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Ba Sing Se, the "impenetrable city".
Located in the northeastern Earth Kingdom, far away from everyone else and shielded by it's great walls, the phrase “there is no war in ba sing se” felt fitting —if one were to ignore the undeniable series of secretive wars among the Earth Kingdom's royal family that is—.
Changbin can still vividly remember the day he and what was left of his family immigrated to the safest city in hopes of surviving the now infamous war.
Although not as bad as the genocide the air benders had to face, the water tribe and it's benders had suffered more than enough.
For quite some time, all he could see or think of was the pained cries of all the people he had grown up being jealous of being taken away from him and his tribe.
Heartbreaking as it might be, at least he survived until he could hide within the walls of the biggest city in the world.
Trauma and pain aside, some things did happen for the better and he truly believed this was one of them.
Had the war not happened he would have never even considered moving to a large city, let alone leaving his sister and family behind just to run a small café inside the Earth Kingdom.
But that would mean he would have never met Seungmin either, which suddenly made all of it worth it.
Seungmin was incredible in so many little heart fluttering ways it's impossible to describe.
On their first meeting he seemed almost meek, but certainly nothing like the enthusiastic puppy Changbin grew to love over the years.
Having lived together for a couple of years and finally opening the café of their dreams, life simply couldn't get any better for the two of them.
Until it happened.
It was couple of months since Avatar-what-was-his-name-again, a disgraced higher class member of the Earth Kingdom that had for some reason run away from all the wealth Changbin could only ever dream of and two water tribe kids nobody knew of had managed to save the city from the Fire Nation's drill.
Seungmin had proposed leaving the store up to their employees for the night, something about how they hadn't had a proper day off in quite some time and with that excuse he led Changbin within the forest, shortly after the main attraction of the night.
Having stopped in front of the fountain the two had first met and after giving the cheesiest speech Changbin would probably ever get out of him, he proposed.
Normally, he would be a little bit embarrassed to admit how easily he cried but that wasn't one of these occasions.
The small lantern Seungmin had been carrying provided a dim light for the newly engaged couple as they made their way through the woods, tipsily laughing at whatever crude joke Changbin had uttered.
Suddenly, the soil below their feet began to shake, lantern crashing onto the ground with a loud thud as the two sat alone, terrified in the dark.
For a moment there, Changbin truly thought he had died and all that was in front of him were just mere visions of his life, how the flames that clouded his vision were nothing but a creation of his imagination as his worst fears came to be.
He thought they had gotten inside the city but instead, they were already within it.
The flames hadn't erupted from behind him like one would think and although in hindsight what had actually happened was a lot more reassuring, nothing could describe the seer fear that overtook him.
Seungmin, the same old Seungmin that he had spent years caring for, the only one that had seen his scars, the only to whom he had opened about his trauma, the one who would help him calm down after every nightmare, the one who—
The one who was standing in front of him in that moment, pure fear all over his features, terror setting deep inside his bones staring at him with streaks of fire coming out of his hands.
It was sickening.
Maybe it was weird, how he reacted since fire bender or not, Seungmin would never even dream of hurting him.
Changbin wasn't looking at the fire, his brain barely even registering it's existence.
All he could feel was the strain; the violently bright colour was causing his eyes to feel paired with the terrorising screams of everyone, the coldness of the snow and it's stark contrast to the burning hot wounds on his chest.
Next thing he knew, he was sobbing and laying on the ground in the dark, the flames having died down not so long ago.
He could hear his own ragged breathing along with Seungmin's unsure movements, falling into a trance of hyper-awareness yet simultaneously dissociating out of everything and everyone around him.
"Changbin are you okay ? Is it okay if i come closer ?"
Seungmin's worried voice got drowned by a new sea of cries as the older trembled like a leaf, hoarse requests for help and pained groans leaving his mouth, attempting his best at shielding himself from the 'threat' that is Seungmin.
Looking back to it, maybe his inability to move in those moments was for the best.
The feelings of wanting to get lost within the forest, finding somebody to help or simply turning Seungmin in and never thinking about him again didn't vanish for at least a couple days later and no amount of washing could erase the burning sensation on his skin.
Seungmin became…distant in that time and although it was probably for his own well-being, Changbin couldn't help but feel a little hurt he didn't even try approaching him until he did it first.
"I'm so sorry" was the first thing the younger finally uttered after Changbin sat across from him on their kitchen table.
He was looking down at his mug, eyes not even daring to look near his fiancé.
He also didn't specify what the apology was even about but the look of regret on his face as he sipped his bitter-sweet coffee was all Changbin needed to know that he meant it for everything.
It wasn't Seungmin's fault after all ; he wasn't the one who hurt him nor his family. He didn't ask to be a bender, let alone a fire bender at that.
It would be cruel of him to hate Seungmin for being scared and slipping up when he never meant to hurt him.
Part of Changbin wanted to be mad at him for hiding something so important for years, taking it as far as proposing without a word.
Was he actually planning on keeping it a secret forever ?
Then again, it was probably for the better. He was looking out for him and whether Seungmin himself had something to gain from it wasn't important.
He could forgive, that was easy, but could he forget ?
He obviously loved Seungmin but eating next to him, sleeping in the same bed... everything had just turned so odd and weird and he couldn't think of any possible way to fix it.