"Are you really upset about this?" Lin asked as she took her armor off after a long day of work. Bumi was sitting on her bed watching her.

"Yes, I am," the Commander replied as crossed his arms and pouted.

As she pulled on a loose shirt, the Police Chief turned to him and said, "You know I was joking."

"Well excuse me if I don't find being called a 'man-whore' funny," he snapped.

Lin rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on Bumi, you're the who's always bragging about his exploits." She sat down next to him. "Excuse me for putting a label on it."

Bumi stood up and turned to her. "Yeah? Well how would you feel if I called you a whore?"

"How would you feel if I bragged about how many people I've had sex with?"

"How many people have you had sex with?" Bumi asked, his eyes suddenly going wide.

"See?" Lin said, pointing at him. "There you go. All I had to do was suggest that I've slept with a lot of people and you freaked out."

He dropped his arms and stood there awkwardly. "Yeah, well… It's just weird to think about."

"It's weird for me too, but for some reason guys are allowed to brag while women are supposed to be ashamed."

"Hmph."

Lin threw her hands up. "Whatever. Come on, are we going out or what?"

She went downstairs, Bumi following close behind. As she reached for a jacket Lin noticed that he was still looking at her oddly.

"What's the matter? Someone let the air out of your ship?"

He leaned against a wall and raised an eyebrow, looking her up and down as he asked, "How many people have you slept with?"

The metalbender grimaced and asked, "Why do you care?"

"I'm curious."

Lin crossed her arms over her chest. "Alright, I'll tell you… If you tell me yours first."

Bumi looked at her for a minute before saying, "Nope."

"What? Why?"

"Nope," the Commander said, ducking into the kitchen.

"Bumi!"

Lin followed her boyfriend and found him sitting at the table, twiddling his thumbs. She walked over and sat down. "Honestly, what's gotten into you?"

"Nope." He buried his head in his arms.

Lin shut her eyes, really not in the mood for this. But she was gonna put up with it because relationships and work and love and all that crap. She opened her eyes and looked at her pitiful partner. She dug down, located her sympathy, and rested a hand on his head.

"Sweetie…" Even after six months that word felt weird coming out of her mouth. "Are you embarrassed?"

Bumi shrugged without raising his head.

Lin pulled her hand away and thought for a moment. From his place in his arms, he heard her get up, get something out of a drawer, and then come back.

"How about this?" she said as she shoved a paper under his arm. "You write yours and I'll write down mine. Then we can...talk...about it."

Bumi raised his head and looked at her suspiciously. "And you won't judge me?"

"Bumi, I once walked in on you while you were drunk, yelling at the radio, dressed in nothing but your Navy coat with noodles stuck in your beard. I think it's safe to say we're past the judgement stage."

The Commander finally let a little smile come to his face which Lin returned.

"Alright," he said, fully sitting up. "But keep in mind, I was often at sea for long periods of time and-."

"Yeah, I got it," Lin said, holding up a hand to tell him to shut it.

The two took a minute to think before writing down their numbers, then swapped papers.

"Whoa," Bumi said, his eyes blowing wide.

"Whoa is right. This," Lin said, "is what you were afraid to tell me?"

"What?" Bumi looked up, confused.

"This isn't bad at all. I mean, you always made it sound like you slept with half the Earth Kingdom."

"So you're okay with this? You don't think I'm a man-whore?"

Lin shook her head. "Honey, I'm fine. What did you think I would do, get jealous?"

"No. I thought you'd think less of me." He scratched at a nonexistent spot on the table. "I mean, sure, guys act like it makes them so manly and great but...there's a limit. There's definitely a limit."

Lin put a hand on top of his and their eyes met. In the most sincere of voices she said, "Honey, you're fine. And even if it was twice this number, I'd still be fine."

At last, he broke into his full-blown manic grin and zealously kissed her fingers and forehead. "You're gold you know that, Linny? Pure gold."

"I know," she said standing up, "now can we go? I'm starving."

As she started for the door she felt Bumi still gripping her hand. "Wait," he said, "we didn't talk about your number."

