A/N: Please excuse any mistakes that I overlooked. (Constructive) Criticism is always welcome and in case you're interested, these are the girls' respective elements: Eunji Water; Bomi Air; Namjoo Earth, Naeun nonbender; Hayoung nonbender; I hope you enjoy it.

Chorong sighs as she makes her way through the crowd. She hates going shopping on Saturdays, the streets are filled to the brim and she can’t even walk two meters without getting shoved in every possible direction. But Namjoo and Bomi want to check out the new Pro-Bending equipment and Chorong can’t just say no to them, it just doesn’t work like that. It doesn’t surprise her that it takes them fifteen minutes to reach the small shop, instead of the usual five. It doesn’t surprise her either that she can see a few bruises forming on her arms. She really doesn’t like the town centre on Saturdays.

“Look at those new shoulder pads!” Bomi gushes next to her. “I would love it if the team could wear them for the next tournament.” Namjoo moves to stand next to her, she eyes the shoulder pads with a meticulousness which, Chorong feels, is alienating. 

“They’ll be too heavy.” Bomi makes an offended grimace, but Namjoo pays her no mind. “They would only restrict our movements.” She pauses, turning to make eye contact with a very confused Bomi and Chorong, although Chorong doesn’t care as much. “Our team uses a more arms-oriented fighting style, using them would require us to change a big percentage of our tactics.”

Bomi pouts. “But they’re pretty.”

“They’re impractical.” Bomi looks like she wants to argue some more, but Namjoo simply turns around and goes off to inspect some of the other new arrivals. Deciding that she doesn’t want to hear Bomi whining about the shoulder pads, Chorong goes to another section of the shop. It’s not a big shop, but it’s still big enough for her to escape Bomi’s whining.

She has a look at the weapons’ section, the shop also doubles as a self-defence shop. She thinks the combination is rather odd, because who would think to pair pro-bending and self-defence together? Definitely not Chorong, but she doesn’t complain. She hasn’t taken two steps in the aisle when she stops dead in her tracks. In front of her stands Jung Eunji, third member of the Pink Force pro-bending team and maybe, but only maybe, her crush. And it’s the first time she sees her outside of the arena.

The girl is slightly taller than her, or maybe she’s a bit shorter, maybe they’re the same height. Chorong can’t really tell because she feels exceptionally small in the girl’s presence. It’s the aura of confidence surrounding her – but she also just looks really hot. Like really hot. She’s wearing tight, ripped, black jeans, a loose white shirt with a black bra underneath and a black baseball cap. Chorong stops her eyes from travelling further than her face, which is very tempting because her shirt reveals just enough of her collarbones and shoulders to leave Chorong wanting more.

Chorong decides that it’s best for her to just turn around and return to the aisle once Eunji is gone, but before she can flee, Eunji looks up and locks eyes with her. “Hi Chorong.” She grins and Chorong curses under her breath.

“H-hey.” Chorong stammers, a bit flustered that Eunji knows her name, although she shouldn’t be surprised. Her best friends are in the same pro-bending team as her, obviously she was going to pick up Chorong’s name if they spoke about her. And Chorong had picked up Bomi and Namjoo from the changing rooms. She probably heard it then, even if Chorong had never really seen her.

Eunji takes a step closer, face beaming and seemingly ignorant to Chorong’s panicked demeanour. “Are you looking to get into pro-bending?” She asks curiously, her voice sweet and light, like an early spring morning and Chorong wouldn’t mind if Eunji would just keep on talking forever. “I could help you choose some gear if you want.” Her palms start to heat up unnaturally, but Chorong is too distracted by the way Eunji’s lips move when she speaks to notice it.

“I’m a non-bender, uh I just. Namjoo. Bomi. Thank you.” She manages to say before she makes a run for it, passing a very confused Bomi and a laughing Namjoo. She’s going to kill them later, she decides when she realises that Eunji being here was the real reason why they wanted her to tag along.  Once outside she runs to the nearest water source she can find to splash some water on her red face, when she notices the heat emitting from her palms and the light pain it causes. She plunges them into the water, along with her face.

