Work Text:
It wasn’t often that Kya felt like she was breaking.
She hated the way she would be on the verge of tears for hours, even when having a jovial conversation with a colleague.
She hated the way her throat tightened whenever she walked past the morgue.
She hated when it would all become too much and her chest felt constricted, like something was sitting on her, only permitting her to take a breath every few seconds.
She told herself to suck it up, to cry in the shower when she got home, where no one could see how she was feeling.
The fact that she was planning out when to cry was a sign that it was time to go home.
---
Twenty four hours, that’s how long it had been since she was last home.
The apartment was the same as how she’d left it. Plants, looking damp from recently being watered. Steel boots, gleaming in the setting sun that was streaming through the windows. The book she was halfway through, still opened, faced down on the coffee table. Her wife, standing at the stove, making something that was as good as the aroma that wafted through the entirety of the open space.
Kya chewed on her bottom lip, debating with herself weather to have a quick shower now, to empty out her overflowing bottle of emotions, or to sit down and have a lovely dinner which would most likely be accompanied with a generous glass of wine.
“Glad you’re home,” Lin spoke from the stove without turning, “dinner still needs five minutes to reduce if you want to clean up.”
With the decision made for her, Kya silently walked to their bathroom where she proceeded to remove her stained clothes.
The staining wasn’t too bad, Kya thought as she inspected the small amounts of now dried blood.
Dumping the clothes into the hamper, the waterbender took a moment to observe herself in the mirror while the shower warmed up.
Her face, bright and hopeful betrayed how she felt internally. She raised a hand and smoothed it across her chest, something she had done since she set off for a life of adventure. She wasn’t sure why she did it, but now it was a habit that she found a small amount of comfort in doing.
Sighing, she eventually made it into the shower. She was content to brace herself against the wall and just allow the water to run down the back of her head while she cried, but the tears wouldn’t come.
She still felt the need to cry, and the frustrations that came with it, but those damn tears she was willing to fall, wouldn’t listen.
She wanted to scream. She wanted to punch the wall in front of her.
“You fucking piece of shit.” Kya muttered to herself. “You’re so useless.”
Grabbing a washcloth, she scrubbed at her skin until it was red, then exited the shower for the bedroom while simultaneously wrapping a towel around her body.
She went to her side table for fresh underwear, forgoing the wraps, instead pulling one of Lin’s black RCPD t-shirts over her still damp torso.
The towel she had dumped on the floor was picked back up and used to tousle her hair dry as she walked into the kitchen where dinner was being plated.
Kya didn’t miss the green eyes that ran themselves up the length of her bare legs, but she was in too much of a blue mood to supply a witty comment.
“Dinner is ready. Wine?” Lin asked, holding two glasses and a bottle.
“Please.” Kya draped the towel over her shoulders, picked up their plates and utensils, gave Lin a small kiss to her cheek as she passed, then brought the meals to the table.
“How was work?”
“Can we not talk about work?”
Lin simply nodded as she put their glasses down on the table before claiming her seat next to Kya.
---
Kya knew Lin was uncomfortable. She always was when she didn’t know how to comfort someone she knew needed comforting, and it only served to make Kya feel worse.
It was in the way Lin would look up periodically from her paperwork to visually check in on Kya. It was how Lin would ask if Kya wanted something from the kitchen every thirty minutes without fail, It was how Lin would constantly go to their bedroom under the guise of needing something from her workbag.
Kya knew Lin only wanted to help, but was ill-equipped to do so, so Kya put down her book and stood.
As expected, Lin’s eyes tracked her movements until she was standing in front of the metalbender. Kya gently removed the glasses that were perched on the bridge of Lin’s nose, collapsed them and gently set them down on the table.
Lin was about to ask what was happening when a smooth bronze hand was held out to her. She took it, allowed herself to be pulled to her feet, then guided into their bedroom.
They stopped at the end of their bed where Kya bit her lip once more.
“Kya, wha-“
“Can you hold me?” Kya asked, cutting off the officer. “I just, I need your weight on top of me, please?”
Lin simply nodded, then watched as Kya got comfortable and followed soon after.
Using Kya’s guidance, she was able to position herself between long legs before allowing her upper body to be completely lowered onto the waterbender’s chest where a content sigh escaped the older woman.
“Kya, is this okay?” Lin asked cautiously.
“Yes,” Kya raised a free hand to wipe a silent tear away, “this is what I needed. Thank you.”
Lin inclined her head slightly to press a kiss to her wife’s neck. “Whatever you need, I’m here. I love you.” Lin felt a shudder underneath her, as her words were reciprocated in kind.