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It had now been about a year since her love fiasco where Ikki successfully got Jinora and Kai together. Now she is eleven and practically a love guru, if she did say so herself. Not only had she gone on a solo airbending mission (with her siblings, but who cares about the details), but she also fought against Kuvira during her attack on Republic City. She is basically a mature teenager at this point. Which is why, when Meelo came running to her for love help, who was she to deny him?
Well, to be honest, her brother is still really annoying and snotty, but she enjoys meddling too much to not want to be a part of this. Besides, she needs to get some more love guru experience under her belt, and this would spice up the boring mission her dad is sending them on with the nasty lovebirds.
They are all going back to that coastal town where the love of Meelo’s life, Tuyen, lives to deliver some supplies. Thanks to Kuvira’s massacre, a lot of towns that depended on trading to Republic City were out of luck, hence Air Nation intervention.
“Ok, Meelo, this is your opportunity to blow her out of the water.” Ikki starts, but immediately sees the mischievous glint in his eye. “But not literally,” she quickly amends.
Boys are so annoying. She knows he won’t actually treat the girl he is crushing on like that, but she could instantly sense he was about to say something stupid in response. Spirits know she will have a rough time when Rohan gets better at talking.
“So, I am thinking,” she continues. “We should get mom to prepare some of her world famous egg tarts to give her, since they’re an airbender specialty and all. Then, you just got to use your smooth talking skills, and you guys will be just as nasty as Jinora and Kai in no time!”
“Yeah, Master Meelo is a great smooth talker.” Meelo responds as he flexes his arms, kissing his biceps. Ikki uses all her self-control to not make barfing noises at that. She would disagree, but as much as she hated to admit it, Meelo did manage to be charming sometimes.
“Alright let’s go ask mom while Kai and Jinora make mushy eyes at each other instead of loading supplies onto Lefty.” Ikki calls out extra loud to make sure the couple hears her as they pass by.
“Yeah! Stop making out and get back to work, soldiers!” Meelo adds.
“Ikki! Meelo!” Jinora shouts back, sounding clearly scandalized. “We are not making out or making mushy eyes at each other. Thank you very much. Unlike some people, we are actually doing something helpful for the mission.” Kai makes a smug face in their direction as Jinora sticks out her tongue at them.
As much as it hurts Meelo's pride, he needs help from the residential love guru, who also happens to be his annoying sister, Ikki. While he might be ranks ahead of her in everything else, she outranks him in love knowledge. She single-handedly fixed up the world’s mushiest couple, and well, Tuyen is really pretty and probably out of his league.
Ikki managed to make Jinora settle for someone as lowly as Kai, so he was in luck. In ranks of a soldier, Kai is pretty decent, but he really had little going for him. Unlike Meelo, he is a poet, artist, master airbender, beast tamer (he is going to get his bison soon), warrior, military strategist, and conqueror of Kuvira.
“MOMMMMMMMM” Ikki calls out, using her airbender lungs. “Can you please make us some egg tarts for the mission we’re going on? We need them to survive Jinora and Kai’s gross coupley-ness. Pleassseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?”
“Pleaseeeeeeeee!” Meelo adds, making the cutest face that always wins over all the ladies according to Korra.
“Alright, I can make you guys a few egg tarts for your trip as long as you promise me you’ll all be on your best behavior. Remember Jinora and Kai are in charge, so don’t give them too much trouble!” Pema chides.
“Yes, yes, Jinora and Kai are in charge. We will be on our best behavior. Now please make the tarts!” Meelo whines. He really wants to win over Tuyen. Maybe she will even want to become an air acolyte and live on Air Temple Island and then they can hang out all the time!
“Alright, all aboard everyone!” Jinora calls out. She and Kai are already sitting on the front of Lefty. They are just waiting for Ikki and Meelo to join the supplies in the saddle. She’s ready to get this mission over with as soon as possible.
