Chapter Text
The next morning dawned bright, the clouds of the night before long gone. Dazai woke early, the sounds from outside carrying through his opened window, and he grinned as he heard familiar voices. The clan was back.
He dressed quickly, tying his hair back in a low ponytail, and made his way outside, yawning and blinking as the morning sun hit his eyes. The Air Nomads were still arriving, a herd of air bison landing long enough for their passengers to disembark and take off their saddles and harnesses, then leaving to join the others at the base of the island. Fukuzawa and Karya were already down, as were their kids, and the brunette’s smile went wide. “Karya! Fukuzawa! Ranpo! Welcome back!” he called, waving at the group as he walked over.
“Osamu!” Karya smiled at her nephew. “It’s good to see you, lad. How’s the tournament going?”
“Quite well, actually. Although… we had to get a replacement firebender. Ryu’s arm got broken in the first match, and none of the healers there could fix it. Would you take a look at it?” Karya nodded, and Dazai continued. “The new guy’s actually really good. We’re in the finals tomorrow.”
“That’s wonderful, Dazai,” Fukuzawa said, his deep voice holding a note of pride. He hadn’t been thoroughly convinced by his nephew’s new obsession, but it seemed to be working out well. “Have you been keeping up with the chores?”
“Yes, Uncle. Even the greenhouse, and I’ve taken three bushels to the city. Chuuya actually helped with the last one- that’s the new guy’s name, by the way, Nakahara Chuuya- and we did it a little differently. He’s from there like Ryu and Atsu are, and I let him pick out a few families that really needed the help. I don’t think he knows that I know, though, not for sure.” Dazai had to pause for a second after that, and Karya and Ranpo grinned at him. It was really unusual for Dazai to be this enthusiastic about anything, and they looked at each other knowingly.
“So when do we get to meet this Chuuya? Is he here on the island?” Ranpo asked, and Dazai nodded.
As the others talked, Fukuzawa noticed a spirit attempting to get his attention from the entrance of the residence, and his eyes narrowed slightly as he saw exactly which one it was. “Karya,” he said, interrupting the flow of conversation, “I have something to attend to. If anyone needs me I’ll be in the temple.”
“Right.” The waterbender reached up to kiss her husband on the cheek, and he smiled down at her, then headed for his office. The spirit followed him a moment later.
The trio watched him go for a second, then went back to their conversation.
Chuuya stayed back, tucked behind a corner that let him hear everything that was going on without being seen. When he’d woken up, Arahabaki had been nowhere in his room, prompting him to search the spirit out. It wasn’t usually a good thing if the leopard-spirit disappeared.
The redhead had found him here, waiting patiently with his tail curled around his perfectly tucked in paws, definitely in view of the speakers if they cared to look, but with at least one place for him to hide. What was the spirit planning? When Arahabaki moved, stretching and lazily plodding out, the redhead followed him, or at least planned to.
When they got closer to Dazai and… Karya, if he remembered right, he heard his name mentioned, and couldn’t help stopping to see why. He understood it made sense for him to be discussed, given he was new and a temporary team member, but Chuuya couldn’t help wanting to know how he was talked about when he wasn’t there.
“Aunt Karya, can I talk to you for a moment? In private?” Dazai was almost… shy, as he asked that, and his aunt looked at him for a second, then nodded.
“Ranpo, would you finish getting everyone settled?” she asked the young man she and her husband had adopted years ago, and he nodded. Ranpo grinned at Dazai, then went back to the others and started directing people.
“Alright, lad, what do you want to ask?”
“Well…” Oh god, Dazai was blushing. “You told me once that the first time you met Fukuzawa you fell in love with him. How did you know?”
Now she really looked at him. “Is this about your new teammate? Nakahara, right?”
Dazai nodded. “He goes by Chuuya, but yes. I think…” He swallowed, then looked away, still blushing as he spoke. “I think I’m in love with him. In fact, I’m pretty sure I am. And I think he likes me, but… I don’t know. I’ve never felt anything like this. Karya, I took him up on the tower. Twice. And on Kika.”
“Oh my.” Karya wanted to laugh but bit it back as she saw just how serious he was. That was something. Not only had he never invited anyone up to his spot on the tower, he’d actually thrown a fit when a couple of the girls had tried to join him.