"What about my number?"

"Three? It's just so low," he said, standing up. "I mean, why's that? A woman like you could get a lot more than that; I mean look at you." He gestured towards her general self. "Have you looked in the mirror lately?"

"Yes actually," she said, crossing her arms. "And I saw someone who's too busy to concern herself with any kind of romantic relationship unless it really means something. Unless she loves them."

"Well yeah but… Oh...you mean…?"

Lin nodded, enjoying the look on Bumi's face as he caught on. "Uh huh."

Bumi considered this. "You don't say that much."

"Yeah, but when I say I mean it."

The grin made another appearance, accompanied by the classic no-room-for-air bear hug. "I love you too," he said, happily.

"Too much!" Lin gasped for breath until he let go. The two shared a smile before Lin said, "So, how about we grab a bite and then come back here?"

Bumi stroked his beard. "By "coming back here", would you be suggesting the possible future occurrence of 'exploits' as you so put it?"

"Why yes, I am," Lin said, pulling on a jacket. "And what do you say to that?"

"I say we'd better get going. You know how hard it is to hit the sack on a full stomach; we need to plan for digestion time."

"Oh, but you are so romantic, Commander."

"Save the compliments for later, Chief," he said, dragging her out the door.

"By the way," he asked later, at dinner. "You said you only do it with guys you're in love with, so that makes three guys you've loved."

"And Tenzin says you're terrible at math," Lin deadpanned.

"Ha ha," Bumi returned. "Speaking of Mr. No Fun, I know he's number one. Which is kind of gross now that I think about it."

"Trust me," she said, "you don't want to think about it."

Bumi sat there for a minute before shuddering. "Anyway… There's also yours truly, obviously. And of course I'm your favorite. But then there's Number Three. Who's that?"

Lin downed her drink and then went straight to slurping her noodles without answering.

"Lin?"

The woman looked up to see a scruffy eyebrow being raised at her. So she said, "Does it matter?"

"Well, I guess not, but-."

"Bumi, I'm tired of talking about other people we've been with. Can we please talk about us?"

The wild man recognized that she was avoiding the question, but for the sake of the evening decided to let it slide. So he conceded and then asked her the standard, "How was your day? I think I asked that earlier but then the man-whore thing happened and we got side-tracked."

Lin nodded. "Actually, my day was pretty good."

"What was your favorite part?" Bumi loved it when they asked each other this - the answer could be really surprising sometimes.

Without missing a beat she replied, "Coming home."

"And why is that your favorite?"

"Because when I got home I found you there, waiting for me."

"Funny, that's my favorite part too."

They shared another grin and ate in silence for a few minutes.

"At least," Bumi added, "it's my favorite part up to now. Things may be different later."

"May be? Why, I'm surprised at you Commander. One would think you'd already have put that part down as your favorite."

"Oh, honestly Lin, is that the sort of person you think I am?" With much dramatic flair, pulled his hand away and stuck his nose in the air. "Some sort of cheap floozy?"

"No, of course not."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, you ordered the most expensive thing on the menu so that makes you a very expensive floozy."

He narrowed his eyes at her for hijacking his joke. "I don't like you."

"Yeah, but you love me," she pointed out.

"And you love me too," he said, proudly. "And I have the bite marks to prove it."

FORESHADOWING! DUN DUN DUN! Unfortunately foreshadowing made this chapter a bitch to try to end. Blah. Anyways, this chapter came to me when someone on tumblr pointed out that Bumi probably got around a lot back in the day, and I thought "Yep, I could see that." Of course, 'a lot' is all perspective. As for the shade thrown by Lin, I shall come back to that in a later, more dramatic chapter.

To TheEvilMelonLord: No worries, pal. I know my limits. But thanks for the concern!

To Vanessa Masters: I shall PM you! (When I find time…)

And yeah, it's nice to be back. I missed the adrenaline you get when a review notice pops up in your e-mail. So, I hope you enjoy this, and again, I'll work on making it regular. And tomorrow's Friday, so I can tell Satan I won't have to sell my soul after all! (At least not yet...)