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Jinora woke up at the crack of dawn as usual, but today there was no point in getting up. Feelings of uselessness and a looming cloud of failure threatened to swallow her whole. She wouldn’t be getting up to do her morning run before going to pilates and then getting on the ice - because she had lost. It was more than just a loss; it was an utter and complete defeat and embarrassment.
Her season had started off with minor hiccups, but nothing she couldn’t recover from as a nationally ranked ice skater. However, everything had gone downhill at the Grand Prix. She had a terrible feeling when kicked off for her triple-axel jump. Seconds later, she had hit the barrier of the skating rink and everything had flickered to black. As the daughter of Olympic gold ice skater Pema Inba and politician Tenzin Gyasto, her fuck up was common knowledge to the whole ice skating community and beyond- millions of people had been watching. Her injury had only been a mild concussion, but the shame it caused was way worse than any pain.
Her hands tightly gripped her sheets as she relived the moment hundreds of times. She pulled the sheets over her head, wishing all her bad thoughts would go away.
“JINORAAAAA” a voice called out through her house.
“Go away, Ikki.” Jinora commanded.
“Nice try, but I am not Ikki.” the voice responded, busting down her door.
“Coach Korra?” Jinora peeked out from under her covers, confused. It was not typically to see Korra so chipper this early in the morning, especially not at her house.
“Yep! I decided to join you on your morning run today, so get up and get ready!”
Jinora wondered what in the world could have convinced a former Olympic skater and now coach to wake up before the crack of dawn just to annoy her. As much power as her parents had, it wasn’t enough to make someone like Korra do something she didn’t want to. Maybe it was out of pity? It had been roughly a month since her skating incident and she was fully recovered, but it had already been decided for her by her mom and dad it was best for her to take a season off to let the dust settle.
She and Korra sat through a fairly painless breakfast of energy bars and protein shakes before setting off on their run.
“So Korra, what is it that you could possibly want from me that made you wake up before the crack of dawn to see me?” Jinora questioned, now that they were away from the prying ears of her siblings.
“I have a proposition for you.” Korra started and Jinora rolled her eyes at the older girl. “Your parents said you couldn’t do singles next season, but they never said you couldn’t compete in pairs.”
“Pairs?” Jinora raised an eyebrow. “Is some man just going to fall out of the sky that wants to skate pairs with me? I mean, I want to skate and I want to redeem myself, but that seems a bit farfetched, even for you.”
“Actually…”
Jinora groaned, knowing she was going to follow along with whatever bullshit shenanigans Korra was about to say, regardless of how crazy it might be.
“My ex-boyfriend’s adoptive brother…”
“Seriously?! Could this connection be a little more far removed?” Korra was lucky they were both out in public or she might not have responded so kindly.
“Wait, I am not done!” Korra protested. “My ex-boyfriend’s adoptive brother is also an ice skater, but he hasn’t had much luck getting started in the singles scene. So pairing you guys together could be perfect. You’re looking for a chance to redeem yourself and he is looking to gain some time in the spotlight.”
“So basically he wants to use me to get famous?” Jinora deadpanned.
“Well, when you put it like that…” Korra trailed off. “No offense, though, you have enough popularity to share. You remember my ex, Mako- he isn’t exactly well off and he’s raising Bolin and Kai. Ice skating isn’t exactly the cheapest sport to play.”
“Fine, whatever. And you think my parents are actually going to agree to this?”
“I mean, technically, we aren’t breaking any of the rules they set and since when have your parents said no to me?” Korra batted her eyelashes. “Besides, it’s not like you guys will compete in any grand competitions since y’all will both be rookies.”
“Maybe this could work.” Jinora relented. She was desperate to get back on the ice after all.
“Great, because he’s always waiting for us at the ice skating rink!”
Jinora didn’t hold back on her glare this time.
“Hi nice to meet you, I’m Kai! Hello! My name is Kai, you must be Jinora. Hey guys! How’s it going? I am Kai!”
