Disclaimer: I own nothing.
KyaxBumi
It was no secret amongst those closest to the Avatar family that Kya and Bumi acted a lot like their father when he was little. The twinkle or glint they got in their eyes sometimes was a bit too telling and brought back memories...
But Aang and Katara, Tenzin, the Air Acolytes, and the head of the White Lotus sentries (and sometimes, in extreme cases, Toph) knew how well they fed off each other. In spite the fact that two years separated them, they were practically twins. And it wasn't just because they looked pretty similar—because even though they really looked like people from their mother's side of the family, Kya's skin was bit darker from the time she spent outside and she was constantly changing her hair color—but in shared, rebellious, mischievous thoughts. And they were fully aware of this.
So, it was pretty hard for them to know if the reason they had decided to sneak off the island and head into Republic City was because the nineteen-year-old sentry that knowingly (and terribly) flirted with seventeen-year-old Kya sometimes had mentioned to her how he knew her favorite jazz group was playing at this real cool speakeasy and he wished he was able to take her, or if Bumi kept having to hear the guy complain to his friends about how he wished he could take his sister and decided that it sounded like a good idea.
Either way, Kya's favorite jazz band was playing at a speakeasy, and apparently, she didn't have to pretend to be older to get inside, only find it. So, she was going—only not with that guy.
And Bumi thought that it sounded like fun; it sounded like an new type of adventure, a challenge. He hadn't had one in awhile. His eavesdropping actually enabled him to know where said speakeasy was and he could definitely pass for seventeen, so he was going, too. Tenzin was spending the weekend with Dad and the other Air Acolytes to make a sand mandala, so there was no other fun to be had.
And so, the two made arrangements to arrive at the docks separately the night of the show, when the moonlight was the brightest thing in the sky.
Kya thought her heart was going to climb out of her throat when she heard footsteps, but quickly calmed at seeing her younger brother's frame in the moonlight. "Get down!"She hissed. Her eyes rolled as he ducked slightly. "What is that?" she whispered, pointing confusedly at the thin, black coil she saw resting on his shoulder. She had been crouching on the steps that led to the ferry's dock, her navy blue dress stretched tautly over her thighs and its hem bunched in her fist. Her free hand was moving in curves, bending the water to make sure the extra lifeboat she was "borrowing" didn't bob and hit against the stone wall too strongly. Two pairs of shoes, an old pair of slippers and her heels, were behind her.
He shrugged and then gave a wide, cocky grin like what he was carrying was no big deal. "Cables. Had to sneak over the wall somehow, and they were actually strong enough to actually get me over. " He barely crouched down, not wanting to mess up his own outfit, the dark blue dress shirt and black slacks and white handkerchief that peeked outside of his pocket—his fashion reflecting the fact that because he wasn't a bender but an inventor, and he could dress in whatever colors he wanted.
"How are you going to hide that?"
"I'm storing it inside the boat. The boat that we're sneaking out of, that one right there." He stared at her, or more specifically, her hair. "A wig?"
"Yeah. If I had actually gone back to brown for this, Mom would've been asking me a bunch of questions. Besides, I won't be noticed easily." It was true. Kya, inspired by Uncle Sokka's old stories about Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe, had dyed her hair accordingly. The white hairs on her head were officially the second most noticable thing walking around the island. (Tenzin's was the first.)
"True." He grabbed at his own hair, combing and smoothing the thick, tangled mess with his fingers and tied it back with a rubberband. "Okay. Let's go and try not caught."
After what had felt like forever, they had finally climbed into the boat and pushed off the dock, their eyes glued to the watch tower to better make sure they were going to get away with this.
Another fifteen minutes, and Kya had finally gotten the boat far way from where they could've been seen and bent the water at her full potential.
And after the last five minutes, the Waterbender had reached the other dock, where they were building the Probending Arena Dad liked to read about in curious wonder and their little brother criticized in short patience.
They ambled out, Kya dropping her dress hem down to reach the tops of her slippers. "Been meaning to ask. Is that Mom's dress?"
"I'm not answering that."
He chuckled. "Fair enough."
Their steps were bold and sure as they neared the shopping district and headed down a particular set of stairs and wove through small alleyways behind other restaurants until finally stopping at a thick metal door. And that was really the hardest part in getting to the speakeasy because the moment Kya threw her slippers to the side and put on her heels, and Bumi knocked on the door and gave the pair of eyes on the other side an expectant and impatient look of his own, the door opened and they walked inside.