Her dad was so overbearing, he sent Ikki and Meelo on her mission with Kai because he thought they would do “something” if they were alone. Jinora has been nothing but a perfect child, but all she gets as a reward is a highly suspicious father that doesn’t trust her to go on missions with her boyfriend.
“I will spirit beam to dad if you try to throw away all our food again Meelo, and get you kicked from this mission.” Jinora adds, glaring at Meelo. “We are under no circumstances going to ‘live off the land’, got it?”
“Roger that, Captain Jinora!” Meelo salutes.
“Hey, wait! This is my bison, shouldn’t I be the captain?” Kai pouts in her direction.
“Sorry, sweetie. I don’t make the rules. You heard him, I’m the captain.” Jinora teases. She leans into his space and gives him a quick peck on the cheek.
“Alright, Captain Jinora it is!” Kai declares while Ikki and Meelo make barfing noises in the background. Serves them right for always teasing them. She was going to make sure they would pay by being as PDA as possible around Kai. It’s not like they could stop them. She is the only one with spirit projecting capabilities.
“Yip yip!” Kai shouts, pulling on the reins. The way the wind flows through his hair during the takeoff is enchanting and Jinora can’t stop herself from staring.
Kai turns, catching Jinora’s eyes in that moment, and sends her a heart-melting smile that suddenly goes smug as if to say, “let’s give them a show.” Her smile becomes mischievous as she begins to lean in. Their lips meet just barely ghost each other. She can clearly feel Kai’s smile on her own. Turning her head slightly, she deepens the kiss past an innocent peck as she wraps her arms around his shoulders.
“Oh spirits, we’re just taking off and they’re already going at it!” Ikki cries out, while Meelo makes barfing noises.
Perfect . She nibs on his bottom lip as she slides their lips together partially to tease Kai, but mainly to gross out her siblings. Then she pulls away and mouths, “How’s that for mushy?” at Kai. He gives her a smirk before turning his eyes back to the sky, looking slightly flushed.
The rest of their flight is thankfully uneventful. The coastal town isn’t too far away from Air Temple Island, and it only takes an hour or so to arrive. Ikki breathes out nervously. Even though she isn’t the one wooing a girl, she’s already getting very nervous. Why did she agree to do this anyway? Being subjected to torment by Jinora and Kai was already enough for one life as they had proven with their kiss at takeoff, but imagining having to put up with Meelo being mushy as well… He is annoying enough without that!
She and Meelo unload the supplies while Jinora and Kai take up doing most of the delegation and talking to the town’s mayor- holding hands the entire time, bleck . Meelo is obnoxiously making a show out of everything he picks up, as if hoping Tuyen will magically appear and swoon over him.
"Ikki!! Code red! Code red!" Meelo shouts. Ikki quickly checks her surroundings, looking for any potential threats, but comes up with nothing. She sends Meelo a deadpan look that could rival Jinora's.
"What's code red, Meelo? There's literally nothing but a few town folks out right now!" Ikki grumbles.
“That's the problem!” Meelo shouts. "How will Tuyen know I'm a macho man if she doesn't see me doing all this heavy lifting?!"
Ikki rolls her eyes so hard she's surprised they don't get stuck. "Let's just stick with the plan. We can go find her after we finish our mission!" Ikki commands. Oh gosh, she's starting to sound like Jinora. Is this what being a mature teenager is like?
"Well then, it would sure be a shame if all the supplies fell into the harbor by some terrible windstorm." Meelo threatens, forming a small tornado in his hand to prove his point.
"Ok, geez, I get it. I'll fly into town and try to find her. No need to get your airbending suit in a tizzy." Ikki concedes.
She HATES boys. And to think she is supposed to be finding boys her age interesting. No thanks.
She reluctantly flies further into town, trying to keep out of view so Kai and Jinora won't think she's slacking. Then she spots a familiar flower stand.
"Oh spirits, please let Tuyen be here today." She mumbles to herself as she tucks in her arms and skids back onto the ground. However, she has more momentum than she realized and crashes right into someone, taking them both to the ground.