His reflection stared back at him, not convincing him. He threaded his hands through his messy hair. Was his ‘bad boy don’t care’ haircut going to scare them away? Maybe he should have chosen a different color scheme than all black today. He gripped the edges of the sink. Why did he agree to let Mako use his connections to get him a world famous ice skating partner? He never had problems doing everything the hard way before.
No time for second doubts now. Jinora and Korra would be there any minute. With one more glance in the mirror, he headed out of the bathroom and to the main lobby of the ice skating rink.
The air of the room changed when the pair of girls walked in. Jinora definitely lived up to her nickname, Ice Queen- she had a terrible case of resting bitch face. Her hair was tied into a neat bun with a few hairs in the front framing her face and she was outfitted head to toe in Nike branded gear- probably sponsored. The worst part was that she was even more beautiful in person without her stage make-up on, and Kai was a teenage boy with a weakness for beautiful people.
“You must be Jinora. I am Kai. Nice to meet you.” Kai held out his hand in her direction.
She stared at his hand with a strange look, reminding him of the stark difference of experience between them. He should have guessed she was just a brat born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Just when he was about to lower his hand, Korra pushed Jinora forward. Instead of shaking his hand, she fell directly into his arms. He awkwardly caught her.
“You know, for someone so smooth on the ice, you’re kind of clumsy.” Kai commented, immediately wanting to kick himself. Brat or not, he still needed to be on her good side if he ever wanted this work.
“You try being pushed by Korra then! Have you seen her arms!?” Jinora protested as she got out of his hold and stared back at the perpetrator.
“Hey don’t glare at me.” Korra put her hands up. “If you are going to be skating as a pair, you are going to have to touch each other a lot. Consider this a warm up exercise from Coach Korra.”
They both groaned. Maybe this wasn’t going to be the easy shortcut he thought it would be.
“Why are you guys complaining? This will be a fun couple's exercise!” Korra declared with bravado.
Jinora and Kai were finally out on the ice, but at a hefty cost. Korra had spent the whole morning drilling them with first date questions while they stretched and warmed up so they could get to know each other better. Now they were on the rink holding hands, skating- Jinora going backwards and Kai going forwards. As if that wasn’t awkward enough, now they had to answer trivia questions about each other, and every question they got wrong would add to the number of punishment laps they had to skate around the rink at the end of the exercise. Korra claimed this was all about team bonding and getting familiar to each other, but right now this just felt like torture to Jinora.
“First question goes to Jinora! How many siblings does Kai have, and what are their names?”
The wind from skating backwards blew her hair directly into her mouth, causing her to inhale a piece of hair before she could answer. Kai laughed at her tragedy.
Jinora wasn’t sure of her feelings about Kai. He was no doubt beautiful with his emerald green eyes and mocha colored skin. Although his appearance said misunderstood bad boy more than wannabe ice skater. She had googled his name on the way to the skating rink to see if she could gather any intel on him, but all she saw was a scandal where famous figure skater Tahno had accused Kai of stealing, but ultimately no allegations were made about it. Not to mention when he held out his hand for her to shake, he looked at her with contempt; it made her wonder if this would work out after all.
Spitting out the hair in her mouth and glaring at Kai, she answered, “Two brothers, Bolin and Mako.”
“Correct! Ok Kai, your turn. How many siblings does Jinora have and what are their names?”
“What! That’s seriously not fair. She has like a million more siblings than me! Plus, she already knew my brother because of you.”
“Just answer the question!” Korra commanded, and Jinora felt a smug smirk growing on her face.
“Ummm… three siblings and their names are…” Kai paused for an extended amount of time.. “Ivy, Mateo, Riley!” he said with much too much confidence.
“Wrong, it’s Ikki, Meelo, and Rohan.” Jinora corrected before Korra had a chance to.
“What the fuck? Who names their kids such obscure names?” Kai complained.
