A/N: The slowly but all at once thing is a John Green quote. All the credit goes to him. I don't really like how this one turned out, kind of long and ramble and annoying. Still, I hope you guys enjoy.

Tenzin fell out of love the same way he entered it - slowly, than all at once.

There were, of course, little pieces of evidence that he no longer loved his long time girlfriend. Their conversations became about only Republic City politics. Their sex life all but died. He found himself making excuses to stay late with the Air Acolydes.

Then the moment of clarity. His best friend, no longer Lin Bei Fong but the sweet, young, too young Pema blurting out her feelings during a talk about Air Nomad food. His eyes inexplicably filled with tears. Happy tears.

The feel of her lips.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Still, he vividly remembers nights spent in another woman's arms.

Lin Bei Fong was cold to everyone else, but hot to his touch. She would crawl over him and come alive. The sarcastic note in her voice would disappear when she told him where to put his hands and when she ordered him with affection in her eyes to be a man and get down there already. Tenzin had never thought of himself as a sub, but Lin was a woman no one could dominate.

He still feels a little tug in his pants when he remembers how she announced her mastery of metalbending; with a flick of her wrists, he'd been bound to his four poster bed.

It was a good night.

Then, once they fell apart, spent, he would get food from the kitchen so they could lean against her bed frame and talk. Usually they discussed their days and jobs, but sometimes they'd remember their childhood.

The family trip that Tenzin fell off of Appa, and they discovered he was an airbender. When Bumi tried to be like Aunt Mai with throwing knives. In the end, Lin and Bumi had BOTH needed stitches.

Tenzin bringing her flowers when they were fifteen. Lin kissing him for the first time during a pro bending match when they were both sticky with sweat with throats hoarse from cheering. Racing through Republic City across metal cables and the blue sky.

Tenzin suspected that he'd loved her since they were young and she'd defended him from Kya's teasing. Maybe he'd realized it once Zuko's daughter had assumed they were dating, and he'd wondered why they weren't. Or maybe it was when she held his sweaty hand as decided whether or not to get his airbending tattoos.

His father had given him a hard time about that as they sat together, Aang slipping a needle through his son's flesh.

These memories had long lost their charm for Tenzin, however. They came with Lin tying he and Pema up with metal cords, screaming.

"You had to bring her, didn't you Tenzin? You had to complete my humiliation by telling me with the other woman on your arm!"

He- well, he hadn't exactly handled the situation too well. He could admit it.

It was just- well, the process had been going on for so long. He didn't expect her to be so surprised. So sad.

He'd expected the anger. He hadn't expected her to run off, tears welling in her eyes, leaving them dangling there.

That memory still haunted him sometimes. Lin Bei Fong had been his best friend. Now she may as well be a stranger.

Still, he never regretted leaving her. How could he? He was making new memories with Pema.

They spent long nights talking about Air Nomad culture, her eyes gleaming with happiness and fascination. His wife was a curious, charming woman, and she wanted to do everything she could. It was strange for Tenzin, being eighteen years older and having already seen much of the world.

They tramped through Republic City together as she danced through allies and darted through streets. Their love blossomed in the park, the sunlight glinting off of her hair as she gave food to the homeless and told him everything about her. Tenzin listened, fascinated, until she demanded he did the same.

Then Tenzin talked.

So did the town.

The gossip spread like a disease, creeping from parlor to parlor amongst the elite of the city.

"With an eighteen year old, and his father almost in the grave-"

"It's practically illegal!"

Pema never listened, nor did his family. Bumi and his uncle gave him thumbs ups when she wasn't looking. She and Kya had a friendly spar. (Tenzin was surprised at Pema's skill with a sword). He couldn't count the amount of people who had teased him about little airbenders in the future.

His parents loved her too, his father from his sick bed. Pema sat by him for long hours when Katara had to help negotiate peace treaties that Aang should have; Tenzin would never know what they talked about.

When the time came, Pema held him as he cried for a lost parent.

It didn't take much to complete the process of falling in love with her.

Pema, luring him to her room with a smile and a come hither look in her eyes, shoving him onto her bed. She crawled over him, looking victorious as she slid his hand onto her breast.

(Okay, so maybe Tenzin was a sub).