The place was a lot like the places they accompanied their father to whenever he had a fancy meeting and knew his guest wasn't a vegetarian, except not as classy (although someone was trying with the wallpaper and ceilings covered in what was possibly likely fake gold leaf and dotted with hanging and low-lit chandeliers). Bumi immediately weaved his way through the bar, which was much more brightly-lit than the rest of the speakeasy and was filled with just about every kind of liquor they had ever heard of (and some they hadn't) that jutted out to greet them. And at the back wall, covered with what looked like stage curtains, was the show.
Bumi grabbed his older sister's hand and weaved them through the fringe crowd and the strong smells of food and sweet-smelling cigarettes towards a free stool at the bar counter. He climbed into the seat, got comfortable, and looked over at her. "Go on. I'll be here watching from not there." Besides, from where he was sitting, he could actually see the singer—she was cute.
Smirking, she did just that, dodging the guys that gripped their cups full of the booze that fell to the hardwood floor, the girls wearing perfume that clung to their clothes and skin heavily, and the couples that were pressed close together and moving, dancing, in tight circles. The group was sounding better than she had been imagining they'd be all week, the band playing one of her favorite records but more loosely, the cadence of the drum, guitar chords, and percussion notes slightly different than what she was used to hearing. And the singer took the front, dressed in a clingy, gold-sequined dress and really tall shoes, her hands gripping the mic stand. Her fishtail braid whipped behind her. She was at the Waterbender's favorite part, when she sang about how it was impossible that she was only here to serve her lover's needs, and Kya stood transfixed, watching the singer feel the words, the girl's eyes closed and her lipstick and eye-makeup dark in the light.
Until something—or someone—suddenly caught her eye and made her literally jump back in fear.
It didn't help that that someone noticed the movement and slowly flashed her a smile.
"Bumi!" She said tight-lipped as she made her way back to the bar and saw her brother saddled with a drink. "He's here!"
His eyebrow rose. "Who?"
"That guard that's always flirting with me!"
"That guy?"
"Yeah!"
His face dropped. "You're joking."
She flashed him her I'm-Not-Joking Look. "He saw me."
He cussed.
"Where? … Did he recognize you?"
"I don't know! I ran away to find you!"
The fifteen-year-old straightened up to survey the crowd. "He did—he's walking over here." And it was true, that guy was parting the thin gaps of bodies to make their way over to them. "Okay. Chill and um, just, um, roll with it? We're not the island, so he can't really do anything."
That piece of advice was entirely too calm for her to handle. "What?" She was baffled at his being so nonchalant.
"If we leave, he might get suspicious and he might try to follow you—you know that guy's kinda desperate. But seriously, if we stay, he can't do anything."
They were The Avatar's children—he could possibly do something! Her eyes narrowed at his glass. "Is that alcohol?"
"Is that really Mom's dress—her favorite, and really expensive dress?"
"...That's not the same—"
"Excuse me." Brother and sister looked up to see the object of their horror standing in front of them, dressed in a white dress shirt, tie, and jet-black suit. It was definitely him, the same jawline, brown eyes, nose, ears, and haircut. "I was wondering if I could get you a drink?" He pointed to the bottles lined up behind the bartender and the mirror where they all could see each other.
Wide-eyed, she looked over at her brother, wondering why exactly they weren't being dragged back to Air Temple Island. It wasn't like they looked—
"Your hair." Bumi mouthed, pointing to his shoulder.
Her fingers touched the synthetic strands of her wig. Oh yeah...
"Just go."
She sighed. Apparently, somebody was going to have to be thinking clearly for the both of them.
"Okay. Sure, um, you can just choose for me—as long as it isn't too strong."
Drink clenched in hand, she allowed him to guide her towards the stage again. The crowd had already applauded the end of the first song and the band was already moving on to the next one, the opening going on a bit longer than usual as the singer took a few sips of water and fanned herself. She made a little comment about wishing she could feel a vent and a few people chuckled while one whistled. But eventually, her voice rang out, scatting in time to the saxophone.
Most of the people around them were either focused on the stage or dancing around in circles again. She jumped up when she felt fingertips pressed on her back, but didn't turn to look at him. He was pretty close now and she needed to think of a plan that got her away from him and didn't let him get caught.
"Sorry about that...Somebody just bumped into me...Your drink didn't spill though, right?"
"No."
"Okay, great...because you look really nice." He smiled, trying to save the moment.
"Thanks." Apparently, he wasn't so terrible at flirting outside of his job. At least he was direct...She took a swig of her drink, tasting the liquor and avoiding conversation and getting bumped into a couple comprised of a guy that was overconfident yet sloppy in his dance and a girl tipsy enough not to care about where she was flailing.
"Do you want to dance?"
"Sure." He was just tall enough that she wasn't going to be face-to-face with him exactly, just have her ear against the lapels of his suit jacket, the drink in her in the air beside his shoulder. They began a tight, yet fluid, sway, rotating in a circle.
