Chapter Text
Kim Mingyu was only seven years old when he discovered he was the Avatar.
Well, not he himself. His coach in firebending, the element he was supposed to be training at. Seven year old Mingyu did not like firebending (it was tiring and made him sweat), and neither did he like his scary looking coach, so as all seven year olds discovering their minds do, he skipped practice.
Because Mingyu's dad was a world-renowned firebender, a great master that firebenders from all over traveled to their small town to beg him to become their teacher (who he all refused, even Mingyu himself!), the coach, afraid of disappointing him, ran all over the town looking for him, and eventually found him playing by the small lake in the forest.
His playing wasn't normal children's play. Mingyu was making the water flow around him, making it race across the grass while not letting a drop of it spill, and basically doing every single thing a trueborn firebender should not be doing.
They called him a prodigy. Only seven years old, and already so proficient at his opposite element! He could even do a little airbending, and the tiniest earthbending. People came around the world to visit small town, but not for Mingyu's father this time. They came for the Avatar.
Mingyu's dad was a wise man, and shooed all of the spectators away, only letting a few trusted, officials in. He knew that all the fame would get to a child's head, or ruin his development, or make him wary of fame that he would, without a doubt get when he was older. So he trained and raised him privately, with the best earthbenders and airbenders and waterbenders as extra trainers in his Avatar duties. And word spread that the next Avatar was awakened, and the world rejoiced that another hero was born.
***
"And they had these big, like really big dragon floats! The men were inside the costume and the guy at the head with the open mouth was a firebender like you! And he blew fire, so it looked like the dragon was breathing fire! Mingyu, it was so cool!"
Mingyu glumly listened to his best friend Soonyoung talk excitedly about the Fire Festival he went to recently, at Republic City, the biggest and best city in the world. Mingyu had never been, always spending his days training to be the Avatar. There was no time for vacation or even just a break in between training, interviews with the press, weekly assessments of his skills (which of, his earthbending was not improving, whatsoever. You would think Mingyu, a firebender, would be second best at earthbending and worst at waterbending, AKA the opposite element of fire, but nope. Mingyu was always a special kid.), and still going to school and getting all his work done. Basically, no time to do anything but be the Avatar, which kind of sucked. Mingyu was already eighteen, about to graduate, and the farthest he'd ever gone away from his home was on a middle school fieldtrip two hours up a mountain.
Soonyoung was older than him, already graduated from school and had no plans of going to college or do anything but be a freelance wanderer. It had been his dream since he was tiny, exploring the world. He was a nonbender, but he could dance. Soonyoung'd told Mingyu once that he'd make money off of that: dancing in the streets and getting gigs at festivals and celebrations. It was unstable and unsure, but it already sounded grander than whatever Mingyu would be doing with his life. What was the need for an Avatar in this day and age anyways? The Nations were at peace, there were no wars or major disputes unless between politicians. It was honestly just a title, but Mingyu had to spend his entire life training for it anyways.
Soonyoung was bright-eyed as he explained in extreme detail to Mingyu, who wouldn't accept anything less, about the festival and Republic City in genera, for the next hour or so. Mingyu was crouched down next to him, caught on his every word. He could almost imagine the skyscrapers of the city himself with how many times Soonyoung had been there and sent pictures of.
Soonyoung leaned back on the grass when he was done. "Dude, if you want to go there so bad, why don't you just like, ask your dad to go? You're an adult already. He can't keep you cooped up in this dunghole of a town forever."
Mingyu lied down next to him. "I think he plans on it, with the way things are going." He sighed. "Not until I become like, the most competent Avatar that ever lived."
"That's bullshit." Soonyoung complained. Mingyu never whined because Soonyoung complained enough for the both of them. "Let's go ask him right now. I'm gonna do it."
"You're gonna do what," Mingyu deadpans, but it's too late. Soonyoung is already running across the lawn to the main house, and Mingyu knows nothing's going to stop him when he gets into one of these moods.
"Uncle," Soonyoung slams open the sliding door to the tea room where Mingyu's dad is resting and a reading a novel. "Let Mingyu go to Republic City. Please. I'll go with him, he won't get lost or anything, you don't need to worry!"
Mingyu groans inwardly. "Soonyoung, it's oka-"
Soonyoung cuts him off even louder than before. "He's literally never left his house before in his eighteen years of life! He needs to live! Make friends! Get a social life! Not just save the world from whatever it needs saving from-"
Mingyu's dad cuts Soonyoung off this time, and Mingyu gulps, ready for the angry tirade. "Actually," his dad said. "That's not a bad idea."
Mingyu and Soonyoung look at each other in awe. The housemaid that stepped in when she heard yelling looks like she's about to faint. The world is misaligned, the sky is green, and Mingyu's dad is going crazy.
***
Minghao jogs down the stairs leading to the first floor of his apartment, grabbing his coat from the couch. Well, technically the only floor. He didn't think the attic he renovated into his bedroom counted as a floor. And not really his apartment. He shared it with the others after all. It's just that they all had separate houses of their own too, and only really used the place during training or group comps.
