Thanks for the positive feedback, guys. It really makes my day! You guys ROCK like earthbenders.
When Korra returned later in the evening, she was surprised to find Tahno sprawled on her bed, staring up at the ceiling with a blank expression in his grey eyes.
"I thought you'd never come back," he drawled, shifting his gaze to meet hers. Korra took a seat on the edge of the hard mattress and pressed her palms against the thin blanket.
"Miss me, pretty boy?"
Tahno sat up, sliding his legs off the bed to mirror Korra's position.
"Let me go, Avatar. You have no right to hold me here."
Korra side-eyed him, folding her arms skeptically.
"Tahno, you tried to throw yourself into Yue Bay last night, in case you've forgotten."
The former Wolfbat glared at her, something in his eyes changing. They quickly shifted from a grey, placid sky to a storm-tossed sea.
"Last night was a mistake," he retorted smoothly. "You have no idea how much I regret my actions. I wasn't thinking clearly."
Korra sighed. She knew that Tahno was right-she couldn't hold him here forever. Why did she want to, anyway? He had been nothing but cruel and arrogant since they had met in Narook's noodle shop. Their first encounter seemed like decades ago, though, and the broken boy seated beside her on the bed was nothing like his smooth-talking pro-bending counterpart.
"Fine. I'll take you back to Republic City…on the condition that you never try something as stupid as that again."
Tahno looked rumpled and depressed, still in his clothing from the night before, but he nodded and rose to follow the Avatar out into the chilly night.
Korra was surprised to see that Tahno lived in a modest apartment near the center of the city. She had expected something more…extravagant. Maybe a penthouse or mansion, but certainly not a three-room flat above a dingy noodle joint. Tahno's keys were currently somewhere near the bottom of the bay, so he jimmied a window and they climbed in that way. As Korra's eyes adjusted to the light in the dimly lit space, she noted that it was decorated in subtle, earthy tones. Brown, green, blue.
"You're from the swamplands, aren't you?" She asked, recalling a comment that Mako had made about Tahno 'going back to the swamp that he crawled out of'. The Wolfbat glanced over in surprise, then nodded.
"That's where I grew up, yes…but that was a long time ago."
It can't have been that long ago, Korra thought. Tahno was still a kid, for spirit's sake.
"Tell me about it," she prompted, but Tahno didn't respond. He was staring at a portrait on the mantle with a distant look in his eye, and Korra saw that it was a photograph of a family: a mother, a father, a horde of small children, all standing in front of a tumbledown shack surrounded by tall trees that dripped moss.
"Is that your family?" Korra inquired. Tahno, who obviously had forgotten about his visitor, jumped a little, then turned the photograph upside down with surprising force.
"That's none of your business, uh-vatar," he snapped. Korra shrugged, trying not to act taken aback. What was up with Tahno, anyway? One minute he was acting humbled and grateful, the next he was back to slicing away with razor-like speech.
"So this is it, huh? The home of Republic City's pro-bending sweetheart?" Korra stood in the middle of Tahno's living room and twirled around. Tahno sank onto the sofa and stared at the rug.
"Not anymore," he sighed. "No one wants to be seen with me now that I'm a disgrace to pro-bending."
Korra froze.
"Right," she said slowly. "Sorry, I kind of forgot…"
Tahno's eyes were locked on the glimmer of the moon on Yue Bay, his face cold and hard as a statue.
"No one wants me anymore, Avatar. I don't even want myself."
Korra thought that she had never seen anyone look quite so wounded, so broken. It was as if something inside Tahno had shattered when Amon took his bending, and now the jagged pieces were starting to slice away at him from the inside out. She took a seat beside him, taking his hand. His grip felt cool and dry, almost brittle.
"You're wrong, Tahno. I want you."
There was a long moment of silence, and then Tahno's lips twisted into a smirk.
"Took you long enough to admit it, uh-vatar."
Korra blushed furiously, heat creeping up her cheeks, and she turned to stare into the darkness.
"I didn't mean it like that…" she trailed off, glancing over at the man who used to turn her insides bitter with hatred. Back when she was more worried about the pro-bending finals than a faceoff with Amon. Back when she didn't spend every waking moment trying to fight a man whose face she had never even seen. Tahno was handsome, she thought, despite the obvious depression he had fallen into. But without his hair products and kohl-lined eyes, he looked vulnerable. And Korra liked that.
"You wouldn't understand, uh-vatar. You have the Airbenders, the Fire Ferrets, the Sato girl…for whatever unfathomable reason, they're loyal to you." Tahno paused, and Korra was certain that his eyes glimmered with unshed tears. "I have no one."
Something about the way that the moonlight fell across his face, the way that his grey eyes were shuttered against the world, made Korra's heart break a little. She leaned over and planted a chaste kiss on his lips.
"That's not true, pretty boy. You have me."
~barfs rainbow~ I'm sorry, guys, but I couldn't stop writing vulnerable!Tahno tonight. That and all the Tahnorra love that's flooding my tumblr dash is inspiring a boatload of feels. Hope this little tidbit can get y'all through a Saturday with no new episode. Hang in there, babes.