Chapter Text
Neil isn’t woken by the sunlight which slips over the sheets and paints his hair glowing gold, nor is he woken by one of the neighbourhood’s stray cats leaping through the open window onto his and Andrew’s bed. He is woken, however, when said cat tries to sit on his face and almost suffocates him in his sleep.
“Motherfucker,” Neil says, pulling himself upright. The unnamed cat – because names mean belonging, and neither Neil nor Andrew will admit to being defeated by the affectionate stray quite yet – nuzzles Neil’s face, indifferent to his exasperation. “You’re using me for tuna.”
The cat butts his forehead into Neil’s face, as though telling him to get on with it. Neil sighs, stretching in the tangle of sheets until he feels his back pop. He throws a hand across the bed, seeking Andrew’s warmth, but finds his side of the bed deserted. Neil remembers now, somewhat fuzzily, Andrew slipping into his clothes in the early hours of the morning, stopping to press a kiss to Neil’s forehead as he left. Neil lets the tips of his fingers bump against the wall instead, smooth stone carefully bended into form. Neil’s eyes slip closed again as he feels out the shape and structure of the building, trying to distinguish Andrew’s work from his own without success. They built their house together on the outskirts of town with the expectation of finding an occasional moment of peace further from the bustling centre. Neil can no longer say which parts of their home are his handywork and which are Andrew’s; even when he digs right down to a molecular level, they are irreversibly intertwined.
Today marks the end of their first week in their new house. They’ve been living in the town for months, but the dilapidated downtown buildings the Foxes took shelter in upon their arrival were little more than a set of walls to keep the wind out. This is theirs and theirs alone. This is Home.
The Foxes had originally planned to build another encampment, but it soon became clear that the architecture of war would no longer suit their purposes. The Foxes aren’t soldiers anymore; they want to welcome people in, not block them out. They searched instead for infrastructure, regions accessible by road and sea, leaving a trail for the lost and helpless to follow.
They came upon a town on the west coast, an old port town a dozen families short of deserted. The region exchanged hands between Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation rule a dozen times over the course of the war, most of its buildings frequently repurposed to house troops passing in one direction or another. When soldiers on both sides returned home to their families, they took most of the town’s economy with them. The territory is officially Earth Kingdom now, but there were as many amber eyes as green peering at the Foxes when they first walked through the town gates.
“You can’t be serious, Wymack.” Allison’s arms were folded tight against her chest, lip curling. “I would have preferred camping.”
“Go ahead, wilderness is back that way. Give my regards to the hog-monkeys.” Wymack turns on the scowling Foxes. “Anyone else?”
“No, Sir,” Nicky answered sarcastically. He spotted an elephant-rat darting across their path and squealed. “Okay, maybe, yes. Guys?”
“Here is good,” Neil said. They turned to look at him in surprise. “We can’t make the world a better place by doing things the easy way. We said we wanted to make things better, and we can’t do that if we’re living in a palace. We have to go where people need our help.”
“I’m retiring from world-saving,” Aaron muttered. Someone popped him around the back of the head in response.
“I’m with Neil.” Dan threw an arm around his shoulders. “Damn, someone has been practicing his motivational speeches.”
“Or spending too much time around Kevin’s public persona.” Matt made a fist and pressed it to his chest. “People of the land, unite! Together, we shall take up our sponges and remove the mould which ails our fair city!”
Kevin did not deem the imitation worthy of a response. “Neil says it’s good, and I trust him.”
Kevin’s agreement brought the rest of the Foxes around. The transformation was slow, the locals hesitant to breach the divide with the newcomers. The Foxes worked diligently, however, and soon new buildings sprang up to replace old as the ashy aftertaste of war was washed and scrubbed away. Word spreads of the Foxes’ new headquarters, and soon visitors began to trace the Foxes’ tracks towards the city, seeking help and guidance that Neil was in no way qualified to give. Airbenders who previously wandered adrift through the kingdoms came to settle, emboldened by the Avatar’s presence, Katelyn among them. Citizens of one nation or another who, for whatever reason, no longer felt welcome at home came and were absorbed into the growing population without question. Each new arrival was another hungry mouth to feed, but also a new set of hands ready and willing to build a new life. Blacksmiths and butchers and benders alike brought new skills, new commerce, new business. When spring arrived, the wildflower seeds Renee scattered bloomed in cracks and crevices, painting the city every colour imaginable. Finally, once the town was thriving and the Foxes were settled, Neil and Andrew picked out a plot of land together, and that is where they stay.
And that is where Neil wakes, with a cat crushing his chest and plant pots on the windowsill and the hours-old smell of the coffee he bought from the trading vessels down at the dock. Andrew always makes Neil buy it, as he gets the best prices whether he barters for them or not. Winning the Avatar’s patronage is considered good for business, apparently.