And to give him a ride on Kika…. “You really are serious about him, aren’t you? I never thought I’d see you trust anyone this fast, Osamu. He must be something special. Have you talked to him about it?”
“He is.” Dazai looked at her, finally, his eyes bright with something she’d never seen in them before, and her own softened. “He’s really special. And gorgeous, and smart, and strong… And we did talk. Last night. And I kissed him. A couple of times.”
Karya did chuckle at that. “Did you now? Ilya and her friends have been plotting for two straight months now to steal your first kiss. They’re going to be jealous when they find out.”
“Karya!” Now Dazai was really blushing, and his aunt laughed outright.
“So,” she asked, when her nephew’s cheeks had cooled a little, “what now? It must have gone fairly well, or we’d be having a different conversation.”
“It did. I’m not quite sure where we are right now. We both have secrets, and it’s making really being open with each other a little rough. I don’t… I mean, if he does stay and we get close, he’s going to find out eventually, isn’t he? I’ve gotten a lot better at controlling it, but sometimes…” Dazai looked up at his aunt, and she sighed as she saw the fear and self-hatred that always seemed to live in the back of his eyes. “I like him. I really like him, but if I hurt him I’ll never forgive myself. I’m scared, Karya.”
“Osamu, shhh. It’s okay. I know how you feel,” she replied, wrapping her arms around her nephew. “Yukichi helped me figure it out, didn’t he? Maybe your Chuuya can do the same for you. Love is a pretty powerful motivator, after all.”
Your Chuuya. “Yeah, I guess so.” He returned his aunt’s embrace. “Come on. Ryu’s probably up. We should fix his arm before Atsu comes looking for us.”
“Right.” The conversation turned to lighter topics after that as they headed for Ryuunosuke’s room.
“You must be the new guy. Chuuya, wasn’t it?”
Chuuya glanced over at the new voice - a raven had popped up by his side. He must have come with the nomads, because Chuuya hadn't seen him yet.
"Who are you?" Truthfully, the redhead was sort of glad for the distraction. He had a distinct feeling he wasn't supposed to have heard all, or rather, any, of that, and he didn't really know what to do about it.
“Ranpo. Edogawa Ranpo. Fukuzawa and Karya are my parents. Well, adopted parents,” the raven answered, green eyes slit open as he studied the newcomer. “Boring story. Anyway, I know what you overheard. I also know that your secrets aren’t as damning as you think they are. Well, one of them could be, but you haven’t figured that one out yet, have you?”
Ranpo grinned at Chuuya’s utterly confused expression, but his voice was sober. “It’s funny. I’ve known Dazai since he was twelve, and I never thought I’d ever see him trust someone as fast as he’s trusted you. He didn’t speak to anyone but Karya the first six months he traveled with us. Even now it’s like pulling teeth to get him to open up. So do us all a favor, okay? Don’t make him regret it. If the romantic side doesn’t work out, fine, but don’t break that trust. It won’t end well for anyone.”
Chuuya blinked for a moment, trying to parse through everything Ranpo had told him. It was kind of a lot, but a part of him warmed at the thought that maybe he was a bit special to the brunette. There wasn’t any other reason he could think of for Dazai to apparently … maybe not completely open up, but start to?
To be honest, it was also a bit intimidating, because he knew fuck all about this sort of thing. Chuuya couldn’t promise that he wouldn’t make him regret it, because there was always the potential for things to go wrong, especially when they were both kinda feeling their way through things.
“I can promise to do my best. I don’t want to mess this up, but I don’t really know what I’m doing. It’s easy to hurt someone, but if I hurt him, it won’t be because I tried to.” He eventually told him, fully intending it. The redhead had seen too many people fighting over hurts and things they could have worked out if they’d tried, even if he’d never gotten involved with the matters.
“That’s all I’m asking.” Ranpo’s eyes were fully open now, his gaze piercing as he studied Chuuya. “And honestly, no one ever really knows what they’re doing in this sort of situation. You’re a smart kid, and a survivor. You’ll figure it out. Just don’t let your paranoia get in the way.”
Something caught Ranpo’s attention then, and the grin returned. “Come on. They’re going to be a while, and breakfast is almost ready. If you want, I can tell you some embarrassing stories about Dazai while we wait.”