“My parents.” Jinora deadpanned. “We’re all named after Buddhist monks.”
“Oh shit. That’s kind of cool, actually.”
If there was one thing about Kai that was making itself known, it was the fact he had a complete sailor's mouth. Jinora resisted the urge to eye roll at his response.
“Alright, enough chit-chat! Jinora, does Kai have any pets? If so, what are their names?”
This time, Jinora briefly let go of one of Kai’s hands to secure her bangs behind her ear before she answered. “His brother Bolin has a ferret named Pabu.”
“Correct!” Korra announced.
“Damn girl, you my stalker or something?” Kai questioned, and Jinora felt her eye twitch. How was it possible for this guy to annoy her so much only a few hours into knowing him?
“No, it’s called ‘I can actually use my ears.’ Maybe you should try doing it sometime.” Jinora snapped back. He looked like a kicked puppy at her response, making her feel a bit guilty.
“Ok Kai, what is Jinora’s favorite food?”
“Easy, agedashi tofu, because she’s vegetarian.” Kai answered, staring right at her, making her feel a million times worse for her rude comment.
“Correct! Alright, switch skating directions. Jinora, what was the last show Kai binge watched?”
Kai let go of her hands, doing a really obnoxious hockey stop that sprayed ice in her direction. “Oops, my bad!” Jinora just ignored him as she circled back around so he would be the one skating backward.
“Umm Stranger Things?” Jinora guessed as she grabbed Kai’s hands again. She seriously didn’t remember Korra asking Kai this question earlier.
“Wrong! It’s Naruto.” Kai declared proudly.
“Wait seriously?! I am almost positive I would have remembered you having such trash taste.”
“Fuck you! It’s a classic. I bet you haven’t even seen it.” Kai protested.
“I have been exposed to it enough that I know.” Jinora argued back. Kai opened his mouth to retort before Korra cut them off. “Ok, ok, children settle down. Kai, what’s Jinora’s favorite book?”
“Something about a Telegraph Club?” Kai responded with uncertainty.
“It’s Last Night at the Telegraph Club and I would suggest you read it but…” Jinora trailed off.
“But what? I am too dumb to understand it?” Kai challenged.
Jinora was regretting being sassy, but not wanting him to think that she thought he was an idiot, she continued, “No, more like you’re too straight to enjoy it.”
“Who said I was straight?”
At this, Jinora turned bright red. As a pansexual herself, she could have sworn he was just a bad boy, and that explained all his fruity tendencies like piercings and wearing platform converse. Then again, she really didn’t know him that well, so she shouldn’t just be assuming things about him.
Before Jinora could embarrass herself further, Korra accepted Kai’s answer as close enough and called out the next question. Unfortunately, nothing could save her from Kai’s piercing gaze.
“Sooooooo… how did practice go?” Bolin questioned as Kai walked into the apartment.
“Fine.” Kai muttered, throwing down his ice skating bag.
“Oh, that bad huh?” Bolin looked at him with sympathetic eyes.
Kai sighed, deciding it would just be easier to spill his guts out to Bolin. “I just don’t understand how you and Mako were ever close family friends with the Gyatso’s. I mean, Coach Korra was cool, but Jinora just seemed stuck up. She even refused to shake my hand. How embarrassing is that? Then I felt like she was judging me for my skating, and also jumped at my throat whenever I tried to joke around. It was just bad.”
“Aww, I am sorry, little bro. I bet there was just some misunderstanding between you guys. The Jinora I knew was always so sweet and quiet.” Bolin defended. That was just like him to try to see the best in everyone.
“She must have been keeping her rude thoughts to herself back then. Besides, she was like ten when you knew her. Now she's an eighteen-year-old with a bad attitude.”
“Well, she did just have the entire world see her wipe out during a routine and ice skating is sort of her life. Maybe you should just give her another chance.”