Andrew told Neil what had roused him so early, but the memory is fuzzy, eclipsed by morning kisses. More solid by far are Neil’s memories of the previous night, Andrew’s body on his, pinning him down, holding him together, pulling him apart. People have learned to ignore the scars and burn marks, but the light bruising running the line of Neil’s neck may attract a different kind of attention.
Neil has been antsy for weeks, now, and Andrew can tell; perhaps the previous night was his attempt to ease the restless itch from Neil’s skin. It worked long enough to put Neil into a deep, satisfied stupor, but as the cockerel-chimps beckon in the sunrise in throaty squawks, the restlessness returns. The life of the Avatar is never easy, but between the bursts of frantic world-saving are long, empty stretches that leave Neil at a loose end. What he needs is a challenge. He doesn’t voice the urge to Andrew, who would most likely direct Neil to his neglected airbending exercises. While Neil has now mastered every element to some degree, airbending, despite Renee’s best efforts, is not his strongest.
Renee - he remembers now that Andrew’s departure had something to do with owing Renee a favour. Curiosity peaked, Neil hauls himself out of bed, wincing when he sees how high the sun is in the sky. Unnamed Cat weaves in and out of Neil’s ankles as he stumbles around his room, pulling on clothes without paying attention to whether they’re his or Andrew’s. A jumble of colours won’t stand out in town anymore, so mixed is the city’s population that few still feel the need to announce their nation of origin in their clothing.
Neil finds the Foxes gathered in the town square, a flat expanse built on the ashes of a former watchtower, remarkable only for its location at the heart of the city. Several members of the town council had suggested a statue of the Avatar in its centre, a proposal which Neil hurriedly shut down. The dusty, cobbled space is usually clear save for a dozen children kicking a ball around and a few food stalls. Today, a wide platform has been raised above the ground level of the square, two feet high and split in half by a dividing line. Andrew, Renne, Matt and Allison stand on one side while Kevin, Dan, Nicky and Aaron take the other, geared up in helmets and light armour. Good-natured insults are being slung back and forth between the opposing sides while Wymack and Abby watch from the side-lines. Wymack is beaming ear-to-ear, while Abby has her hands over her eyes. Several Foxes are boasting minor scrapes and bruises, although seem no less spirited for them.
Aaron is the first to catch sight of Neil. “Thank fucking god. Let him substitute for me.”
“No way!” Allison is quick to object. “Surely having the fucking Avatar on their team is breaking a rule of some kind. Wymack?”
“Can’t say we ever ran into that problem back in the day. Kayleigh wrote a list of rules a mile long, but I don’t remember the Avatar coming up in any of them. The ones I still remember, anyway.” Wymack claps Neil on the shoulder. “Fancy a go, kid?”
“What is this?” Neil watches as Aaron yanks his helmet off, tossing it to Neil despite the complaints of his teammates. He looks to Andrew for answers and is met with the quirk of an eyebrow.
“Just put the helmet on and get up here, we’ll teach you as we go.” Kevin’s cheeks are flushed, his eyes alight with the kind of manic joy that usually only comes after mastering a new firebending move.
“You will not,” Dan objects. “Coach, tell him the rules first.”
“Coach? I’m not your damn coach!”
“Let him on, Coach!” Matt calls from the opposite side. “We believe in you, Neil!”
Dan sticks her tongue out at him, and he responds by blowing exaggerated kisses while Allison fake-retches at his side.
“Game’s simple. Used to play it with Kayleigh and a few of the guys before war got in the way.” Wymack gestures to the platform. “Four players to a team, one for each element. The aim is to knock everyone from the other team off their half of the platform. You can swap any bender for a non-bender player, the advantage being that non-benders don’t have to stick to their side of the court.”
This is going to end badly, Neil thinks. “I’m in.”
Dan and Nicky whoop as they haul him onto the platform. Kevin immediately drags him to the far end of their side to run through strategies that go straight over Neil’s head.
“Is Neil subbing as a non-bender or an airbender?” Renee calls from the other side of the court, a mischievous grin undercutting her polite tone.
“What’s the difference?” Andrew says. Neil leans around Kevin to glare at him. Andrew’s stance is open, but his relaxed posture strikes Neil as strangely artificial. Neil’s eyes flick over him. Andrew, catching him looking, slowly raises his middle finger. Neil knows he’s being goaded, but the sensation is oddly thrilling when Andrew is the one causing it.
“Airbender,” he answers loudly, delighting in the answering twitch of Andrew’s lips. A crowd has gathered around the platform, whooping as Neil straps on his armour. Even Aaron has stuck around to watch. Katelyn, who was there to welcome Aaron as he hopped down from the platform, wraps her arms around him and rests her chin on his head, cheering his team on for him.