“Sure.” Chuuya grinned at the change of subject. Blackmail on Dazai sounded good, considering how little he knew of his teammate. Maybe he should ask Ryu if he had any…
In the back of his mind, though, the fire-bender was mulling over what Ranpo had told him. How could someone who had just met him know him so well? Or was he just pretending?
Ranpo smiled to himself as they walked. It was always interesting watching people trying to figure out how he knew what he did. It was simple, really. A finely honed talent for observation and years of learning what made people tick. And he could see what Dazai saw in Chuuya; not just his looks, although those were probably what had caught his eye. No, this one was a curious mix of passion and caution, the fire of his nature encased in a wall of earth and ice built from living on the streets, yet he craved the freedom of the air. Incredibly poetic and fitting, really.
He led the way in the dining area and they found seats at the end of one of the long tables. "So," he began as one of the cooks brought them plates, "Dazai stories. Where to begin…"
It was an hour or so later when Dazai came looking for Chuuya. Gin and Atsushi had brought them breakfast, and Karya was still working on Ryu’s arm. Broken bones were tricky, and this one had had a week to start healing before they got to it. Luckily it hadn’t set wrong. Still, it would be a few more hours before she was done, and they had practice.
It only took a moment to find him. And Ranpo. And Chuuya was laughing.
No, not just laughing. He was doubled over, clutching his ribs, and Ranpo was animatedly waving his hands as his words floated over to Dazai…
“So there we were, in the middle of a field, surrounded by an angry camera crew, four stuntmen, two actors, and the remains of what was apparently a very detailed mover set that was supposed to be on fire…”
Ranpo’s eyes caught his, and the raven smirked. /Payback for that boy in Ba Sing Se/, his eyes said, and he turned back to Chuuya.
Oh god.
Oh no.
Dazai’s cheeks went bright red, and he turned and fled.
*******************************************
“Welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen, to the final match of this year’s Pro Bending Tournament! It’s the Republic City Tiger Sharks vs the Capital City Tigerdillos, and boy has this been a heck of a road. Both teams were nearly undefeated in the regular season, and both have dominated in the tournament, despite the Tiger Sharks having to replace their firebender on short notice. This could be anybody’s game, folks, and I for one can’t wait to see how it plays out.”
Chuuya looked to his teammates as the announcer went on, a wide grin on his face.
“Showtime. Let’s kick their asses.”
Atsushi nodded, a grin on his face as well. Ryu gave them all a smile before kissing him on the cheek. His arm was mostly healed, but he’d be watching from the stands with Karya, Fukuzawa and the rest. Most of the Air Nomads had turned out, actually, and there was an entire section of the stands in orange and red.
Dazai grinned as well, although slightly less enthusiastically. Practice the day before had been… awkward, at least at first. It had taken Dazai a bit to get over his embarrassment. But he had- mostly- and they’d come up with a few strategies. Hopefully, they’d work.
They did, until they didn’t.
It was round three, and the score was 2-0 in their favor, but it’d been a hell of a fight. The Tigerdillos were fierce, and it was a combination of luck and skill that had kept Dazai and the others in the fight so far.
That luck ran out forty-five seconds in.
Tired and sore, the trio found themselves pushed back to zone three fairly quickly. And then-
Dazai came down wrong on his ankle, twisting it and dropping him to the floor. The other team’s waterbender hit him with a perfectly aimed jet and knocked him backwards and into the water.
Atsushi was next, fire and water hitting with a 1-2 punch that nearly knocked him unconscious.
Chuuya snarled as the brunette was knocked into the water, dodging one of the whips of water the opposite water bender threw at him. They had been doing so well.
When Atsushi was hit, Chuuya moved to the front, launching a combo that forced the team to switch their attention to him.
As the redhead dodged a jet of flame, he caught sight of an earth disk speeding toward his only teammate left on the field. The firebender didn't think when he reacted, just moved. Atsushi wasn't going to be able to block a move like that, not when he hadn't even looked up.
It isn’t often one discovers something that changes one’s life in an instant. Dazai had had a few of those moments in his eighteen years- the day he found out his parents had died in a storm, the day he discovered he had a natural ability he really didn’t want, the day Karya told him she was getting married and they were leaving the water tribe…
He hadn’t really planned on today being one of those days. But that was the thing, wasn’t it?
