Work Text:
Republic City
“You’re getting blood on the couch."
The only response he got was a disgruntled groan, followed by the couch’s bleeding occupant hiding his head under a pillow. Jack sighed, closing his apartment door behind him with a ‘click’.
At the foot of the couch, his roommate’s pet panther-bat watched Jack with ears perked and eyes wide, little rumbles of concern gurgling from his throat. It’s eyes flicked from Jack to his owner, to Jack again. Jack nodded slowly, putting down his messenger bag on the kitchenette counter, before making his way over to their first aid cabinet.
“What did he do this time, Toothless?” he called, not expecting an answer. “Start a gang war with the wolfbats? Save some kids from a burning building?” he looked up at the couch, where a pair of green eyes – heavy with black bags – glared at him. Jack raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. “Maybe he tried to get little Timmy out of the well?”
“I hate you.”
Jack shrugged the snark off, walking over to his roommate’s side with arms full of gauze and bandages. He glanced at his upholstery and sighed. “That’s going to stain.”
The young man currently bleeding out on the couch rolled his eyes, before moving his right hand in a quick, fluid motion. Suddenly, the stains on the couch were slowly receding as tiny streams of blood droplets oozed from the fabric and sped through the air, collecting in a ruby red orb above the injured party’s palm. “Happy?” he hissed.
Jack gave him the side-eye. “Blood bending is illegal, you know.”
“When it’s in someone else’s body!”
“And also, that is gross.”
The boy shrugged, his outstretched palm still holding the collection of blood in place. Jack rolled his eyes. “Are you going to just hold that?”
His roommate shrugged. “Would you like to bag it and use it as a blood donation?”
Jack guffawed at that. “Really? Did you really just say that? Hold on, let me just get a sandwich bag to stick your sofa blood in, so I can later use it in clinical practice.”
His roommate blinked up at him, before pouting. “It was just a suggestion.” He muttered.
Jack shook his head in disbelief. With a sigh, he picked up one of his bottle of water, unscrewed the top, and gently waved his hand over it. The cool liquid surged upward, tenderly encasing his entire hand before emitting a soft, gentle light.
The boy eyed him with envy. “I wish I had the healer’s touch.”
Jack snorted, gesturing to the boy to show him where the wound was. “Being the avatar isn’t good enough for you?”
The boy – the avatar – gave Jack a sharp look. “I thought we decided not to use the A word anymore.”
“My apartment isn’t bugged.”
“It’s an apartment. You have neighbours, and they have ears.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “You are so paranoid.”
The boy stiffened at that, before he yanked his shirt over his head, revealing a thin but deep cut on his right shoulder, and a shallow stab wound to the abdomen. Jack winced.“I have reason to be.” The avatar replied curtly.
At that, Jack physically flinched. He touch a sharp breath, then exhaled slowly. To be fair, he’d deserved that. He fixed his eyes on the stab wound – despite it being the shallower of the two wounds, it was easily the most painful. And dangerous. He handed his roommate the gauze, which – with a tsk – the boy applied to his shoulder to staunch the blood flow.
Out of the corner of his eye, Jack vaguely saw the orb of gelatinous blood bend itself into the kitchen sink. Jack frowned. He’d have to clean that up later. He placed his glowing palm upon the avatar’s bleeding stomach, and watched the boy’s face for any sign of discomfort. He winced at first, but then met Jack’s eyes calmly, like a stray cat that had decided – against its better nature – to trust the nice human. But despite everything, it was still waiting for the first sign of betrayal.
It was silent for a while, before the avatar finally spoke softly. “Busy day at work?”
Jack hummed in response. “We had a couple of burn victims – there was an anti-bender attack in the City Mall this afternoon. Acid everywhere.”
“I know. I was there.”
Jack raised an eyebrow, giving his friend a pointed look. “Is that where you got the cuts?”
“No,” was the reply, tucking a lock of auburn hair behind his ear casually. “That came later. Some guy and his five-year-old daughter were getting mugged.”
Jack nodded dimly, his mouth pressed into a thin line as he focused his energy on the healing water, bidding the wounds knit themselves back together, with no sign of infection. He knows he’s being watched by his patient. He could feel the waspish gaze. Obviously, his roommate had been expecting a bigger reaction.
Jack shook his head sadly with a sigh, pulling away from the newly fixed skin. “It comes to something when the avatar has to act like some vigilante to do his job.” He gave his roommate a sympathetic smile. The avatar chewed on the inside of his freckled cheek, annoyed. But not at Jack.
“Yes. Well. It wouldn’t be this way if the Red Lotus hadn’t infiltrated every authority on this planet. This whole mess would be a lot easier that way.” He leaned forward – giving Jack better access to his bloody shoulder – and hugged his knees to his chest. “It doesn’t help that the only advice I get is from Korra, since she lost her connection to the other avatars,” he gave Jack a pointed look. “It isn’t like she was the most level-headed of avatars.”