"Oh Raava! I am so sorry! I didn't mean to crash into you!" Ikki starts looking down to see who the poor victim is. Monkey feathers! Tuyen herself is on the ground before her. Ikki's stunt had made her hair fan out around her, making her look absolutely angelic.
She is doomed. During their first meeting, she had only briefly glanced at Tuyen because she had been more focused on using it as an opportunity to tease Meelo; she didn't realize how pretty Tuyen is. Strangely, she didn't feel jealous of Tuyen's beauty. Instead, it was making her heart beat really fast?
Ikki continues to stare downwards at Tuyen, trying to understand this strange feeling, when she notices Tuyen's face flushing. Scrambling, she gets off Tuyen and offers her a hand.
"Hi! I'm Ikki by the way. I'm eleven and I live on Air Temple Island. I think you've met my brother before. He's short and has a buzz cut, and his name is Meelo. We were here on a mission right before Kuvira attacked." Oh spirits . Why do words keep coming out of her mouth? Thankfully, Tuyen cuts her off when she pauses to take a breath.
"Hello Ikki! I'm Tuyen and I'm also eleven, and well, I'm from here." She smiles. "It's nice to finally meet you. I was sad when I didn't get to talk to you last time since you were busy on a top secret airbending mission."
Ikki smiles back before realizing her hand is still holding on to Tuyen's from when she helped her up. She quickly lets go, staring downwards in embarrassment, but in doing this realized Tuyen is completely covered in dirt.
"Oh my spirits, I got dirt all over your dress, but don't worry, I can fix that!" She shoots a small blast of wind downwards so as not to lift her skirt.
"There! All better! I'm not usually that clumsy in my airbending suit. it's just that Meelo was throwing a fit because he was-" she suddenly falters remembering she's supposed to be his wingman, his love guru "I mean- he was umm… in desperate need of flowers?" She finishes, not even convincing herself.
Tuyen just giggles. "Well, you've come to the right place! What kind of flowers do you want?"
"Hmmm, I don't think the type of flowers matters if you came along too. He wouldn't complain, since he forgot to tell me what kind he wanted." She laughs nervously and attempts to flash a smile, but it ends up being too toothy and awkward.
"Sure! It's not everyday I get the opportunity to hangout with airbenders. On one condition, we get to fly over there!" Tuyen responds happily, grabbing a small weaved basket and putting a few fresh flowers in it.
"Oh, I didn't bring my staff with me so you'll have to hold on to my back." Her face heats up at the thought. What kind of bending magic was this girl using that made her feel like this? "You'll have to hold on to the flowers carefully," she adds unhelpfully.
"I don't mind!" Tuyen replies cheerfully.
"Alright, climb aboard. This ship is taking off." Ikki squads down, letting Tuyen climb on her back.
Meelo is in the middle of practicing his cool poses for Tuyen, when he sees a figure in the sky. He assigned Ikki to bring Tuyen back with her. Why was she flying? Then, he notices something on Ikki’s back and the sounds of elated screaming as she approaches.
“Ikki! What are you doing?!” Meelo yells up at her angrily. How dare she take the love of his life on a joyride? That was supposed to be him bonding with her, not Ikki!
“Crash landing!” She shouts back before saying something quieter to Tuyen. Then, Tuyen lets go and starts free falling towards the docks. Before Meelo could move, Ikki lands and catches Tuyen princess style before setting her down.
“We brought the flowers you asked for.” Ikki says innocently as Tuyen is fixing her dress and hair while holding some flowers, as if she hadn’t just been plummeting to her doom. This girl is hardcore. No wonder Meelo likes her so much.
“I didn’t- Ikki, we need to talk!” Meelo hisses.
“Okay~” Ikki replies, strolling over to Meelo as if she wasn’t the one ruining his one chance at love.
“Ikki! When I asked you to bring back Tuyen with you, this isn’t what I meant!” Meelo whisper-yells at his sister.