Dazai climbed out of the water, cursing under his breath. His ankle throbbed when he tried to put weight on it, and he muffled another curse and leaned against the side of the elevator as it rose. Atsushi was down, he was down, and Chuuya was good, but so were their opponents, and he resigned himself to losing this round and possibly the tournament. And then the elevator rose high enough that he could see the field, and time just… slowed.
A disk was headed straight for Atsushi’s head as the other lay half-dazed on the field. Dazai cringed, and Chuuya…
Moved.
In a way so familiar it was almost eerie.
It should be familiar, it was one of his moves. One he’d come up with, and had been drilling incessantly during practices for the past month or so. It was a split water jet, something a firebender never should have been able to duplicate. Hell, it would have been tricky for another waterbender. But, as he watched, water rose in front of Chuuya and split in three different directions- one knocked out the disk, and the other two pushed back their earth and firebenders.
The stadium was silent.
The referee was too stunned to even drop a penalty card, and the last few seconds of the match ran out.
In the stands, Arahabaki and Fukuzawa looked at each other, the cat spirit lifting one paw in ‘I told you so’ gesture, and the airbender nodded. “Well done,” he murmured, and the spirit preened.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the announcer said, his voice awestruck. “The Tiger Sharks have won the Pro Bending Tournament. But that’s not all. Nakahara, their firebender, just waterbent. ”
He was silent for a second, then swallowed and spoke again. “Folks, I never thought I’d see this. It hasn’t happened since Korra, in my grandfather’s day, but for all of you sitting at home listening to this; the Avatar lives. And he’s standing in the middle of our arena.”
A thousand households in Republic City stared at their radios and televisions in shock. Bars were silent, cars stopped on the street as their drivers were distracted, and even the spirits that lived near the portal felt the sudden upheaval.
In the Golden Demon, a mid-class brothel located just on the edge of the slums, Ozaki Kouyou looked up as one of her girls knocked emphatically on her door. “Come,” she said.
“Ozaki-san,” the girl said, awe and excitement in her voice and manner as she opened the door, “it’s Chuuya-kun. He’s…”
The girl stopped for a second. They were supposed to be working, not listening to the radio, but business was slow with the tournament on. “He’s on one of the pro-bending teams in the tournament. They just won, but there’s something else. You need to hear this.”
Kouyou looked exasperated, but she was secretly curious. Chuuya had grown up in her house, the son of one of her girls. His mother had died a few years ago and the boy had gotten tangled up in one of the local gangs. He’d left not long after, not wanting to be a burden. As if that would have even been the case.
They reached the room with the radio, and the stadium announcer was still talking.
“...a miracle tonight. In the last seconds of the tournament, Nakahara Chuuya, the Tiger Sharks’ firebender, used a waterbending move to defend his downed teammate. Fukuzawa Yukichi, one of the leaders of the Air Nation, is in attendance, and is currently in a discussion with both the team and several United Republic officials. It hasn’t been officially declared yet, but I know what we saw here, folks. Nakahara Chuuya is our new Avatar.”
Kouyou raised a hand to cover her mouth as she gasped. Chuuya, little Amelie’s Chuuya, was the Avatar? She’d had him under her roof for thirteen years and there’d never been a hint…
“Well that explains a lot.” The words came from Meilyn, one of her girls who was about Chuuya’s age and had been a good friend of his growing up.
“Explains what?” Kouyou asked.
“I never thought much of it,” the girl said, “there are a lot of benders in this town, and a lot of it could have just been proximity, but… things used to happen around him. I don’t think he knew he was doing it, but if he was really excited or angry or upset stuff would just, well, happen. Minor stuff- water rippling without a breeze, or pebbles rolling away. Things like that. Like I said, a lot of it could have just been proximity. It’s just the timing that was always odd.”
“Huh.” Kouyou’s look was thoughtful for a moment, but then she shook it off. It didn’t matter now. “Alright. Back to work, you lot.”
The girls grumbled but did as she said. Now that the tournament was over business would pick up again, and it was still early. Kouyou went back to her office and sat, lost in memories of the boy she once knew.
Good luck and godspeed, lad. You’ll need it.
**************
"And I'm saying a single move doesn't make him the Avatar!" The city official was red-faced and arrogant, and his counterpart snorted.
"Shut up, Yoki," he said. "You're just upset that your team lost the tournament. Don't think I don't know how much you had riding on the Tigerdillos. He waterbent. Not only did he use a second element, but he used a move we've never seen before. There's no way that was a fluke."