Wymack kicks off the match with a piercing whistle, and within moments Neil is immensely glad for the armour as a block of clay smacks into his chest. A wave of Kevin’s fire slashes past him, disintegrating Matt’s water before it can knock Neil back any further. Neil is grateful for the cover; while the others focus their attacks on whoever is posing the greatest threat in the moment, Andrew bombards Neil relentlessly with rocky projectiles. His stance remains loose, but Neil can see the spark catching in his eyes, and it urges Neil on. Neil spins, throwing a wall of air across the court which sends the opposition skittering back. Only Andrew succeeds in holding his ground.
Allison uses the moment of distraction to charge Neil’s side of the court, barrelling into Nicky as he tries to direct a jet of water into her face. Nicky tumbles backwards, shrieking as his feet stumble on the edge. His arm catches Allison’s as he falls, and both topple off the court with a heavy thud as the growing crowd cheers. Neil’s concern is washed away by a combination of giggling and swearing as their heads pop back into view.
“Tear them apart!” Allison hollers to her team while Nicky sends Neil a thumbs-up. Eric is at Nicky’s side a moment later, sweeping Nicky into his arms, and Nicky promptly loses all interest in how the remaining members of his team are faring.
Kevin curses as Matt manages to dodge a blast of flames in time to smack a wall of water into Kevin’s face. Kevin shakes his dripping fringe from his eyes and readies another attack, but Dan rushes past him, gleefully slamming her boyfriend with a quick succession of attacks that drive him mercilessly towards the edge of the court.
“Babe!” Matt pleads.
“Nice try.” Dan smirks as she blows him over the side. A vendor hollers as Matt crashes into his stand. Matt shakes cabbage leaves from his hair as he pushes himself upright, turning to the crowd and bowing theatrically.
Neil would be revelling in the crowd’s reaction, but all his attention is occupied with Andrew’s focused assault. If anything, it’s probably doing Neil’s team a favour, as Renee is left to fend for herself against Dan and Kevin’s attacks. Neil throws another wall of air, and this time Andrew’s feet slide a fraction back.
Neil doesn’t see the source of the movement that shakes the entire platform, but he does hear three bodies hitting the cobbles below.
Neil blows himself back onto his feet with a wobbly blast of air to see only one other player remaining. From below, Kevin fires off orders which Neil ignores while Dan and Renne pull each other up, giggling.
“Fuck, this is good.” Dan says. “I vote we build it even higher next time. Add a little more drama.”
“I vote against,” says Abby in a pained tone as she checks Dan for bruising.
“We used to play twice as high as this.” Wymack says. “I landed on my head every other match, never did me any harm.”
“Are you sure about that?” Nicky says, which earns him a pop in the head.
The cheers of the crowd peak as Neil turns back to his remaining opponent. Andrew has planted himself on the boundary line, arms crossed, waiting for Neil to make a move.
“Having fun?” Neil says.
Andrew tilts his head to one side. “You call that airbending?”
Neil copies Andrew’s pose. “I’ll show you airbending.”
“STOP FLIRTING WITH HIM AND KICK HIS ASS ALREADY!” Kevin hollers.
For a moment, everything else falls away; Neil’s universe narrows to the court and the man before him. He isn’t Nathaniel, he isn’t the Avatar, he isn’t even Neil; it doesn’t matter what his name is or where he’s from or where he’ll be tomorrow. All that matters is the court and the man before him.
Something in Neil’s chest clicks into place. He is suddenly intimately aware of the shift and pull of the air around him, curling across his skin and making the hair on his arms stand on end. Airbending relies on detachment and freedom, and something about this ridiculous game has loosened the chokehold of Neil’s obligations and stresses like little else can. Neil isn’t afraid of letting go anymore. He knows that no matter how far he drifts, he will always have Andrew to pull him back to the ground.
The wind whips into a blustering frenzy as Neil rises to the challenge before him. The smile that slices Andrew’s lips apart is ice-cold and searing hot at the same time.
They both strike at once. Neil’s wall of air blasts Andrew’s projectile apart, scattering the spectators with a cloud of dust. Andrew is quick to follow up with a second attack, but this time Neil throws himself into the air, neatly flipping out of the rubble’s path. He flicks a tunnel of air in Andrew’s direction that sends him staggering sideways, giving Neil enough time to brace himself for another onslaught. Andrew’s pulse shakes through the ground, racing through Neil’s skin. Andrew is throwing himself into his bending like never before, and it sends a hot thrill through Neil’s gut to know that he is responsible for it.