//

She ignores Namjoo blowing up her phone the next day, instead continues scrolling through the endless void that is BenderNews. She isn’t mad at her, but she does enjoy making her friend squirm and this way, she can get a free coffee out of the situation. Once she’s had enough of the news site, she tosses her phone aside, rather uncaringly and stands up to head to the living room. Her roommates are out and she has to admit she likes the calm that comes with their absence.

After ungraciously plopping down on the couch she grabs the remote and turns on the TV. As expected there’s nothing on, that in any way manages to grab her attention. When she passes the same channel for the fifth time she also tosses the remote control aside. There has to be something for her to do in this house. Her eyes land on the fridge: she could eat. She hasn’t eaten since yesterday’s lunch date with Bomi and Namjoo and her stomach has been making itself known for the last few hours. Except there’s nothing in the fridge she wants to eat. All they have is fast food she doesn’t like and random fruits. She looks through the cupboards next and finally settles for rice.

Rice takes a while to cook, more than she would like it to, but she figures she can use the time to do something productive – for a change. After she’s put the rice to cook, she grabs the yoga matt rolled up underneath the couch and gets ready to do some stretching exercises.

She doesn’t notice the time passing, too absorbed in her exercises to notice that she should have checked up on the rice at least ten minutes ago, she only realises it when she can smell the faint scent of something burning.

She rushes to the kitchen, half tripping over the yoga mat, all while repeatedly muttering “, , ”, under her breath. She grabs the pot, somehow managing to miss the handle and instead hold the body itself, half-throws it in the sink and turns on the tap after removing the lid. The pot ends up being mostly fine, although the same can’t be said for her rice. She dumps the rice in the trash can once it has cooled down and grabs one of the apples in the fridge. It’ll have to do for now

It doesn’t occur to her that it’s weird her palms are fine and that she didn’t get burned.

//

Bomi dared her to do it, she tells herself. Obviously. Why else would she go to Eunji’s house, to ask her on a date? She would never do something this stupid. She tightly grabs onto the sleeves of her jumper, eyes nervously scanning her surroundings – it’s not too late to back out. She delayed her arrival long enough that Bomi and Namjoo would believe her were she to go back now and tell them that Eunji had rejected her. Obviously she would need to leave the country – or at least the city – before they meet Eunji again, but that’s something she can live with. Chorong groans in frustration, she’s about five minutes from Eunji’s house (ten if she tries really hard), and she feels like she’s going to explode. That’s what she gets for agreeing to playing Truth or Dare with Bomi and Namjoo.

She stops in front of a door painted in a pretty sea blue, it makes her smile. Bomi had told her that Eunji was very proud of being a waterbender and that she took advantage of living alone to display it. Chorong takes a deep breath and raises her fist to knock on the door. It takes all of her self-control to not run away as soon as her knuckles come in contact with the wooden door. She nervously chews on her lower lip while she waits for Eunji to open the door.

Minutes and minutes pass and Eunji still hasn’t opened the door, when Chorong suddenly hears a crash from one of the gardens. Curious Chorong walks to the stone wall closest to her, holds onto it and hoists herself up until she can see what’s on the other side – or rather, who. There is Eunji, dressed in her Pro-bending attire, destroying …pots?

“Eunji?” Chorong asks confused, loud enough for the girl to hear her and turn around to find out who called her. And when their eyes meet, Chorong’s hold on the wall slackens and she slips. Squeezing her eyes shut she’s ready to hit the ground when something wet and oddly warm ties around her waist. Confused she opens her eyes, only to see an arm of water guide her to the ground and then disappear back into the garden. Seconds later, Eunji exits through the backdoor looking visibly worried.

“Chorong.” She says. “Are you alright?” The concern in her voice makes Chorong’s heart flutter a bit.