Dazai was only slightly upset as he listened to the argument. Yes, Chuuya had stolen the thunder of his new move, but what a way to do it. He was more concerned with his (teammate? Possible boyfriend? Friend, he hoped at least). It was a hell of a way to find something like this out. As it was, the redhead was sitting next to him, still staring at his hands like he didn't even recognize them. "Chuuya," he asked quietly, "are you okay?"
The firebender hadn’t been paying any attention to the conversation going on around and about him. His thoughts had been running rampant ever since the incident. He’d acted on instinct. He couldn’t let Atsushi get hurt, and fire wouldn’t have had enough mass to knock aside the disk, not unless he’d managed to concentrate it to the point where he’d need pinpoint precision to hit it.
Chuuya hadn’t seen Arahabaki since the beginning of the match - the spirit usually stayed on the sidelines so as to not get in the way, but questions pressed in whenever he was reminded of the spirit’s absence. It made him… lonely in a way that he hadn’t been in a long time.
When Dazai addressed him directly though, he blinked, looking up into concerned brown eyes. They didn’t make the questions immediately disappear, or things seem instantly better, but there was a soft concern in them that reminded the redhead of someone he had tried to leave behind.
Had she heard? What did she think? Did she approve, did she worry for him, was she glad she didn’t have to deal with it?
He doubted the last one quite heavily, even if he’d had to make a midnight escape, leaving behind only a letter. She wouldn’t have let him leave if he’d told her, but he couldn’t stay.
They may have been a different color, different shape, but they both held the same emotions sometimes.
The expression, the softness, the care, those eyes held for him … Chuuya felt tears sting his eyes, though he stubbornly held them back. There was no reason for him to start crying now, especially if he really was the Avatar.
Dazai saw them anyway, and something in him broke just a little. "Right," he murmured, and reached down to squeeze Chuuya's hand before turning to the rest of the table.
"This is all extremely entertaining, I'm sure," he said in a very bored voice. The blustering stopped, the officials turning to look at him in shock. Fukuzawa's eyes narrowed but he said nothing. "However, it really doesn't matter what you believe, does it? Chuuya's the Avatar. Deal with it. Meanwhile, we have an injured teammate to check up on, and I still haven't gotten my ankle looked at. So if you don't mind- or even if you do, I really don't care- we have other places to be."
He turned to his uncle, who was looking more bemused than anything, and nodded slightly. "We'll be in the infirmary."
Fukuzawa nodded back, and turned to the others. "He's correct, you know"
Yoki tried one last ploy. "Isn't the Avatar supposed to be an earthbender, though? That was the next one in the cycle."
"She was," Fukuzawa acknowledged calmly. "However, she was killed just before her sixteenth birthday. Unfortunately, we'd just identified her and her parents were unwilling to entrust her safety to our care. My fellow leaders and I decided to conceal that fact from the public eye in order to protect the next Avatar."
He looked at Chuuya, an apology in his eyes. "The Avatar has a deep connection to the spirit world. Because of that, some of the stronger ones can identify the Avatar on sight. I sent several on a long-term mission to find the next one, and one of them succeeded. He's been watching over Chuuya ever since."
Chuuya looked up at that, forgetting about the tears behind his eyes. So Arahabaki hadn’t even been by his side by choice? The one thing he thought might be a constant had only stuck around because of something he hadn’t even known about?
His temper flared then, eliminating his worry and fears, and he stood, the scrape of his chair sliding back forcing the conversation to a halt. The redhead glared around the table for a moment, extending a hand to the brunette next to him to help Dazai stand. “Since we apparently don’t need to be here, we won’t be.”
Dazai studied Chuuya's eyes for a second before taking his hand. He winced as he put his weight on the bad ankle for a second. Chuuya slid an arm around his waist, and Dazai leaned on him gratefully as they left the room. He heard the voices start up again as the door closed but ignored them, instead focusing on the man beside him.
So that was what he'd been hiding. Figures.
"You know," he said, his casual tone not quite hiding the pain in his voice, "if I've learned anything in the past six years, it's that you can't force a spirit to do anything. Fukuzawa can ask them for help, but if they don't want to nothing we do will change their minds. Whichever one was hanging out with you was there because he wanted to be."
