TLOK | KYALIN | oneshots

Almost (kyalin)

A/N: if anyone was confused, I use they/them pronouns for Huan and headcanon them as nonbinary

„Huan created this one after..." Suyin's voice got blocked out for another time this evening.

Huan had their first exhibition in one of the art galleries in Republic City and naturally, Lin was invited and wouldn't miss it. Even though she would not let on it, she enjoyed her nibling's art and the fact that it was so close to her now made her happier than anyone could ever see.

Lin kept nodding, pretending that she was listening to whatever Su was babbling about this time. She understood that her sister was excited and proud of her child but Lin liked to enjoy art in peace, without anyone to keep her from getting lost in the piece with their talking. She liked to focus on every part of the sculpture, how each detail was bent, with wha-

„Hello, Beifong" a hand wrapped around Lin's shoulders when a familiar voice she hasn't heard in years stopped her train of thought. It seemed like Su had to disappear at some point... Probably a win for Lin.

„Kya" Lin side-eyed the waterbender, slightly paralyzed from the touch.

„You're always so happy to see me..." Kya teased, picking on Lin's grumpiness.

Lin chuckled silently. „Of course I am" she wrapped her arm around Kya's waist and brought her closer to a side hug that she escaped quickly, shrugging off Kya's arm.

„Huan turned out to be quite of an artist..." Kya stated as she looked around.

„Yeah, they did..." Lin agreed, her eyes going back to the sculpture before her. „What are you doing here anyway?" she asked.

„Su invited me" Kya answered simply.

„Of course she did" Lin chuckled, finally turning to face Kya.

„Mind if I join you?" the waterbender asked.

„Just keep your mouth shut" Lin scoffed and walked past Kya, heading to another sculpture.

Kya smiled to herself and quickly turned to catch up with the metalbender. They haven't seen each other in years but this time gap didn't seem to exist. It was always like that with Lin. No matter how long they have been apart once they met it felt like they were talking to each other just the day before.

Lin walked up to another sculpture that was on her way, Kya following quickly after. This one had various colors such as blue, red, yellow, and mainly white.

„This one is... Colorful" Kya pointed out, causing Lin to smirk.

„Very observant" the metalbender chuckled. „Each of the colors is a different kind of metal, Huan made it that way so Toph can also see the structure"

„It's- Do they always make things the way Toph can see them fully?" Kya asked.

„Yes. Surprisingly she appreciates that. Huan somehow convinced her to work with them on a few things" Lin tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows, watching some part of the sculpture that Kya could not identify.

„I didn't know Toph was into that type of stuff" Kya tried searching for a part that Lin was watching so carefully.

„She is as long as it's throwing around things Huan isn't satisfied with" Lin straightened her posture before placing a hand onto the sculpture and rubbing a piece of metal.

„I'm not sure if you're supposed to do this..." Kya pointed at Lin's hand.

„It has bumps, each color with different height. Check it out" Lin took Kya's hand and placed it on top of the sculpture, quickly withdrawing her own.

„How- It doesn't look like it's higher" the waterbender frowned in confusion.

„It would be possible to see with a seismic sense" Lin explained.

„This kid..." Kya chuckled, taking her hand off of the sculpture.

„They're one talented bender..." Lin smirked.

„Look, this one is nice!" Kya grabbed Lin's hand and started dragging her to a different part of the gallery.

At first, Lin wanted to stop but quickly gave in since Kya seemed very much content dragging the Chief across the crowd. She decided to give the waterbender this bit of joy, she liked Kya's smile too much to be the cause of it disappearing.

They stopped in front of the big, thin, square piece of metal that was hung up on the wall. different sorts of bubbles were bent up, forming something close to a face with the top of the head open and covered in a crowd of those bubbles.

„You know we could just... Walk here?" Lin asked, noticing that Kya was still holding her hand as she admired the piece hanging on the wall.

„Where would be the fun then?" Kya side-eyed the metalbender whose gaze was focused on the sculpture.

„There's no need for fun in here" Lin answered simply, her eyes still on the artwork at the wall even though her focus was at the hand that was still intertwined with Kya's.

„Lin, it's art, there are no rules here" the waterbender chuckled. „I know you like rules but sometimes you have to just... Get out of your comfort zone and stop listening to your mind"

Lin's gaze dropped to the floor and she scoffed. The longer Kya didn't let go of her hand, the more she felt her cheeks flush but the waterbender didn't seem to notice. „And what am I supposed to do next?" she asked. No matter how hard she tried to relax, holding Kya's hand kept making her only more nervous but she wouldn't dare to let go, she somehow liked this new feeling.

„See what happens and go with it" Kya grinned.

Lin closed her eyes and took a deep breath before turning to face Kya. Waterbender's blue eyes seemed like they were smiling on their own every time Lin looked at her. Even without the corners of her mouth curving, Lin could swear Kya kept on smirking every time their gazes met.

„Try it" the waterbender encouraged, staring what seemed like right into Lin's soul. She squeezed the earthbender's hand as a form of reassurance, making Lin's breath hitch.

„Kya I- I'm not sure-"

„Stop" Kya cut her off. „Less thinking more doing"

Lin let out the breath she was holding. She tried to forget where she was, or why, completely turning her brain off but she couldn't just do it so she decided to get lost in Kya's eyes.

Once their gazes met, Lin forgot everything. Well... Maybe not everything, all she remembered was just that she was standing in front of the most beautiful woman she has ever seen and felt a really strange pull towards her.

Lin didn't even notice when this strange pull got her closer to Kya, so close that their bodies were almost flush against each other and their lips were only centimeters away.

Just when Lin felt Kya's hand that she wasn't holding slide up and almost pull her closer so they would break the space between each other a voice came up from behind her, causing both women to take a step away from each other and let go of their hands.

„Kya! Lin! Here you are!" Su said, walking up to them.

„Yes... Here we are!" Kya chuckled awkwardly.

„Food was served in the other part of the building. Just wanted to let you know before everything disappears" the younger Beifong smirked.

„Aw, thank you!" Kya grinned before Su turned and walked away. The waterbender looked at Lin again. „Let's go eat" she smirked and started walking away.

Lin didn't move for a second, still processing what just happened and blushing like an idiot.

„Well, are you coming?" Kya asked.

Lin shook her head and quickly joined the waterbender. Kind of thankful that Kya didn't try talking about their almost kiss but at the same time she wished they could finish their conversation. For now, she had to leave the taste of Kya's lips to her imagination, no matter how many times she scolded herself and tried pushing the now growing crush to the back of her head.