Work Text:
It was no secret that Lin hated going to social events, but as the newly appointed Chief of Police, she had no choice but to suck it up and attend. The fact that an event of this magnitude dictated that she put aside her professional duties (meaning unfortunately, she had to dress up to this thing too), her personal or social calamities didn't hold a candle to excuse her absence. She dawned on a silver-green floor length gown that she was once told she looked rather exquisite in, but barring the source of the compliment, Lin felt perfectly comfortable as she made some final touches to her evening attire. Before leaving her apartment that was now reduced to a mere amenity she slapped on painfully glee smile across her face. And speaking of pain, Tenzin was going to be there.
As soon as she entered the crowded room, his grey eyes found hers. Of course, they did. The dress must've called his attention. But just as quickly as he had looked her way, he turned his attention back to the company of three in front of him. Her eyes followed his. Lin didn't care for the two faceless figures in front of him. Her mind and heart was warped by the way in which Pema had her arm around Tenzin's body. Her fingers were bunched into his robes, clasping tightly from the nerves, seeing as she was somehow the orator in this discussion. Tenzin had his fake work laugh all ready and set to go while Pema's smile widened as she neared the punchline of her story. As convincing as it was, Lin could tell apart his fake laughs even if she lost four of her five senses with no bending.
Lin sighed to herself as Tenzin laughed. Pema wasn't funny.
She probably knew the young acolyte for maybe five minutes less than Tenzin did, but that was all it took for the airbender to pack his belongings and call it quits. In a switch, Lin was transported to the day Tenzin moved out. A vivid picture through her evergreen eyes, swollen then as they were now, with Tenzin carrying his boxes, leaving her standing there in the hall, holding her love for him in the palm of her hands.
Lin quickly blinked the visual away. She had spent the last several weeks replaying this very film in her mind and each time she had the gall to be surprised when it ended the same way. And she didn't like that ending.
Tenzin was no longer happy with her.
Lin couldn't defend her own home. She couldn't keep defending him anymore. Tenzin was her home, her everything. Tenzin was her air, her liberation and without him, she was bound and chained from within the Earth.
Lin quickly blinked away the visual.
Had she been staring?
Tenzin was looking at her again.
Deep inside, he knew he would instantly recognize the moment she arrived. Of course, she wore that dress; little did she know that she always looked exquisite. He was aware of the whole time she had been staring his way- except, for the first time, she wasn't even looking at him. She was staring, no, glaring at his wife-to-be, a title Lin had held for years and years together. Pema was the understudy, and yet she from the outside, she seemed to fill the role far better than Lin ever could- at least that was what both women thought. She was everything that Lin wasn't and that was the only reason Tenzin considered a future with Pema. He could never fall in love with her like he did with Lin. Lin was passion, Lin was fury, and Lin definitely wanted to get her knuckles red with Pema's blood just for him.
But he gave her so many chances to sit on throne Pema was now occupied. From marriage, to children, to almost anything she was willing to accept, Tenzin couldn't keep up with the chase any longer. With Lin, it was an uphill battle. Every time she jumped from branch to branch, higher and higher, he felt her preceding branch loosen and weaken under his feet. No amount of air could keep him in balance, and no amount of air could cease his suffocation from the altitude. Eventually, he'd fall.
Oh, but the insult to injury that her gaze could simply reign. He could set afloat and fly like the teachings of the old airbenders. Wasn't that upwards too? Her green eyes, her porcelain skin, marred in the red like her lips, her slender neck that housed the pulse he felt with his tongue-
Tenzin quickly blinked the visual away. He had spent the last several weeks replaying this film in his mind and each time he had the gall to be surprised when it ended the same way. And he didn't like that ending.
Lin was no longer happy with him.
He wasn't her problem anymore, so he couldn't have been offending her. She was everything to him. Lin was Tenzin's world, his tether and without her, he was weightlessly drifting off the surface of the Earth.
Tenzin quickly blinked away the visual.
He had to leave with Pema.
Was he staring?
Because Lin met his eyes again.
They failed their relationship unable to communicate effectively, and here they stood, about six feet apart, having the most potent conversation they'd ever had. It was just Lin and Tenzin in that room now. There was no more tears left to shed, no more expletives left to scream, no more battles left to fight, and no more words left to be spoken.
They had been walking the plank forged out of legacies that left them deep diving into miseries.
Too much had been shared in these short moments. Lin made the first move this time and looked away before things exacerbated.
"I'm sorry I never learned to read your mind, Tenzin," she panted, now facing away from him.
"I'm sorry I couldn't turn things around, Lin," he replied.
The gala had ended hours ago. The two of them had been standing still until apologies made their way out.
"Because you never even gave me a warning sign," she murmured against her tears.
Tears shooting down his cheeks, Tenzin exhaled grievously. "I gave so many signs."