He goes out into the street and locks the door, breathing in the familiar smell of the smog and street food booths of Republic City, his city. He nods at the vendors he's become friends with thanks to never learning how to cook and starts down a familiar road. He reaches his destination in no time: Republic City's outdoor steampunk machinery warehouse, every modern day engineer's dream.
Minghao surveys the airships the police use that are being constructed or designed or fixed in awe. He's never actually been inside one, and this place is the closest he's ever been to them.
Motorcycles and automobiles are everywhere too, people scurrying around grabbing parts and tools that Minghao has never even seen to build the machines, He watches in amusement as a guy in a gas mask twists something wrong and has gasoline spurt on his face. He seems used to it. Probably what the gas mask is for, Minghao muses.
Then he finds what he's looking for. "Jun," he calls, and a bleach blonde in welding goggles turns his back on a blue diagram of probably the next design of aircrafts for the police force to smile at Minghao.
"Oh, hey." Jun smiles at him, and wipes the grease off his hands onto his super expensive looking mechanic jumpsuit, which probably costs more than Minghao's entire house and everything in it. Minghao feels his fists tighten. Jun's never had to worry about money and how he treats things like he has, and it's just a tiny bit annoying. Minghao doesn't mention it though. His bitterness shouldn't affect the way he sees Jun, especially because he doesn't mean any harm. It's just how he was raised, to not be worried about the conditions or consequences, just like how Minghao was raised to worry. Minghao can't be petty about it.
Besides, money isn't a problem anymore. It was only a concern when he was young and his parents were going through a rough time. Everything was fine now.
Jun is waving at him and he zones back to the real world. "Hello? Earth to Minghao?"
"Uh, yeah." Minghao says. "I'm here."
Jun snorts. "Why'd you come? You need anything?"
"No," Minghao says. "I always come. Nothing better to do than bother you."
"You can train," Junhui points out. "And you never bother me. Wanna see my latest project?"
Minghao ignores the ba-dump! in his heart as Junhui says that and steps forward a bit, and Junhui spreads his arms out in front of the blueprint he was leaning over earlier, grinning like a maniac. He only ever got this hyped up for machinery, and sometimes Minghao's matches. "It's a new design for an aircraft. I've been tweaking it for a few months, but I think it's at it's final form right now. Nice, right?"
Minghao doesn't know much about engineering, but he knows that the aircraft in the drawing is high tech. And good. It's massive, and there are intricate details in every square of the grid. "It's great," He says sincerely. "Another model for the police?" Jun had designed the second, fourth, and twelfth models of the aircrafts used by the city's police force, the most a single person has ever done. This would be the fifteenth, and Jun's fourth. Another new record.
"No," Jun says, surprising Minghao. "This is just for me. A personal project. I mean, if they wanna use it and think it's good enough, they can. More money for me! But nah, I made it with me in mind." Jun surveys the print like a proud mother watching her child get an award at school. "Gotta have more warlike capabilities if I want it for fighting."
He thinks that's the coolest thing ever, but Minghao isn't gonna say that outloud. He can't inflate Jun's already big enough ego. "Hey," He says. Jun looks up. "There's another match tonight. Are you gonna come?"
Jun smiles, and Minghao feels his heart melt just a little bit. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."
***
"So Mingyu's dad is sending him halfway across the world to the best and biggest city in the Nations, just to train more?" Soonyoung nods and sets his head down on the table with a sigh. "Man, that's fucked." Jeonghan says in disbelief.
Mingyu rolls his eyes at Soonyoung and Jeonghan. "I didn't expect anything otherwise. Besides, this is a good experience for me, getting trained from the most talented earthbender in Republic City. And he's my age! And I do suck at earthbending. Republic City is like, the home of earthbenders and metalbenders."
Jeonghan chews on a tangerine piece. "Actually, it was built on the remnants of an old Fire Nation colony, but glad you're being positive about it."
Mingyu stares at the both of them expectantly. "You guys are still gonna come with me, right?" His voice has a little tilt of concern, and Jeonghan and Soonyoung catch it immediately.
"Of course," Soonyoung says. "I'm your best friend! And I love going to Republic City. Your dad's paying, right?"
Jeonghan straightens his back and stretches. "Well, not like I have any hobbies or anything. There better be some cute boys at the Capitol."
***
The lights twinkle brightly. They're so bright, Minghao can only see if he squints. He can't see the audience at all, which is good so they won't distract them while in the match. And he knows Junhui is there. He promised he would come, and Minghao trusts him.
Seungcheol turns toward the three of them, Chan, Jihoon, and Minghao himself, and smiles his classic leader smile. "We can do this guys. Don't be nervous. I've got a good feeling about today."
Maybe the good feeling was their winning streak of nine matches in a row, but Minghao doesn't ruin the pep talk. It motivates him anyways. He straps his helmet in place for the nth time, and together, they step out onto the ring.