"You should have been more specific before you started throwing around your tornadoes!” Ikki retorts. “Actually though, she said she would come if I gave her a ride and I didn’t have an airbending staff! What else was I supposed to do? She’s here, so stop complaining and start doing some heavy lifting!”
Meelo groans, but heads back to the air bison to continue unloading supplies from Lefty. At least Tuyen is currently admiring Lefty and in perfect range to see his amazing strength. Here comes Meelo the man!
“So you like the bison, huh?” Meelo starts, raising his eyebrows in Tuyen’s direction.
“Yes! They are so much cuter and softer than I imagined!” Tuyen exclaims.
“Not as cute as you, princess.” Meelo shoots back.
“Thanks Meelo. You’re such a sweetheart.” She giggles, before turning to watch Ikki. “Wow, Ikki you’re so strong!”
“Oh, thanks. Just doing my airbender duty.” Ikki smiles and Meelo shoots her a glare, warning her to back off. Ikki raises her hands in surrender and walks off to distribute supplies further into town.
“By the way,” Meelo says, turning Tuyen’s attention back to him. “I brought egg tarts as a snack. They are an Air Nation dessert, if you want to share some with me?”
“Wow! Really? Thank you! We should leave some for Ikki though since she’s working so hard.” Meelo felt his eye twitch at the mention of Ikki’s name again. Why was she thinking about Ikki so much? He was right there!
Jinora and Kai leave the mayor’s house, hands swinging between them. “I think that went pretty well!” Kai comments.
“Yeah, because my rascal boyfriend is too good at being a schmoozer.” Jinora teases, sending a smile in Kai’s direction.
“I wasn’t schmoozing, I am just that good at talking to adults.” He puffs out his chest proudly, and she rolls her eyes in response.
“Wow look, is that Ikki actually being on task without our supervision?” Jinora points out. Ikki is currently passing out supplies to the locals, being on her best behavior.
“Kai, pinch me. I think I woke up in an alternative universe.”
“As you wish, your highness.” Kai shoots her an evil smile before pinching her hard.
“Ouch! You’re in for it now!” Jinora calls out, sending a blast of air in Kai’s face, messing up his perfectly messy hair. He continues to grin in her direction, unphased as she glares.
“Well, since we’re done with the meeting, we should finish passing out supplies and make sure Meelo doesn’t blow up the town in the process.” Jinora declares. She keeps shooting glances back at Ikki, suspicious of her behavior.
“Actually, Kai, I am assigning you Meelo. I am going to help Ikki with her supplies.” Jinora decides. Something seems off about Ikki and she’s going to get to the bottom of it. The last thing she needs is for Ikki to run off on another mission.
“Yes, dear!” He salutes before jumping in the air and releasing his airsuit to speed back to Lefty and Meelo as quickly as possible.
Jinora walks over to Ikki and opens her arm to accept the supplies so Ikki can focus better on passing them out.
“Ok, Ikki, tell me what’s going on. You’re giving me weird vibes and it’s not my spiritual powers detecting that.” Jinora starts.
Ikki hums offendedly before beginning. “Ok fine. It’s just that Meelo asked me for help to get the girl. You know, since I am a love guru and all.”
“Right,” Jinora says skeptically.
“Anyway, it’s just Meelo and I were unloading supplies and then he started throwing a fit and threatened to throw all the supplies off the side of the dock unless I got his ‘girlfriend.’ But when I went to find her, I accidentally ran into her and fell on top of her and it was so embarrassing, especially since she is just really pretty and funny and nice and daring. And now I am getting all these weird feelings and I don’t want to help Meelo anymore!” Ikki rants.
Whelp . Nothing ever comes easy in this family, apparently.
“Ikki, it sounds like you might be crushing on this girl too.” Jinora admits, accepting her doom in the upcoming sibling drama.