Andrew throws, Neil evades, and they dance around each other for several minutes, their movements sharp and focused. Finally, one of Andrew’s rocks hits Neil at the same moment that Neil sends a wall of air barrelling towards him. Teetering on the edge, Neil catches Andrew’s eye. Together, they fall.
The crowd goes wild, and disputes over who was the first to land break out immediately. Neil is hauled to his feet by the watching Foxes who shake the dust from his shoulders.
“Too close to say for sure,” Wymack says. “I have to call it a draw.”
“That’s rough, buddy,” Nicky says, clapping Neil on the back.
“Rematch!” Katelyn yells, and the call is picked up and passed through the bystanders until the square shakes with it.
“Same time next week?” Dan asks, and her question is answered with a definitive cheer.
“We should definitely build it higher next time,” Matt says as Neil and Dan smooth the platform back into the ground. “Oh! With a moat!”
“Typical waterbender,” says Aaron. “We can’t build a moat in the middle of the town square.”
“Then we take it out of town,” says Dan, eyes sparkling. “Make it even bigger. Like the arenas they hold the Earthrumble Tournaments in.”
“We could make a real stadium, one we don’t have to dismantle afterwards,” Kevin cuts in, speaking so quickly he borders on unintelligible. “With seating for the audience, and a substitute bench, and-”
Kevin’s words fade as Neil turns his attention to the crowd. The match over, citizens of the city are gathering in groups, red and orange and green and blue mixing and swirling together as they laugh and chatter about the match’s outcome. Humming through the ground and air alike is the unmistakable sensation of a world coming together.
“Your airbending has improved,” Renee says, slipping her arm through Neil’s to watch with him. Her new arrow tattoos catch the light, not yet covered by her hair which is still growing back in the aftermath of receiving them. “I wish I could take responsibility.”
“What do you mean?”
The corner of Renee’s mouth twitches. “Andrew is always good at drawing out the best in you.”
Neil rolls his eyes. “I’m not sure I have a lot of faith in goading as a teaching technique.”
“You can’t argue with results,” Renee says. She leaves Neil with a smile and a wink.
He finds Andrew tolerating a blow-by-blow account of the match from Nicky, who appears to have forgotten that Andrew was present throughout. “Did you do your favour for Renee?” he asks, cutting Nicky off in the middle of re-enacting his own downfall.
“You tell me.”
Neil groans. “She wanted you to trick me into practicing my airbending.”
“You skipped a couple sessions with her.”
“You didn’t even know I’d follow you down here. Or that I’d join in. Or that Aaron would ask to sub out.” Neil pauses, then curses. “Aaron was in on it-?!”
“You’re predictable.”
“You’re an ass.”
Their new home doesn’t have a secluded cliff face nearby like their old one did, but they built their house tall and narrow, with a flat roof accessible by stone steps. The nights are warmer here, and from their roof they can see out to the calm sea. Trading ships and transport vessels slide lazily through the silvery harbour water while fireflies dance in the air.
“Will you play with us again?” Neil asks. Andrew throws a pebble off the roof as far as he can and Neil bends it back into his palm, a cross between a casual game of catch and a battle of bending abilities which has developed between them.
“Will you?”
Neil nods. “Did you see how watching us play brought everyone together? I think it could be a real tool in bringing balance to the world-”
“Bullshit.” Andrew’s fingers slide across Neil’s neck, tapping his pulse point. “You just liked throwing yourself around.”
“What can I say, there was this hot guy on the opposite team-”
“-I’ll tell Matt you said so-”
“-and yes, fine, I had fun. You got me.”
Andrew hums. For a moment they lapse into silence, listening to the murmur of city life around them.
“Did you?” Neil says eventually.
“Did I what?”
“Have fun?” Neil’s question earns him a narrow look. There’s a light patter of footsteps as Unnamed Cat joins them on the roof.
“That cat needs a name,” Andrew says in lieu of answering. He runs a quick hand through her fur as she passes on the way to Neil’s lap.
“Yeah,” says Neil, smiling. Andrew doesn’t need to answer him, and they both know it. The beat of his heart under Neil’s palm says enough. Neil throws the pebble as hard as he can. It flies across the rooftops until Andrew’s bending catches it. It hovers in the air before zipping back to Andrew’s hand. Andrew flicks it in the air once, twice, the closest he comes to gloating. Neil reaches out and catches the pebble mid-air. “One more round, or bed?”
Andrew hooks his fingers in Neil’s collar and pulls him in. They kiss, deep and warm and perfect. “Bed, junkie.”
They make their way inside, the city at their back and the newest member of their family winding through their ankles.
It’s overwhelming, sometimes, the way the world calls to Neil, every atom begging to be held and fixed and pulled back into balance. But with Andrew there to hold him together, Neil knows he will never be lost again.