Jack snorted, pulling the gauze of the injured shoulder and placing his hand over the wound. “She can’t be that bad.”
The avatar rolled his bright green eyes. “She’s a show-off! Like, a few days ago during meditation, she was making fun of my lack of healing skills. And that I can’t metal bend!” he tsked under his breath. “It’s not like she could do thi-”
Jack’s hand tightened on his shoulder, making him hiss. “No lava bending in the house!” Jack hissed.
The avatar pouted up at him. “It wasn’t that bad.”
“You melted my mother’s favourite teapot!”
“It didn’t melt – it just changed shape a bit.”
“Hiccup.”
“And you know I used to work in metalcraft – I could fix it, you know. Could even improve it.”
Jack released his hand on his roommate’s shoulder, satisfied to find the flesh unscarred and unblemished, save for the spattering of freckles the guy had since he was a child, growing up on the outskirts of Omashu.
Jack sighed.“It’s not fair that it has to be like this, I know.”
The avatar – one ‘Haeben’ Hiccup Haddock – gave him the side eye. “Oh? And what do you know exactly?”
Jack knelt down by Hiccup’s side, resting his crossed arms on the sofa’s edge. “That you hate being the avatar, but you act like one anyway. That you do it in secret, because one slip up would have the red lotus all over you. And you hate being estranged from your parents, but what with Stoick being red lotus himself-”
Hiccup shook his head slowly. “It’s not that,” he murmured, eyes lowering as they unfocused a bit. Jack gave him a reproachful look, which made Hiccup snort. “Okay, it’s not just that.”
He paused, his fingers tightening a little as they twisted in the sofa’s upholstery. Jack’s eyebrows furrowed at the action, a little more worry trickling in and making his spine tingle horridly. Finally, Hiccup looked him in the eyes. “It was the dream again. I’ve been having it for weeks now.”
It took a moment, but Jack finally realised what Hiccup was getting at. Silently, he gestured to the sofa, mouth set in a thin line. Hiccup acquiesced after a moment, shuffling around until Jack could slip onto the sofa and lie next to him, his arm cushioning his head as he looked Hiccup right in the eyes.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Hiccup snorted again, derisively. It was a sound Jack knew too well – one of disbelief, tinged with wistfulness and pain.
Jack frowned.“I’m serious.”
“So? It’s not like you’d have a say in the matter.” Hiccup replied numbly.
Still frowning, Jack ran his fingers through Hiccup’s long, auburn hair, watching as he closed his eyes at the sensation, only to look Jack in the eyes again with a whole new emotion; fear. Hiccup was afraid.
“Why are you so scared?”
The laugh was sharp, like a bullet ricocheting off a wall. “Because! Because I don’t have much going for me right now. I’m the avatar, but that’s tantamount to being a fugitive these days. There is a group of people out there that want me dead – and my own Dad is one of them!” he took a deep breath, “You’re my only friend right now, Jack. I don’t want to lose you.”
Something twinged in Jack’s chest, but he still tried for a smirk. “Just friends?”
Hiccup bit his lip, lowering his eyes again. “Don’t push it.”
Jack rolled his eyes, before shaking his head and then gently cupping Hiccup’s chin in his hand. The avatar begrudgingly met Jack’s eyes again, only to see him smiling at him with a helpless look. Jack pulled at one of the locks in his hair – white as pure snow – saying “I don’t care what this means to you or your past lives. I don’t care about old illnesses, or the moon, or whatever. Bottom line is I am alive, with you, right now.”
“B-but Yue could call back her blessing at any point… and what with the wars between benders and non-benders… what if one of those idiots try to do what General Zhao did, during the hundred year war? What if the moon goes black? What if-”
Jack shut his roommate up abruptly, without a single word. Hiccup blinked in surprise, before closing his eyes to the sensation, fighting down the burning itching sensation in his eyes, and instead pulled Jack closer to his chest. A little whimper caught in his throat, but Jack steadfastly swallowed it, his hands still caught in Hiccup’s hair, sending thrills down the avatar’s spine.
Toothless, still at their feet, glanced up at the two when they went quiet. When he saw them tangled together, he rolled his eyes and promptly went back to pretending he was asleep.
Finally, Jack pulled away, admiring the new blush that had risen to the avatar’s pallor. His lips were puffy, and a fantastic – almost edible shade – of cherry red. Jack fought back the desire to kiss him again, instead stroking a thumb over his roommate’s cheek, murmuring “I’m not going anywhere. I’m here with you.”
A quiet sound at the back of Hiccup’s throat, his eyes bright green and glassy. Jack sighed, curling into Hiccup again, fingers stroking through his soft hair.
“I’m here with you.”