promise not to mock you for a week? Dishes for two weeks?"

"No." Curling his right arm around her waist, Tenzin used his left to lift her hair clear of her neck so he could press a kiss just under her right ear. Lin gave a little gasp and leaned into him. Encouraged, he kissed her there twice more, enjoying the way her hands gripped at his clothing.

Into the shell of her ear, he murmured, "I was thinking of a forfeit of a more…intimate variety."

He pulled back a little, relishing the pink in her cheeks and the widening of her pupils. Lin swallowed, raised her chin with an air of determined nonchalance, and demanded, "Sex? That's your forfeit?"

She rolled her eyes. "Your choice, but considering I had planned on that already - it'll be a stupid choice."

With a shake of his head, Tenzin laced his fingers in her hair. "I know, love. Which is why I wasn't going to ask for sex itself."

"Then what?"

He kissed her on the lips. When Lin tried to deepen the kiss, he broke it which made her eyes narrow in annoyance. In recompense, Tenzin kissed her again, fleetingly.

"I want you to let me lead," he divulged.

"Let you lead?" she repeated, a furrow appearing.

"Yes, without you trying to speed things along by taking charge or jumping me," Tenzin explained further.

Lin retorted, "You've never complained." Her eyes snapped with fire.

"I'm only human, Lin. The man who could resist you when you're set upon moving things along in the bedroom is either senseless or one of those who prefer their own gender," replied Tenzin. His thumb smoothed the furrow on her brow before his hand slid to cup her cheek. "Trust me, love, I don't mind. It's actually rather flattering."

As Lin didn't mount a response, he continued, "I would merely like the chance to shift the balance in my favor. Of course, if you're not up to it…"

"Up to - I didn't -" Lin glared at him, fully aware of his tactic. Tenzin just smiled and waited. After a moment, she growled, "A forfeit is a forfeit. Fine."

"Sure?" Tenzin asked, even as his arm tightened around her and pulled them flush against one another. Lin met his eyes, her gaze searching, and then Tenzin felt her exhale, a shudder rippling through her.

"Yes," she breathed. Deliberately, she tilted her head to expose her throat to him. "I yield."

Heart roaring in his ears, heat rushing in his veins, Tenzin accepted her offer and kissed her pulse point. Raising his head, he captured her lips, his tongue immediately plundering her mouth. When Lin attempted to return the favor, he nipped gently at her bottom lip and she desisted, albeit with a pout.

"Don't pout, Lin," Tenzin chided. Disentangling himself from her, to her protest, he snagged her hands and started backing towards the bedroom. "I promise I'll take very good care of you."

"Uh-uh, and you're going to be a damned tease about it, I bet," replied Lin although she allowed him to tow her.

"If by teasing you mean I intend to take as much time as possible making love to you," said Tenzin. They entered their bedroom and Tenzin drew her into his arms again. Her slighter form trembled, the silk of her dress whispering against the linen of his robes. Nuzzling at her throat, Tenzin finished, "Then yes, I am going to be a 'damned tease'."

Seizing her lips once more, he swallowed her answering moan.


Korra tugged at her armbands. To the collected group, she whined, "This is going to be boring."

"You might as well get used to it," said Kya. She, Korra, Bumi, Tenzin, Pema, and Lin had gathered in a small antechamber off City Hall's main master of ceremonies had decided he wanted them to enter together, on cue, into the grand gala celebrating the anniversary of the end of the 100 Year War.

"Yeah," agreed Bumi, "You wouldn't believe how many of these things we had to go to growing up."

"After a while, we started inventing games to play," Kya said.

"Like what?" asked Korra.

"Oh…umm…like seeing what was the most outrageous rumor we could get circulated," Bumi said. "Once we managed to get half the room thinking the Air Nomads repainted the arrows on their bodies every day rather than them being tattoos."

"That was you two?" demanded Tenzin. He glared at his siblings. "Do you know how many people asked me have that question - or wanted to touch and see if the paint came off?"

Kya and Bumi sniggered. Lin's lips twitched yet she kept her expression otherwise the same, sternly aloof with a tinge of irritation.

"There's also the vocabulary game, where you pick a list of random, obscure words and try to work them into a conversation without it being ridiculous," said Kya. "We could play that one?"

"No!" exclaimed both Lin and Tenzin. Their eyes joined for a split second before focusing their attention anywhere but each other. Everyone else, on the other hand, stared at first one then the other.

"Why not?" asked Bumi, suspiciously. He squinted at Lin, but she had schooled her face to blankness. Turning on his brother, he noticed a red flush to Tenzin's ears and crown as well as a steady gaze at the wall. He grinned wickedly as an idea suggested itself.

"Did you two turn the vocabulary game into some sort of sex thing?" he sing-songed. That grabbed their attention. If looks could have killed, Bumi knew he would have been buried twice over. Since they couldn't, he merely continued to grin.

Pema's jaw dangled somewhere near the floor. Kya's eyes flitted from Tenzin to Lin and back, half-fascinated and half obviously not wanting to think too hard about her younger brother's sex life. Not knowing how to react, Korra just stared.

"I'll say that's a yes," Bumi declared gaily. "Next question - what kind of sex thing? Must have been good to have both of you squirming now."

"Bumi, shut up," snarled Lin.

"It's none of your business," Tenzin snapped.

"Yeah, so?" Bumi rocked on his heels. "I'm going to keep asking until you tell me - which means unless you want to risk going into that ballroom and having someone overhear -"

"For fuck's sake," growled Lin. "Loser paid a forfeit, that's all. Say another word about it and you'll be leaving this place in a body bag."

Bumi gulped. Apparently, Lin could be as threatening in flowing silver and black robes as in steel armor. He abruptly wondered if she'd adopted the habit of wearing concealed knives as her friend Ursa did. He decided not to test that notion.

When he remained silent, Lin nodded curtly and barked, "Good."

No one was brave enough to break the tension-packed silence that followed. Fortunately, the master of ceremonies fetched them shortly thereafter.


Note

Astrobleme: an erosional scar on the earth's surface, produced by the impact of a cosmic body, as a meteorite or asteroid