“I am, thank you for, uh, helping me out.” Eunji just grins and dismisses her thanks with a flick of her wrist. “What were you doing with those pots?” Chorong frowns, a bit confused.

“Ah, that…” Eunji laughs sheepishly, hand coming up to run through her hair and Chorong can’t help but to blatantly stare. “I was practicing my aim and the power of my shots for the next tournament.” Chorong just nods, she wasn’t sure why she hadn’t come to the conclusion herself, it did seem pretty obvious. “Will I see you there? The tournament I mean. Will I see you at the tournament?”

Chorong grins, her answer eliciting a smile from Eunji. “Of course.”

“Nice, I’ll make sure to fight extra hard then.”

Chorong nods, not quite registering just what Eunji had replied, but when she does, her eyes widen and she stumbles back (Eunji instantly reaches out to steady her), stuttering a string of words that don’t make much sense in this context. “I uh, yes, hard for me, your arms look hard.” When she sees Eunji’s mouth contort to a smirk, she blushes. “I mean your arms look like you fight hard. And uh thank you?”

Eunji’s clear laughter echoes through the quiet evening air. “Glad you like my arms.”

Only now does Chorong fully realise what Eunji said. “Wait, wouldn’t you have fought hard anyway?”

Eunji shrugs, still not letting go of Chorong’s forearms – not that Chorong’s complaining. “I mean, yeah probably, but if you’re here I’ll be sure to try even harder.”

“Why?” Chorong asks, eyeing the brunette in front of her curiously.

“To impress you, of course.”

Ah. It all made sense to Chorong now, why Eunji knew her name, the cute smile she gave her whenever they saw each other, asking her friends many questions about her, yes that all made sense, except that, no. It didn’t.

“Haha”, she laughs awkwardly, inwardly cringing for doing it, “why would you want to impress me?”

Eunji shrugs, eyes forming two half-moons when she smiles. “I guess you’re just the kind of person I’d like to impress.” Chorong nods along, brain caught in a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions – could Eunji…? No way. Eunji gently pulls her out of them. “Sooo,” she drawls, “why did you come over?”

Ah right, there was this too. Chorong takes a deep breath, trying to muster up all the courage necessary. “I wanted to ask you something.”

“Are you okay? You’re awfully warm.” Eunji states concerned, briefly glancing at Chorong’s hands placed on her forearms. She can feel the heat Chorong’s palms are emitting through her sleeves, and her training shirt’s material is not very thin.

“Yes, I am. I just wanted to ask you, if uh.” She stops dead in her sentence. It smells like smoke, something must be burning. Judging by Eunji’s face she has also realised that something is burning. Chorong wills herself to let go of Eunji arms, she’d like to hold onto them longer, they’re comfortable, but they have to find out what’s burn- ah. “Eunji, uh please don’t panic, but your sleeves are on fire.”

Eunji’s eyes instantly dart to her sleeves only to widen in horror. Her sleeves have caught on fire. She quickly runs back to her garden, to the small fountain next to her training pots and bends the water on her sleeves. She turns to Chorong, wanting to tell her that everything’s fine, when she notices her hands. “Uh Chorong, your hands.”

Chorong looks at her hand and starts frantically waving them when she sees that they’re on fire. “, , what’s happening why are my hands burning?!” She shouts in a wave of panic, completely unaware of the bursts of fire she’s shooting off in the process. 

“Chorong stop! Stop shaking your hands!” Eunji shouts, but Chorong doesn’t hear her. Eunji tries to move closer, but the flames are too concentrated.

“I just wanted to ask you to get a drink with me!” Chorong shouts annoyed. “Why are my hands burning?” Seeing that Chorong isn’t going to calm down anytime soon, Eunji draws some water from the fountain and bends it into a shield. With the water shield in front of her she can finally move closer to Chorong. Once she’s close enough she lets the water envelop Chorong’s hands, effectively suffocating the fire. When the flames have completely subsided she draws the water back and takes Chorong’s wet hands in hers.

