"So... does Tenzin know yet?" Mako asked quietly, breaking the uncomfortable silence.
Bolin, Mako, and Kai were sitting on the steps outside the ceremonial room where Jinora was getting her tattoos. Though according to tradition, non-family members weren't allowed to see Jinora's tattoos until tomorrow when her official ceremony would take place, the three figured that they could at least be ready to cheer her on after she received them.
They were also accompanied by the rest of the harmonic convergence airbenders who apparently had the same idea, some of whom were holding up "CONGRATS" signs from the other side of the steps. The three "brothers" (as Bolin states) were secluded enough from the rest of the group that they could talk quietly without being overheard.
Korra and Asami were both not present. The former was still recovering from the battle with Zaheer, and the latter was assisting her through it. Though both promised that they'd be here tomorrow for Jinora's official ceremony.
"Know about what?" asked Kai, looking at the older boy.
Bolin laughed, shrugging a heavy arm over Kai's shoulders. "Don't play dumb, Kai," he admonished, "You and Jinora! Jinora and you! As your big brothers, you're obligated to spill the beans about this kinda stuff!"
Mako sighed moodily. "We're not his big brothers," he said wearily. "And he's not obligated to 'spill the beans.'"
Bolin jabbed a thumb at him in accusation. "You're the one who asked in the first place, big bro."
Another sigh escaped him. "I was just curious as to why Tenzin hadn't killed him yet," he said by way of explanation, "I figured that Tenzin wouldn't take too kindly to his daughter dating a thief."
Kai immediately blushed scarlet, which was impressive given his dark complexion. "Jinora and I are not dating!" he exclaimed, his voice rising in octaves. "There's nothing going on between us."
Bolin looked unconvinced. "So, let me get this straight, there are absolutely zero feelings between you and Master Tezin's oldest daughter, Jinora?"
"Nope. Not at all," said Kai a little too emphatically to one convincing.
Mako let out a snort at the declaration. "Oh, well if that's the case, I know this great kid, Skoochy, I can introduce to Jinora if you really don't like her—"
"No!" exclaimed Kai before he clapped a hand over his mouth. From the other side of the steps, a few of the other airbenders began staring at him after the loud declaration. "Okay, fine, fine — I admit it! I think I like her, but..."
Bolin raised a brow. "But what?"
"Girls are confusing!" groaned Kai, slapping his forehead with his hand. By now, all of the other airbenders were staring at him, listening eagerly to Kai bellow out the grievances that happened to include a rumored relationship between him and the soon-to-be youngest airbending master.
"Tell me about it," Mako muttered.
"I mean, she kissed my cheek that one time, but she also kisses her bison's cheek so that doesn't mean anything! And then she looked happy whenever she found out I wasn't dead, but that's a pretty low bar," ranted Kai before letting out a long sigh, oblivious to the giggles that the eavesdropping airbenders were emitting, "I dunno, girls are just... confusing."
Bolin shook his head. "Nah, girls aren't confusing once you figure 'em out," he said with an air of confidence.
Mako let out another snort and rolled his eyes. "Right, and this is coming from the guy who nearly got married to a crazy, goth Ice Princess whose father was bent on destroying the entire world?"
The earthbender scowled. "Okay, that girl was confusing — but normal girls like Jionra aren't. Normal girls like it when guys are bold," he paused to flex his biceps, "and confident. You just gotta go up to her and walk like this," he stood before slouching his posture so that his neck was tilted back and his knees were slightly bent, "and then say: hey girl... you're hand looks heavy, want me to hold it for you? Or, if you're feeling extra bold, just say: your lips look lonely, would they like to meet mine?—"
"That's horrible advice!" yelled Mako, a vein in his forehead twitching. "And, also, Jinora's eleven!"
Kai, however, seemed intrigued with Bolin's advice. "You really think that would work?" he asked, an eager tone to his voice.
"Of course!" exclaimed Bolin at the same time Mako shouted, "Of course not!"
"Okay, listen, Kai," said Bolin, placing a hand on either side of the younger boy's shoulders, "Which one of us do you think is better at relationships? Me - who's dating the most amazing, wonderful girl in the world? Or Mako — who, by the way, managed to get with two girls way out of his league, one of them being the Avatar herself, only to screw things up with both of them?"
Kai didn't answer the question verbally, but the expression on his face made it clear who he picked: Bolin.
Mako seemed a little stung for a moment, before scoffing. "Whatever," said Mako, "you can listen to Bolin if you want, but don't say I didn't warn you."
Kai shrugged. "I'd at least like to hear what he has to say."
Bolin grinned smugly before rubbing his large hands together as if planning something. "Okay, listen up 'cuz this is what you've gotta do..."
One day later...
Jinora was almost positive that her smile was splitting her face from ear to ear. Her ceremony couldn't have gone better, and it was sweet of Bolin, Mako, and the other airbenders to cheer for her after she got her tattoos yesterday. A blush crossed her face as she thought of Kai's cheering face among the small crowd.
Kai.
To Jinora's growing distress, that name was flashing through her mind more and more frequently these days. Every time she saw him, she got this strange feeling in her stomach. Almost as if there were spirit bunnies hopping around inside of her and confuddling all of her normally rational thoughts. She often wondered if that was what love felt like. She had thought that she read enough romance novels to discern whether or not she had feelings for someone, but apparently, she was wrong.
