Work Text:
Despite how horrid Ba Sing Se had been to them thus far, Aang had to admit that there was something special seeing the large city lit up at night. You couldn’t see as many stars as you could out in the barren lands of the Earth Kingdom, but there was something stunning about all the fire lanterns lit among the street paths and the mingling people quietening down for the night.
He leaves his friends back at their shared condo, glider in hand as he makes his way across rooftops; silently, as to not disturb the people in the homes below. He lands on a roof with agile ease, stands up straight and stares in surprise for a few seconds.
“It’s you.”
Blue turns his head, staring in silence for a few seconds before quickly raising up and leaping off the roof, clearly intending to get away from Aang. The Airbender chases after him, flicking his glider out and racing after him, running alongside Blue when he catches up, “Hey! Wait, stop, what’re you doing?!”
He doesn’t expect the Blue Spirit to grab the handles of his broadswords; clearly a warning. Aang stops in a skid and lets the other run to the edge of the roof, turning to look at Aang but still having a firm grip on his weapon, tension high in the air. Aang’s voice is quiet, “...I didn’t expect to see you again.”
Blue’s arms relax slightly, and whatever he was frightened by, he seems to let it go like he does the handle of his weapon, arms deflating as he huffs and sits down on the peak of the roof, legs crossed. Aang takes a few steps forward, still keeping a meter distance between them as he follows the masked man’s lead and sits, “Are you living in Ba Sing Se?”
Blue nods, and Aang has a conflicted look on his face. “So are we… not for long, we’re looking for Appa, and then we’re going to leave, but… This city is messed up.”
Blue nods again, and Aang likes to believe that Blue
does
agree with him, judging by the angry fists he curls, leather of his gloves making a quiet sound of complaint. Aang reaches out and grabs one of his fists with a gentle grip, “Relax. Your anger is misguided here.”
The Blue Spirit huffs again, muffled from behind the mask, but his fists relax and his posture slakens, and Aang grins happily. He turns to look over the city, and the pair sit in relative silence as they admire the slumbering, but not completely silent, population around them; Aang had always loved seeing the world from high places like this, but thinking of it made him focus on Appa, and he slumps again.
Blue notices, scoots to hand his legs to slope down the roof and gestures as if asking Aang to talk; he sighs. “Appa, my sky bison, was taken by sandbenders when we were in the Shi Wong Desert, and was sold off… we were told he was here in Ba Sing Se, but we haven’t been able to find him. And I’m really scared we won’t be able to find him… losing Appa would be losing a part of myself; I got so angry when I found out he was taken that I nearly hurt a lot of people.”
He doesn’t look over to his companion, taking deep breaths in an attempt to resolve his high emotions; the tears threatening to escape resolves and his frantic heart calms after a few minutes of silence, and he looks up to see the Blue Spirit looking at him. Aang should probably be unnerved by the mask, but he’s not, only looking in confusion and almost racing after Blue when he suddenly jumps down to the empty street below.
He pulls one of the wanted posters Team Avatar had been scattering over the city that down, hauling himself back up to Aang and showing him the paper, and Aang’s nods in recognition. Blue shrugs, points to himself, and Aang’s grey eyes widen in absolute joy.
“Wait, you’ll help, really?”
Blue nods, and Aang’s grin widens; he throws himself forward to wrap Blue in a tight hug, arms around his padded shoulders and ignoring the way the mask digs into the side of his face and neck. Blue tenses under him, an arm stiffly coming around to hold Aang high around the shoulders, obviously unsure or unused to this kind of affection. Aang pulls away, face close, and has a pink blush across his face as he smiles.
“Thank you. I… I can’t begin to tell you how much that means to me. We don’t even know each other but you’ve done so much for me already.”
Blue shrugs, shifting awkwardly in Aang’s hold; this time, he doesn’t freak out at the soft kiss placed on the mouth of his mask, but he does audibly hum from under the mask at the affection. They pull away, and Aang says they were going to head off the next day to make a more thorough search; Blue doesn’t agree to join them, but instead to hunt around in the shadows and pass along any information he finds.
Aang whips out his glider, offers another appreciative smile and a shy wave before taking off. Blue doesn’t move from the roof whenever Aang looks behind him.
-
“Appa!”
He almost can’t believe it, honestly; just when they found themselves dangerously cornered by Long Feng and his agents, Aang’s sky bison seems to come down from the sun itself and give Team Avatar the advantage in the fight.
“Aang, what’s..?
He’s dumbfounded to find the Blue Spirit mask tied around one of Appa’s horns; Sokka rips it off impatiently, looking it over as if trying to find a note or some other piece of identification, which he doesn’t find. “What’s with this?”
Aang takes it carefully, as if afraid the sturdy mask will break under his hold, and holds it close. “It’s Blue’s mask… he’s saved me in the past, and-”
He doesn’t bother explaining his admittedly complicated relationship with the masked man; he’s not sure whether it’s because it’d be hard to explain and his friends wouldn’t understand, or if it was because it was something he wanted to keep between the two of them.