“Maybe I’ll consider it.” Kai responded, but his thoughts were on how flustered Jinora got when he said he wasn’t straight. Maybe she was just a mean lesbian, cursing her luck for getting stuck with him for a partner when she really longed for the touch of a woman. Or maybe she was flustered because he became a million times more attractive when she found out he was part of the LGBTQ+ community. Or maybe it was because she now knew he was at least somewhat gay, and therefore he would have no problems wearing intense stage makeup to a competition and possibly look prettier than her.
Or- “...Kai!?” Bolin shouted, waving a hand in front of his face.
“Oops, sorry I got lost in my thoughts. What did you say again?”
“I said let’s go to Narook’s Seaweed Noodlery and drown your sorrows in sodium.” Kai knew Bolin was just saying that because it was his own favorite restaurant, but he didn’t mind. He could use some seaweed noodles in his life right about now.
“Ok, but if Mako kills us for breaking the budget, that’s on you!” Kai replied.
“Soooo Jinora, where were you today?” her little sister popped up in front of her, blocking her view of her book.
“Ugh Ikki, get off of me!” Jinora complained, but she knew there was no way to get rid of this menace she called a sister unless she answered.
She had been reading, trying to forget about all the events of the day with no success yet. After she embarrassed herself, she and Kai continued playing Korra’s little trivia game for the rest of the afternoon. In the end, she had to skate fourteen suicide laps around the rink while Kai had to skate twenty-three. When they finished their laps, Korra made them do jumps separately while the other watched since doing jumps in sync was a part of pair routines. If nothing else, Jinora at the very least knew a bunch of random facts about Kai now.
“I was hanging out with friends today. Nothing special.”
“Yeah sure, you and what friends. Besides, I heard Korra at our house today. She’s not exactly quiet.”
Jinora groaned. She had already forgotten about that. “Ugh fine. Korra wants me to skate pairs next season since she knows I want to redeem myself and mom and dad banned me from singles.”
“Oohh pairs? Who is your partner? Are they cute? Are you guys going to fall in love and live happily ever after?”
“Well, he’s cute, but seriously the most annoying person I have ever met.”
“Annoying how? Like my level of annoying? Or worse?”
“First, he unironically likes Naruto...” Jinora began, just to get cut off by Ikki.
“Bruh, seriously, you’re going to let an anime start a feud between you and a guy you’ll have to work with every single day of the foreseeable future.”
“He also cusses a lot and just everything he does gets on my nerves. When I googled him, he was in some kind of skating scandal with Tahno about stealing something.”
“Oh, so now you’re judging a book based on its cover? I thought you were the one who lived by this philosophy.”
“Ughhhh,” Jinora attempted to shove Ikki off her lap with no luck. Her little sister was way too much like a leech. Unfortunately, Ikki had a point. Other than being a bit annoying, he hadn’t really done anything yet-she shouldn’t be judging him based on something she read online. Plus he was a decent skater. Even if his technique could use some work and his skates looked old as dirt, it was obvious that he was naturally talented.
“Ok fine. I will apologize to him tomorrow, but I doubt he’ll forgive me. I was really rude. He probably thinks I am some bratty rich girl.”
“You’re smart. I am sure you’ll figure out a way!”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Ikki.” Jinora deadpanned, before standing up and dumping Ikki on the floor.
“Hey Kai. I just wanted to say I am really sorry about my attitude yesterday.” Jinora apologized as soon as she walked into the rink, but Kai just kept walking towards the locker room as if he didn’t hear anything.
“Hey! I am talking to you!” She called out, grabbing him by the shoulder.
“Oh sorry, I just thought you had to be talking to the wall behind me since you wanted nothing to do with me yesterday.” Kai might be dumb, but he was also a dumbass who would sass the world renowned Jinora Gyatso out of spite. Must have been all that sodium he ate with Bolin last night that was making him so salty.
“I guess I deserved that. I really messed up and judged you too quickly.” Jinora relented easily, much to his surprise.