Sighing, she cleared her mind of the troublesome boy and began focusing on picking moon peaches for tonight's dinner like her mother had asked her to. She plucked another moon peach, noting the pretty green of its leaves. They kinda reminded her of the color of Kai's eyes... He had really nice eyes...
She groaned, realizing that she was once again thinking of him.
Oh, spirits, that boy's really driving me crazy!
She reached down to grab another peach when Kai materialized by her side, making her gasp a little in surprise.
"Sorry, girl," he said, his voice sounding an entire octave lower than she remembered. "Didn't mean to startle you."
Jinora glanced up at him and noted the odd way that Kai was carrying himself. His posture was sort of hunched, his neck tilted back and his eyelids low over his eyes. His hands were in his pockets, and his hips jutted forward slightly with his knees bent.
"Uh- are you okay?" asked Jinora, cocking a brow at him.
He shrugged, scratching the back of his neck. "Yeah, it's chill," he said.
"Chill?" Jinora echoed, confused. It was the middle of summer, and even with her lack of hair, she was still warm. Well, maybe it's cooler in the Earth Kingdom this time of year... "Oh, well, I can get you a jacket if you want."
"Nah, it's chill," said Kai, moving his shoulders into a shrug once more.
Nodding vaguely, she turned back to the moon peach tree. "You want to help me pick some moon peaches for tonight's dinner?"
Kai looked momentarily stumped — as if he didn't know how to respond. It was almost as if he had previously scripted exactly what he was going to say to her, and now that she said something that wasn't part of the aforementioned script, he had no clue as to how to continue.
After a few long seconds, he blurted, "Yes" in a very robotic manner.
Before she could reach for the moon peach, though, Kai suddenly blurted out something very... odd.
"Your lips," he blurted, causing Jinora to stare at him. "Uh, they're very heavy — wait, no, I meant lonely! Yes, your lips are very lonely! Er, want me to hold them for you? And your hands are the heavy ones; you want them to meet mine?"
Jinora stared at him in bewilderment. "You want to hold my lips and meet my hands?"
Kai looked as if he had just realized his mistake. "No, no, no! I meant I want to hold your hands and meet your lips!"
Jinora immediately went scarlet. "What?" she demanded, taking a few steps back from the boy and preparing to turn tail and put as much distance as possible between her and the suddenly very creepy Kai.
Maybe her Dad was right when it came to boys being brainless.
"Wait! Don't go!" said a very embarrassed Kai, and she froze in place. He took his face into his hands, trying to scrub the embarrassed blush off his cheeks. "Look, I'm sorry," he mumbled into his hands, "I just... I've never had these kinds of feelings before, and I like you a lot, and I knew I shouldn't have listened to Bolin... I'm sorry."
Only five words registered in Jinora's mind: I like you a lot.
"You like me a lot?" she asked, eyes wide.
He scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Sorry about that too. Now wasn't the best time to tell you and—"
"Well," she said carefully, "That's good because I like you a lot too."
"You do?" Kai asked, taking his face out of his hands hopefully.
She nodded. Unable to meet his gaze, she instead stared at her shoes. "I do," she replied before standing on her tip-toes to peck his cheek.
"JINORA!"
"Yes, Daddy?" asked Jinora sweetly, grinning happily.
They both turned to see a red-faced Tenzin stomping his way over to them, and they also saw Mako and Bolin walking right behind him. Tenzin stopped a few feet away from them before looking over at Jinora with forced restraint.
"Your mother needs your help preparing dinner," he stated, using all his self-control to keep his expression neutral so as to not ruin his daughter's special day, "She sent me to go fetch you."
Jinora nodded, not wanting to test her luck, and collected her basket of moon peaches before following her father back to the house.
"Sorry, Kai!" said Bolin as soon as Tenzin was out of sight. "Mako and I kept a look-out for Tenzin like how we planned, but we couldn't stop him from coming over here."
Mako sighed — as if he couldn't believe that he got dragged into two eleven-year-olds almost non-existent love life. Had his life gotten so pathetic that his source of entertainment for the week was hiding in a bunch of bushes, trying to prevent a father from interrupting a kid declaring his crush for another kid? And how much more pathetic was it that he hadn't even managed to prevent the father from interrupting anyway?
Kai didn't look too upset about the interruption though. In fact, he was grinning ear to ear like a fool.
"Don't tell me Bolin's advice actually worked," Mako said in disbelief.
Kai shrugged, appearing to be in a trance. "Something like that," he murmured dreamily.
Bolin whooped with excitement, fist-pumping the air. "Wooh, baby!" he exclaimed, turning to Mako with a smug expression. "So who's the relationship expert now, huh?"
Mako clenched his jaw, summoning a small but very hot flame in the palm of his hand.
"Don't push it, Bolin."
A/N: A few weeks ago while I was trying to get to sleep, I had this idea about how Bolin would probably give Kai a bunch of silly relationship advice and pick up lines to use on Jinora. And once I got this little idea in my head, I became OBSESSED. Like, the I-made-fanart-for-this-idea-at-3-AM kind of obsessed. Also, I was searching for some Kainora fanart the other day, and I found Jinora/SKOOCHY instead...
SKOOCHY?! Seriously!? Ya'll, Skoochy is literally the Walmart version of Kai; my girl Jinora deserves so much better than Skoochy. Okay, well, enough ranting. Please let me know what ya'll think about this one-shot. As always, any criticism/feedback/suggestion is always welcome.