He was a really good dancer apparently. And he smelled really nice.
The song came to its end, the lead singer clapping her hands towards the bands.
He finished applauding and turned to her. "They're great, right?"
"Yeah."
"So are you."
"...Thanks."
"...So, do you come to shows here a lot?"
"No. This is my first time."
"I come here sometimes, but usually not on this night. I can't because of work."
"Oh...where?"
"Uh, a restaurant on the other side of the district. Cooking."
What? "Really? Every Friday?"
"Yeah, but I had to call out tonight—I love this band."
'Band'?...Not 'group'?
She pulled back and stared at him, her face twisted in confusion. It was the same guy—she saw him all the time, so why was he coming up with this backstory? "...What is this?"
"Uh, what do you mean?" He looked at her half-full glass. "The drink?"
"No. Not the drink. This story about you being a cook?"
"...I am a cook."
"No, you're not; you're a sentry that works on Air Temple Island. You try to flirt with me all the time." She stepped back now, bumping into a group of girls standing around and not really caring about the dirty looks she was receiving from them.
"No, I work at The Last Dragon and I have never seen you before. Are you a lightweight or something?"
"No, I'm.." Her face started blazing, not sure if of the confusing situation and embarrassed. "You're Lin."
He suddenly started laughing as if something dawned on him. ""Lin? No, I'm Ji. Lin's my brother."
"Brother?"
"We're twins."
Twins? Twins?
"We gotta go." That was Bumi brushing past the thinning crowd and coming up to his sister and the sentry guard. "Kya, seriously—we gotta go."
"Kya? From...the island? ...You're, you two are..."
"Go? Why?"
"BY ORDER OF THE REPUBLIC CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT, YOU ARE ALL UNDER ARREST FOR TRESPASSING, UNLAWFUL GATHERING IN A PLACE OF BUSINESS AFTERHOURS, AND THE SELLING OF LIQUOR WITHOUT A LICENSE!"
The crowd immediately began to disburse, some people trying to fight their way outside, others running around in a panic, and a few more trying to hide. Kya and Bumi were part of the group that did the last one.
"What are we gonna do?"
Two pairs of blue eyes scanned the place. Bumi saw the police start to file inside, leaving the door unguarded, and Kya saw a few drinks fall. Her hand swiped, bending the water right where a few officers were running. She tried not to cringe as she saw them slip and fall—after all, she knew a lot of people from the department.
Bumi grabbed at his sister's hand and pulled. "Let's go." Ducking and slipping through the bodies mashing into them, he maneuvered them towards the front, around the corner they came, down the alley...and into the very people they were trying to avoid.
They squinted at the light being trained on their faces.
"Freeze!"
They tried staring around them to see another opening they could use. There weren't any.
"Freeze!"
They had gotten caught red-handed in a lot of things to know that they were pretty much trapped at this point. They gave each other one of their looks and pretty much knew that escape was impossible.
"At least they don't know who we are yet." Bumi said. His sister gave no reply, just ran her hand through her hair.
"By order of the Republic City Police Department...wait a minute." The voice of whomever was holding the loudspeaker suddenly turned it off and used his own voice. "Kya? Bumi?" A voice called out to them.
The older sibling tried to stare past the light, trying to figure out how they had been found out, but suddenly her eyes widened in horror at what she saw: a thick lock of her own hair giving them away.
She stared at the white curl and groaned. "FU—"
Unlike everyone else who got caught, they didn't have to stand in a cell. Oh no, they had the privilege of waiting in a confession room, listening for word to be sent to Air Temple Island, and imagining the various ways their mom was going to skin them alive.
They didn't really spend a lot of time talking about what they would or wouldn't say when she arrived or discussing how "unfair" it was that they were both scheduled for 30 hours of community service. It was what came with being the rambunctious kids of the family for so long: they did what they did, they either got away with it or got in trouble, and reaped the benefits of the experience or the punishment in getting caught.
"She's going to kill you when she finds out you were drinking."
Bumi rolled his eyes. "That wasn't alcohol—it was club soda. When you came up to me all freaked out, I stayed cool because it was easier to be calm than freak out and bring attention to ourselves. Besides, you looked really cozy with that guard."
"It wasn't him. It was his brother. They're twins."
"Twins?"
She nodded, the smile already pulling at the corners of her mouth.
"Is he as bad as flirting with you as the one we know?"
Her laugh was more of an outburst. "No...no, I don't think so."
Twins.
I hope we meet Kya and Bumi at one point because I think they sound hilarious. Going off the idea that they're more rambunctious than their younger brother, I really wanted them and their personalities to play off one another. Enjoy.