“Yeah, you really did. Am I so lowly to you that you wouldn’t even shake my hand?” Kai demanded. Out of everything that she did yesterday, that’s what really hurt the most.
“Seriously?! You were the one coming at me with a menacing aura and a scary look on your face. Of course I would be reluctant to shake your hand! Besides, I held your hands all yesterday afternoon with no problem.”
Kai thought back to it and realized he had been really nervous. He might have accidentally put on his “don’t fuck with me face” instead of his friendly one. Wow, they really were idiots.
“Sorry about that.” He scratched his neck bashfully. “How about we just start over again? Hi! Nice to meet you, I am Kai and-”
“You are nineteen years old and your birthday is March 27th and your zodiac sign is Aries and you have a car you named Lefty that’s your pride and joy, so on and so forth.” Jinora interrupted. “I remember from yesterday.”
“Oh damn, that’s right. I guess you are a pro at Kai trivia now.”
Jinora laughed at his bad joke this time, but not without rolling her eyes first.
It had been a little over two months since she and Kai first started training, and Jinora could easily say she was having the most fun she had in a long time. Korra had already chosen their concept- Yin and Yang- and began the stages of making their choreography. They hadn’t attempted any of their lifts on the ice yet, but they had been working hard off the ice to get them right. Crazy enough, she was insanely grateful to have her skating incident if it meant she got to befriend Kai. Even though they had gotten off on the wrong foot, they had quickly recovered and become best friends. It was almost effortless to get close to him- they had so much in common after all.
“... and that’s why you should watch Encanto!” Kai finished his rant, and Jinora realized she had unintentionally been tuning him out.
Before she had a chance to formulate a response, Kai kept going. “Jinoraaaa!! Do I need to sing ‘We don’t talk about Bruno’ to convince you?!”
“Please no. I have heard enough of your sorry ass singing.” Jinora retorted.
She had learned her mistake really quickly when she let Kai have the aux cord once in her car. He immediately started belting out the Naruto opening way too confidently for someone who was so tone deaf and didn’t know Japanese. It was kind of hilarious, but it also got old really quickly.
“OH MY GOD!! JINORA SAID THE ASS WORD!!” Kai shouted.
“Why are you so obnoxious!? It’s literally like 6 AM you’re going to wake up the whole neighborhood!” Jinora scolded him, but she couldn’t wipe the smile off her face.
They had gotten to the point in their friendship where they went on their morning runs together before going to the skating rink to warm up. It was a lot less lonely with Kai there. Coach Korra had been her friend from a young age, back when Korra was still a skater and not a coach, but when it came to people her own age, she had never had much luck. Especially with the rivalries between her and the other skaters, it was nearly impossible to make friends, and the ice was her life, so she didn’t have many other opportunities.
“Sorry, it’s not often I hear my bestie say the ass word or any other cuss word for that matter. Just had to relish the moment.” Kai protested, and Jinora rolled her eyes. He was lucky that his dumbassery was really endearing.
“Consider the moment relished before you get the cops called on us. You know how bored suburban Karens get.”
“My bad, my bad.” Kai held up his hands in surrender and Jinora found herself laughing.
“That reminds me, since it’s your birth week, I have some special plans for us. We are going to take a detour before we go to the rink today. Don’t worry, I already informed Coach Korra.”
“But Jinora, the bubble tea place won’t be open this early though.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Jinora deadpanned.
Kai bounced anxiously as Jinora led him along to her car and began driving to who knows where.
“Can I get a hint, please?” Kai put on his best pleading face, complete with a quivering lip. Unfortunately, Jinora was too much of a responsible driver to even give him a glance.
“No, I will not because if I remember from our trivia session, you specifically said you liked surprises more than planning and I got the question wrong.”
“Damn, didn’t realize you were going to hold such long grudges over that.” Kai groaned, resigning himself to stare out the window sadly.