“Chorong, are you alright? What happened? I thought you were a nonbender”

“I am, but… I don’t know.”

Eunji can feel her heart break at the sight of the scared look on Chorong’s face. “Okay, I’ll call Namjoo and Bomi and then we’ll figure something out.” Chorong nods, still dazed. “Oh and Chorong?” Eunji calls out on the way to her house.

“Hmm?”

“I’ll gladly go get some drinks with you.”

//

Ten minutes later they’re sitting on Eunji’s couch, Chorong curled into Eunji, looking very tired. Bomi and Namjoo sitting across them on the floor. Bomi is holding up Eunji’s pro-bending outfit for her and Namjoo to inspect, while they’re waiting for Hayoung and Naeun to arrive.

“Wow Rongie-ah, you did quite the number on this.” Bomi says. “If you wanted to get Eunji out of her clothes this badly I’m sure you could’ve just asked.” Chorong lets out an embarrassed whine, curling further into Eunji.

“Come on Bomi, be nice to her, she’s already having a hard enough time as it is.” Eunji gently chastises her friend, hand comfortingly combing through Chorong’s hair. A knock echoes at the door. Eunji makes a motion to stand up, but she’s instantly held back by Chorong, who looks like a lost puppy.

“I’ll get it.” Namjoo says, shaking her head at Chorong’s state. In no time, Hayoung has joined and with her: Naeun. They sit next to Bomi and Eunji fills them in on what happened. Naeun swiftly checks Chorong for any injuries, then shakes her head at Hayoung who instantly breaks out into huge grin and proceeds to ask Chorong a few questions.

“Have you experienced something similar to this before?”

Chorong sits up to face her friend properly. “Yes, I have.”

“When did it start?”

She ponders for a moment. “A few days ago. My palms suddenly started warming up a lot, but I didn’t really notice.”

Hayoung nods, the grin ever-present. “Okay, this is a pretty simple guess, but I’m like 99 percent sure.” She takes a pause before meeting Chorong’s eyes. “Our Chorong here, is a firebender.”

The room is plunged into total silence, then loud laughter from Bomi until she realises that Hayoung is serious and instantly stops. “So uh, please explain.”

Hayoung nods. “Sure. It has happened before that some bender unlocked their power later in their life, like for example back when the sudden appearance of airbenders happened.”

Namjoo nods. “Yeah, that kinda makes sense. Chorong, you did say your grandfather was a firebender, didn’t you?” When she hums in confirmation Namjoo turns back to Hayoung. “But why would they appear now?”

“I don’t know.” Hayoung shrugs. “Probably because they were related to some strong emotions, but I’d like to take you to the lab tomorrow and run some test, just to make sure everything is fine.” She tells Chorong who simply gives her a thumbs up. “Well, now that this is taken care of, I’ll go, I still have to finish up some work.” Hayoung says and gets up, making a motion of dusting off her pants. Naeun joins her and so do Bomi and Namjoo.

“Thank you guys.” Chorong says and hugs each of them tightly before they go out the door, leaving only Chorong with Eunji.

“How are you feeling?” Eunji asks, tugging Chorong closer to her.

“Better, definitely relieved.” She tentatively bites her lower lip. “I’m really sorry about your clothes, I’ll buy you new ones.”

“Eh, they were my old uniform, don’t worry. I was gonna buy a new set anyway.” Chorong sighs, her head cast down until Eunji scoops her up and carries her outside to the garden.

“Eunji? What are you doing?”

Eunji simply laughs. “You’re really cute. Let us watch the sunset together.” They sit down near the small fountain, one of Eunji’s arm draped around Chorong’s shoulders. “So, about the drinks, is Friday night after the games alright?”

“Yes, that’d be perfect.” She looks at Eunji’s profile, illuminated by the evening sky.

Mustering up her courage she leans forward and presses a soft kiss to Eunji’s cheek.