He had always been her opposite. Maybe that was why it felt so right to let him go on when he sneaked into her house late at night weeks before. Lin had just taken off her armor, and had known, of course. She had known he was there the moment his feet touched the ground. How amusing was it that he kept complaining about not being able to bend properly during his airbending lessons with Tenzin, but he could easily fly into her window. Then again, that was Bumi.

When she had walked to the door of her room to wait for him, ready to ask for an explanation, he was already there and she found herself unable to speak. She had expected him to walk in with one of his trademark cocky grins and a ridiculously cheesy pickup line, but instead she found him staring at her intently without the slightest hint of a smile on his face. He didn't say anything. He didn't waste his time telling her a story of how he had been practicing his lessons and somehow miraculously found himself standing in her house. He didn't tell her how good she looked on that particular night. Damn, he didn't even say hello. He just placed his hands around her waist, smacked her against the wall opposite to the door and started kissing her feverishly. Lin had to use all her strength to push him away from her, but it had been more out of habit. She knew perfectly well how red her face had flushed, and the way her heart had raced inside her chest has nothing but familiar.

But she was Lin Beifong. She wasn't going to make it easy for him.

Then they fought. Not with bending; he tried to catch her again and again, but she kept avoiding him. How could he be so stubborn? Deep within she knew he could read past her visage. Both of them wanted this- needed this- but he was too determined to give up and she was too proud to give in.

Eventually she did and she loved him just as he loved her. She loved his eagerness when their lips collided and the way he placed a hand in the small of her back, sending shivers through her spine. She savored the taste of his lips and relished on his scent. Before she knew her hand was in his hair, messing and twisting it desperately, and her breath had quickened. He kept kissing her lips and then trailed down to her neck and that was when she truly lost control of herself. She wasn't sure in which moment they had taken their clothes off, but he was inside her in no time. They danced in the darkness with a steady rhythm, their voices filling the usually quiet house.

He sneaked in that night, and then again a week later, but the wait had been eternal and he came each time more often until they found themselves waking up together every morning. He came every night and every night she loved him. Each time their eyes met she knew she wanted to be with him for the rest of her life and maybe he could read her thoughts, because each time that happened, he held her tight and kissed her hard on her lips. Once in a while he would lie in bed on his side and place a hand under Lin's chin just to stare at her, and the way his eyes shone made her feel a pang on her chest. They rarely said anything at night, if it was not for the occasional sigh of the other's name.

It was completely different during the day. At first they behaved as if nothing had happened but one day, two months after their first night together, he happened to place his arm around her waist when they were talking to her job. Lin noticed his arm was tense and couldn't avoid smiling after which he seemed to relax and they finished the walk talking.

That night was the first time he told her he loved her, and for the weeks to come, they would spend their days talking.

At night he would wrap his arms around her and she knew, she just knew, that she loved him.