“Here. You can use the aux cord since it is almost your birthday.” Jinora motioned to where her phone was plugged in and Kai cheered.
She rarely gave him aux cord privileges because she claimed he sounded like a dying whale when he sang. He decided for her sanity they would just listen to his normal alternative rock playlist instead of his anime one.
They finally pulled up to the figure skating store, and Kai shot her a confused look.
“Surprise! I am going to buy you a new pair of skates for your birthday!” Jinora announced.
“But my skates are fine?” Kai questioned.
“Fine as in five seconds away from falling apart fine. No offense Kai, but after I buy you a new pair, you’ll be able to feel the difference.” Jinora retorted. He knew she meant it to be nice, but to him, it felt a bit condescending.
“I highly doubt it. I mean, I have gotten this far in my shitty skates. Why would I need to get new ones now?”
“Please, at least try some on?” Jinora pleaded. “If you don’t like them, we can just leave, but let me do something nice for you, please.”
Kai didn’t really understand why she was being so insistent, but it’s not like he understood the ways of rich people anyway. It just rubbed him the wrong way, like she was saying the way he was already wasn’t good enough to skate beside her. But if she was offering, he could temporarily revert back to his old ways. There was a rich person willing and ready to spend money on him.
They walked into the store with no further arguments.
A worker directed them as soon as they entered the store. “Come sit down over here and we’ll find some boots for you to try on.”
They sat down on an expensive-looking cushioned bench and, as Kai looked around the place, he could tell this was a fancy establishment. He had bought his skates second hand so he had never experienced anything like this.
The worker came back with multiple boxes and began pulling out the boots and explaining the differences. Kai didn’t pay much attention, but he was nice enough to stay quiet and nod along.
They handed him the first boot to try on. “Wait, where is the blade?” Kai asked, confused. The worker just laughed at him as if he made a funny joke, so he turned to Jinora for answers instead.
“You have to buy the blades separately.” She whispered to him.
“Damn, that’s crazy. No wonder ice skating is such an exclusive sport.” Kai pondered as he began trying on the boots.
After centuries of listening to Jinora and the salesperson debate, they finally chose what they thought would be the best boots and blades for him
“With the boot, the blades, accessories, and the installation fee, your total will be $1,098.95.” Kai’s jaw dropped, but calmly Jinora flashed her skater membership card at the employee.
“Alright, with your membership discount, that will be $875.25.” She easily pulled out her dad’s credit card and handed it over. “Thank you! If you need any help with your skates or need any readjustments, we can do them for free. Have a great day!”
“Thanks!” Jinora called out as she took the skates and dragged a frozen Kai back out to the parking lot.
“We got the best for the best!” Jinora declared as they climbed back into the car.
“You think I am the best?” Kai inquired, finally finding his words again.
“Yep! I wouldn’t have been able to do this with anyone else!” Jinora replied with so much self-assurance that all the anger Kai felt earlier melted away.
It was another day of grueling work and even though singles and pairs did a lot of the same jumps, spins, and step sequences, pairs required something daunting that neither Kai nor Jinora had any experience in: lifts. As per coach Korra’s direction, they had only been practicing complicated lifts off the ice surrounded by cushioned matting and had only attempted simple lifts on the ice. They had a few slip-ups where Jinora accidentally wacked Kai with one of her limbs or where Kai dropped her, but overall they were fairing pretty well for rookies.
Today they were practicing a more intermediate lift on the ice. This lift they would both start off skating backwards, Kai holding up Jinora’s left leg with one arm and holding his other arm around her waist. Then he would pick her up to suspend her in the air and her arms would be around his neck, while the leg he wasn’t holding would go straight up in the air. Then, as he turned back around to forward, he would place Jinora on the ice, going backwards on the right leg as he continued to hold the left leg. Together, they would do a whole 360 rotation before he set back down her left leg. Hypothetically, it didn’t seem too challenging, other than the fact the whole lift and turn took place in less than five seconds.