Ikki might have a crush on this girl. Ikki might have a crush on Tuyen . She feels the heat rush to her face as the pieces start coming together in her mind. She had always thought boys are nasty, but she never thought about it too hard since she didn’t really have many chances to hangout with people her own age growing up on Air Temple Island with an overprotective dad. She had always thought Korra is really hot and Asami is really beautiful, but didn’t everyone?
Her first instinct is to run away because that’s what she always does, but Jinora must have been reading her mind because in a split second she balances all the supplies in one arm and grabs her wrist with the other one.
“You’re allowed to like whoever you want, though. I just like people, but if you just like girls, that’s fine too.” Jinora adds.
“I don’t like Tuyen, don’t be ridiculous! I am a love guru and I am fixing up Meelo and Tuyen!” She declares, hardly fooling herself.
Jinora gives her the signature deadpan look.
“Ok I might like Tuyen, she’s really pretty and cool.” Ikki confesses reluctantly.
“Whelp, now that we got that out of the way, let’s finish our job.” Jinora sighs, sending her a glare as if daring her to try to run away.
“Yes, Captain Jinora!” Ikki salutes jokingly.
Meelo shoots Kai a dirty look as he approaches him and Tuyen. Why does everyone keep ruining their moment?
“Hey Meelo! Just making sure you’re not trying to blow up the town or steal Lefty.” Kai shouts in his direction.
Tuyen giggles at his pain. “Wow, I didn’t know you had a reputation for being such a bad boy” She ruffles his hair.
“Yep, that’s me. Meelo the bad boy.” He flexes to prove his point as Tuyen continues to laugh.
Kai seems somewhat relieved to see Lefty and no explosions anywhere as he approaches closer. How rude, he's not going to destroy the villiage the love of his life lives in!
“Hi! I don’t think we’ve met yet! I'm Kai, and I live on Air Temple Island too. Also, I'm dating Meelo’s older sister.”
This makes Tuyen look up from the egg tart she is eating. She looks so pretty the way the sun hits her hair making it shine almost golden. The only problem with this picture is her face sours at Kai's words. How dare Kai upset the love of his life!
“Wait, you're dating Ikki? Aren’t you a bit old for her?” Tuyen questions, sounding concerned.
Meelo is annoyed at this point. Tuyen keeps bringing up Ikki every other sentence. What is so amazing about Ikki anyway!?
“No! He means my other sister, Jinora. You haven’t met her yet. Why would he want to date someone as gross as Ikki?” Meelo fumes.
“Oh… my bad. But Ikki isn’t gross. I actually thought Ikki was really cool when I met her!” Tuyen protests.
Manly men don’t yell at girls, Meelo chants to himself. Kai looks like he’s about to laugh at the situation as he sneaks an egg tart for himself.
Jinora spies Kai, Meelo, and some girl which she assumes is the infamous Tuyen all… eating egg tarts? The betrayal! How is it that she always gets the short end of the stick?
She quickly shoves all the remaining supplies into Ikki’s arms and runs towards Kai. Kai doesn’t even know what hit him when she successfully swipes his remaining dessert and downs it in one bite.
Kai frowns at the loss of his egg tart. “Wow, pretty lady, where did you get those amazing thieving skills from?”
“Some rascal,” Jinora responds, licking her lips and smirks when she notices Kai’s eyes staring intently at her lips. “See something you like?” Their moment is broken when Ikki finally processes what just happened.
“Hey!” Ikki shouts indignantly. “Where is my egg tart?!”
“Here you can have the rest of mine!” Tuyen offers sweetly.
Ikki lights up as Meelo’s frown intensifies. Oh spirits , this girl does not realize the power she possesses over her siblings.
“By the way, I am Tuyen. You’re Jinora right?” Tuyen greets Jinora, as she walks over to Ikki.
Then something happens that shocks Jinora to her core: Tuyen feeds Ikki the remaining egg tart instead of waiting for Ikki to set back down the supplies. Ikki, in shock, drops the supplies. Jinora and Kai act in the same moment and catch them with a blast of wind. The supplies hover over the ground as Jinora runs over to pick them up.