“Except that he probably asked them to watch over me. They don’t have to like me to stay, not if they like whoever asked.” Chuuya replied, still angry but doing his best to support Dazai as they walked. “But if they knew already, why wouldn’t they do anything about it if apparently my life was at stake? Not like I had any parents to ask permission from.”
If he hadn’t been supporting the other, he would have frozen as soon as the words left his mouth. The redhead hated admitting much of anything about himself, didn’t like opening up because it always seemed to end up one of two ways. Either somebody pitied him, or they thought he was making a big deal out of nothing.
Dazai stopped them then, bracing himself against the wall so he could turn to face Chuuya. "Sorry, Chuuya. I know what that feels like. My folks died when I was six."
He sighed. "Listen, I know you're probably not in the mood to talk right now, but… when we get back to the island, can we? We can go up on Kika and just get away for a while."
The bender turned to face Dazai, scowling, though it was slightly softer than it had been. The idea sounded appealing, for later. Right now he just wanted to go… he didn’t know, somewhere out of here, somewhere more familiar. Chuuya was out of his depth here with everything going on, he needed a chance to think. A part of him was glad for the change of subject.
“Maybe.” Chuuya eventually conceded, mostly just wanting to get Dazai to the infirmary instead of leaning against the wall. “For now, let’s just get you off that leg.”
“Right.” Dazai leaned back onto Chuuya. Luckily the infirmary wasn’t that far, but his ankle was on fire by the time they made it, and Karya scowled at him.
“You should have come to me first, Osamu,” she said, then sighed. “Okay, take the boot off. Let me see how bad it is. Chuuya, thank you for getting him this far. Atsushi’s okay, by the way. Just some bruises- no concussion and nothing’s broken. He and Ryu are in the room next door.”
Dazai let out a sigh at that, and he dropped heavily onto one of the exam cots and started gingerly working his boot off. It hurt like hell, but he didn’t think it was broken. It was swollen and purple, though, and he grimaced as Karya raised it. “Ow.”
“Sorry.” Glowing water surrounded his foot, and some of the tension left his shoulders as the pain started to dissipate.
Chuuya leaned against the doorway for a moment, having retreated back when Karya had stepped forward. There wasn’t anything left for him to do here; Dazai and Atsushi were taken care of, Ryu and Gin were with Atsushi, and his future was probably being discussed for him. As if he would actually follow it. There wasn’t any point in him sticking around and he wasn’t waiting for them to decide to include him.
When both of them were sufficiently distracted, the redhead rolled back out into the hallway. Luckily they were still at the arena, rather than having gone back to the island, so once he had slipped out of the building it wasn’t hard to fall into habit and disappear into the streets. This might not be the area he knew best, but it was still Republic City.
It was about an hour and a half later when Ryu finally tracked him down. It hadn’t been that hard; Chuuya was predictable if you knew him, and they’d been best friends for years. And when Chuuya was upset, he always headed for the highest place he could find. In this part of town, well, that was easy.
He didn’t speak, just sat down next to his friend and waited.
Chuuya didn’t speak immediately after Ryu joined him, although he was sort of surprised the raven hadn’t joined him sooner, not that he was entirely sure how much time had passed. It was silent up here, in this little hideaway he’d found for himself.
What was it about people that made them think, as soon as they had a bit of power, that they could determine the fate of others? Why did people turn on each other as soon as it was convenient?
There were a lot of things Chuuya could ask, if he wanted to. A lot of things that he could ponder and waste time on.
But he’d already done that. He’d wasted hours before wondering why humans turned on each other. It hadn’t helped and Chuuya had eventually decided that humans were just like that. Ryu and Gin had taught him that there were still people you could trust, hidden away like diamonds in the rough.
“Ryu… Did you… Why is this all happening?” The redhead asked eventually, his words barely more than a whisper on the cool night air. He was still angry, sure, but that anger had been banked for now, smouldering under a wave of… not tiredness or resignation, but something he couldn’t quite place.
“It had to happen to someone,” the raven said pragmatically. He leaned back, resting on his elbows, happy to finally be able to use both arms again. “Honestly, I’m not that surprised it’s you. You’ve always had, oh, an aura around you, for lack of a better term. And no, it’s not just me,” he said, reading the look Chuuya threw him. “Anyone who’s spent time with you knows you’re special, even if we didn’t know why before now. I talked to Gin and Atsu while we were waiting, and they both sensed it too. And I know Dazai did. I’ve been hanging out with him for months now. When Gin and I first moved to the island, we almost never saw Dazai except for practices and meals. He was a ghost. And it’s pretty much always been that way, according to the others. With you, though…”
Ryu shook his head. “Frankly, I’m glad it’s you. You’re smart, powerful, incredibly protective and charismatic as hell. And, generally speaking, you’re really not afraid to piss people off if it gets the job done. From the stories I’ve heard, those are pretty good qualities for the Avatar.”