“Let’s do one more run through of the lift in slow motion before we take a break!” Coach Korra decided.
While a break did sound nice, being able to do this lift at full speed sounded even nicer to Jinora.
Gaining the slightest amount of speed, they turned to skate backwards and started the lift.
"Good job!" Korra called out when they had finished their 360 together. "I think that's been your best run through so far!"
Kai began skating towards the exit of the rink, but turned back around when he saw she wasn't following him. "Come on Jinora!"
"No, I need to stay and practice more." She responded stubbornly.
"How? You realize you can't do a lift by yourself." Kai pointed out.
"I'm not stupid. I was going to visualize it."
"I don't know. That sounds kind of stupid and that's coming from me, so that's saying something."
Jinora shot him a glare before skating towards the exit. “Fine, but let’s stay a bit after practice just to try a few more times.”
“Deal!” Kai agreed.
As much as Kai hated to admit it, once he broke them in, these new skates made a world of difference. First, they were way more comfortable and didn’t cause his feet nearly as much pain. Second, they flowed so much smoother on his feet. He could even feel the difference in the toe picks when he kicked off to do jumps. Not to mention he had received a handful of compliments from Coach Korra and Jinora since the change and they were not ones to hand out undeserved compliments (actually Jinora was typically quite rude about his form).
“Earth to Kai! You promised you would run through the lift with me!” Jinora shook his shoulders. They were currently sitting on the bench, taking a water break, and Coach Korra had already left for the day.
“Hmmmm… I don’t recall promising that.” Kai teased. Jinora shot him a look so deadly he immediately backtracked. “Just kidding! Let’s go!”
They started their routine a few measures before their lift at half speed and fumbled- Jinora put her weight on Kai too suddenly causing them to fall over. They tried again, and this time Kai placed her on the ice at an awkward angle, causing her to stumble, knocking them both down.
“Let’s just try one more time and then we’ll go home.” Jinora conceded from her place on the ice. Even she was feeling the sting of defeat, it seemed. Kai held out a hand for her to help her up and surprisingly she didn’t reject him.
This time, it felt different. Their bodies moved completely in sync. Just like that, he was lifting Jinora in the air and her leg kicked out perfectly before he set her back down on the ice again. When their spin completed, Jinora instantly jumped into his arms.
“We did it! We actually did it! Even though it was just half speed, we did it!!” Jinora cheered and her happiness was contagious, as Kai wrapped his arms around her and spun her in a circle.
When he set her back down on the ice, he realized how close they were- his forehead leaning in to meet hers. Their eyes met, and suddenly the atmosphere of the room changed. Her eyes, big and chocolatey brown, met his in a fierce stare. From this close, he could even see faint freckles dotting her cheeks that he had never noticed before. Then he made a fatal error by looking down at her lips.
His eyes fluttered shut, and he leaned in to close the final space between them. There was nothing but the press of Jinora’s lips against his and the feeling of Jinora's arms tightening around him, pulling them even closer together. Their lips slid together enthusiastically. It was clumsy, their noses bumping until they found the right angle, but it was also soft and warm. All too soon, they were pulling back to take a breath.
The smile on Kai’s face disappeared when his brain finally started functioning again. “Wait!” Kai’s hands flew over his mouth in horror. “You’re a mean lesbian! Why are you kissing me?!”
“You’re gay!! Why are you kissing me?!” Jinora accused back. “Wait, mean lesbian? Kai, I’m pansexual.”
“Well, I’m bisexual.” Kai clarified. There was a beat, and then they both burst out laughing.
“When we first met, and you said you weren’t straight, I just assumed…”
“You said your favorite book was the Telegraph Club one, which is about lesbians, so I just thought you were trying to tell me you were a lesbian.” Kai explained.
“Wow, we are both idiots, huh?”
“Yeah, but we’re each other’s idiots!’ Kai responded cheerfully.