“Oops! My bad. I didn’t mean to startle you… I was just trying to be helpful since your hands were full.” Tuyen apologizes. Ikki is currently bright red, and Jinora feels like she’s watching a train wreck happen. She’s too afraid to glance over at Meelo at this point.
Turning her head slowly in dread, she sees Kai grasping Meelo by his shoulders as a small cyclone twirls around his feet.
"Let's finish passing out supplies, guys!" Jinora announces, attempting to break the tension.
Ikki thinks she's probably as good as dead when she sees Meelo giving her the most evil look. Thankfully, they manage to finish disturbing supplies with no scuffles between her and Meelo thanks to Tuyen being there and flitting between them. She can tell by her older sister's antsy behavior they are going to leave as soon as possible.
Tuyen looks sad, as she seems to realize the same thing. However, Ikki can’t help but to admire how cute her pouty expression is.
“It was nice meeting you Tuyen! Thank you again for helping us give out supplies. Hopefully we didn’t keep you from helping you run the flower shop though…” Jinora concludes, obviously trying to wrap things up.
“Oh no, it’s not a big deal! I had fun, plus helping the town get supplies is probably more important than helping run the shop. I am sure my dads will understand!” Tuyen replies easily. She really does have some of the best manners.
Tuyen then walks over to Meelo and Ikki can feel herself wincing. “It was good seeing you again! Thank you for the egg tart! It was amazing!” She ruffles his hair a bit when she’s done talking and Meelo turns bright red.
Ikki can feel her frown growing, but then Tuyen walks over her way and pulls her into a hug. “I had a lot of fun flying with you today. Hopefully, I didn’t cause you too many problems. Maybe next time you can bring your airbending staff and we can do it again?” She says quietly into Ikki’s ear as she continues the hug. Ikki’s arms fail beside her for a moment before wrapping them around Tuyen.
“Yes!” Ikki exclaims. She can’t contain her excitement and picks Tuyen up and twirls her around a few times before setting her down. She can feel a blush creeping up her face now.
“Well, byeeeeee! See you next time!” Ikki shouts before running back to Lefty at top speed. Meelo reluctantly comes to join her, and Jinora and Kai hop aboard the front of Lefty.
Their flight home is feeling longer than the flight there since his excitement had worn off. Today wasn’t a complete failure, but Meelo has a sinking feeling that Ikki caught more of Tuyen’s attention than him. Even though SHE was the one who was supposed to be helping HIM . Love guru no more, next time he was asking Korra and Asami for help, he should have known better than to trust his bratty sister.
“Sooooo Ikki, what exactly is it that Tuyen said to you when she hugged you goodbye? You seemed awfully flustered.” Meelo breaks the heavy silence between them.
Ikki opens and closes her mouth a few times. Strange, since she’s always the one with something to say at all times.
“Ummmmm….” Ikki starts before she is cut off by giggling. They both look up to see Jinora and Kai kissing AGAIN .
“Can you guys stop for FIVE seconds!” Meelo demands, while Ikki makes barfing noises.
“Nope!” Kai smirks before turning back to Jinora, dipping her back into a kiss.
Jinora turns to Kai, feeling very cat deer in the headlights. “Kai, quick we need a diversion tactic. If Meelo and Ikki keep talking-” Her whisper-yelling is cut off by Kai’s lips meeting hers roughly. Their noses hit each other and their teeth clack a bit, but that just causes them both to laugh into the kiss.
“Can you guys stop for FIVE seconds!” Meelo shouts up at them and Ikki makes barfing sounds.
Kai pulls away a bit. “Nope!” he says smugly before obnoxiously dipping her and firmly pressing their lips together again. They are both trying not to laugh too obviously into the kiss as Ikki and Meelo continue to groan.
Kai pulls away a bit “How’s that for a diversion tactic?” He looks too smug for her tastes.
“Shut up.” She retorts.
“Make me,” he shoots back at her and she leans back into his lips.