“Why me though? I didn’t ask for this. I just wanted to be a normal kid.” As Chuuya spoke though, he knew it was for the best even if he didn’t believe he had all of those qualities that his friend had listed off. The redhead had never really known what he was going to do with his life, had never really seen much point in planning past the next day or maybe week if things were going well.
He never finished school, had never learned a lot of the typical things adults should know. In a way, maybe his being the Avatar was a good thing.
Chuuya didn’t really know what to think about Dazai, though. Was he really the only one the brunette apparently wanted to spend time with? Or was it just because he had apparently known something was odd about him.
“Those guys in there think that I’ll just be willing to go along with whatever they think I should do. They haven’t asked me jack about what it means to me or anything. It’s my life, you’d think I’d have a choice.” The new Avatar continued somewhat bitterly, still looking out over the city.
Ryu scoffed at that. "Chuuya, think about it. You have more choices now than you ever did. You're the freaking Avatar. Okay, yeah, you're going to need to train, but we're in peacetime, so you have the time to do it properly. Thanks to Dazai, you have connections to both the Air Nation and the Water Tribes. Finding teachers will be easy."
His tone softened a bit. "And you have us. Atsushi and Gin and I will follow you anywhere, Chuuya. We've already talked about it. And you have Dazai, who is absolutely in love with you. And you're in love with him. We can tell, even if neither of you will admit it to yourselves yet. As far as everything else goes, when did you ever let someone else dictate who you were or what you did? If that were the case, you'd still be at Kouyou's."
Chuuya scowled at him, although it was just a tad soft.
“I’m the Avatar, which I’m pretty sure means I’m supposed to be some big public figure. Especially when people start questioning why I’m a firebender. Kouyou-” The name felt strange on his tongue after avoiding it for so long. “-I left…” The redhead trailed off then, looking toward the horizon as an idea came to mind.
The Avatar stood before he gave himself a chance to back out, walking along the edge of the ledge without fear. He’d done this sort of thing many times, and there was always an undercurrent of excitement that was distinctly lacking this time under everything else he felt.
“Sorry, Ryu. Tell Gin and Dazai that too.”
Without a shred of hesitation, Chuuya sidestepped off the ledge, letting himself fall under the complete grasp of gravity for just a second before he started slowing his descent with blasts of fire.
"Chuuya!" Ryu lunged forward, leaning over the edge and watching as Chuuya made his way to the street below. He cursed under his breath, knowing he'd never catch up with the redhead in time to stop whatever plan had hatched in that stubborn brain of his.
Clenching his fists, he made his own way to the street, then back to the arena.
"Of all the idiotic, stubborn, knuckleheaded stunts to pull…" Dazai was fuming, but underneath was a sense of betrayal and anguish he wasn't quite ready to face yet. "He knows people are going to be after him and he takes off? What the hell is he thinking?"
"Probably that he doesn't want us involved," Gin said from her perch by the door. "He's always been like that. And he hates being in the spotlight. This… being the Avatar is huge. I'm not surprised he took off. It's kind of his default."
"Still." Dazai collapsed into a chair, his hands over his face, muffling his voice. "He didn't have to leave us. I would've taken him anywhere. Fuck."
Ryu, Atsushi, and Gin just looked at each other as they heard the tears the boy refused to shed. That was, until Gin walked over and put her arms around him. The dam broke, and he cried into her shoulder, silent tears betrayed only by the trembling of his shoulders.
Chuuya wove through the crowd, ducking into back alleys and taking shortcuts. He’d have to avoid all of his usual places in case Ryu and the others came after him - the raven knew him well. There were few ways out of the city though, and only one, if he really was the avatar, that they couldn’t follow him through. Briefly, Chuuya regretted not being able to go pick up his stuff, but it wasn’t like he didn’t have his wallet and there wasn’t anything he couldn’t leave behind. He’d just have to restart wherever he ended up.