Notes: I have been shipping Tahorra since forever. Somehow, I just knew this was going to happen… But I still ship Makorra, and practically every other ship out there. It's just that I want to ship this right now, okay! And also, I don't know Tahno's age, so let's just say he's five years older than her. I'll correct this when whatever's canon comes out. Or not.

This is AU, durr. Backstory? Hmm, Tahno's grandmother travelled around the world and befriended Korra's grandmother, so she sent him to the South because she loved it there and she wants her grandson to know how awesome the South was, so he meets Korra this way. Or something like that. Whatever. And there's no Amon here. Okay.

I WASN'T REALLY SURE WHAT I WANTED TO ACHIEVE WITH THIS I JUST WANTED TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE TAHORRA FANDOM IS THAT SO BAD AND SO WHAT IF IT'S OOC I TOLD YOU ALREADY I DON'T KNOW HOW TO WRITE EVEN

I'll edit this when I come back in a few days! :D

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hands down, i'm too proud for love
but with eyes shut, it's you i'm thinking of
i think i'm a little bit in love with you

Little Bit - Lykke Li

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10&&15

She was supposed to take two weeks off from her training to rest. Sifu Katara specifically told her to try as much not to bend while she was away from the compound, but that was an impossible task considering that all she wanted to do right now was to throw snowballs or fireballs or whatever would do more harm at the weird boy with weird skin and weird hair and a weird voice.

He was apparently almost five years older than her, but that didn't deter him from annoying her.

"Kor-ra," he repeated with that grin on that childish yet handsome face of his. "It's a really pretty name, don't you think?"

Of course I think it's pretty; it's my freaking name! She wanted to scream something just to get him away from her, but she was also afraid that she would end up assaulting her—which her mother told her not to do as he was a guest, but still. He seemed like a really bad person and she didn't want to associate with him.

"You could at least say something, you know? Out of courtesy, because I am your guest, after all."

And I'm the Avatar, you idiot.

"Okay, how about this, Korra? Just say my name once and I'll leave you for the day."

To her, that seemed like a really good deal, but if she gave in to him, it would only mean that she let him win. And there was no way she was going to let him go that easily.

"Korra?"

Nope, she wasn't going to budge.

"Say it once and I'll go back home."

She wasn't going to let something as stupid-sounding as his name pass her lips.

"Come now, it's not so hard, is it? Your mother says you're some sort of prodigy. You mustn't act stupid because that'd be insulting everyone else, right?"

At least she could say that she had to try—unlike him, who was really dumb to begin with.

"Please?"

No. Not a chance.

"Well, you've left me with no choice." He started to walk away; Korra turned around to see if he really was going elsewhere—and when she saw that he wasn't on her snow hill anymore, she sat back down and continued what she was doing earlier on, before he had bother her: watch the snowflakes.

But after a minute or so of peace, she began to be suspicious. She was sure that he was more persistent than that. And she was right to be wary because the second she stood up, her snow hill collapsed under her and buried her legs under the cold frost.

Oh, he was just asking for it.

"Tahno!"

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"I'm so sorry, Tahno," Senna apologized for her daughter. Korra remained rooted in her seat and continued to glare at their so-called guest. "You see, Korra doesn't have any friends since she's rarely home, so I guess you could say that you're the first friend she has."

Tahno seemed to appreciate this fact more than he should. "I wouldn't say we're friends given all the apprehension she's shown, but it might as well be a start." He said this with the most charming smile directed at Korra—but she growled in response, and her mother frowned deeper. "Don't you agree?"

"No."

"Korra, sweetie, I don't see why you have to act so hostile—"

"Because pretty boy over there kept annoying me!"

"You think I'm pretty?" Tahno quipped in, amused.

Korra crossed her arms over her chest. "I think you look like a girl with your hair styled that way."

Tahno just smirked and chuckled. "Precocious, aren't you?"

She wasn't quite sure if he was insulting her or not, but to see him so entertained with their situation—it just bothered her so much. And she didn't even understand why he got to her nerves so easily.

"That's it!" She slammed her hands onto the small table set up for their afternoon tea and took her glaring up a notch. "You want to go toe to toe with me, pretty boy? I just got the Order to certify me as a master waterbender, but I'm pretty confident in my earthbending and firebending as well, so you better be scared because I—"

"Korra!" Senna interrupted, reprimanding her daughter. "No threats like that in this household."

But even with that, Tahno still seemed to be taking her too lightly. "So you're the Avatar, huh?"

"And I'll be able to kick your butt!" Korra replied, her lips forming a pout. Tahno started to laugh and when she did, she lashed out by directing a fireball at his oh-so precious hair. He dodged it with this grace that did not usually fit a guy, but oddly enough, looked nice on him.

Senna seemed to be outraged at her daughter's actions, but Tahno cut in before she could send her daughter to her room or anything as futile.

He stood up and pulled at his sleeves, his confidence not wavering. "Let's take this outside, Uh-vatar."

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12&&17

He doesn't know why he's so eager to see her—it was sick, in some way. Not sick, but strange. She was a preadolescent girl with the whole world on her shoulders, while he was just a boy from the swamps, almost at the end of his teenage years. He liked her—that much he knew, but still. The relatively small gap in their age was slightly discomforting.

Scratch that—it was really awkward. For him. Tonraq and Senna seemed to know about his little crush on the little girl and kind of supported him. At least he could be comforted with the knowledge that her parents approved already.

"So, Tahno," she started in a sing-song manner. "How's swamp life been for you?"

"Nothing's changed, little girl," he taunted back, whipping his obnoxiously long bangs to the side. "Missed me, did you?"

Korra scoffed. "Hardly."

But Tahno didn't miss that small smile playing on her lips. He leaned back to the pile of snow and stretched his arms out. He should really stop thinking about Korra, but he couldn't get her out of his mind. For the past two years, all he wanted was to get another opportunity to travel back to the South to see her.

He wanted to be with her, but at the same time, he didn't want to take any of her innocence away. He could just imagine how kissing her would be like, but…she was twelve, and he was seventeen, and it was terrible to be thinking of these things, he knew.

Maybe if he waited a few more years…

"Korra," he idly mumbled her name, not meaning to catch her attention, but he did anyway. "What do you think life in the city would be like?"

"You mean you've never been to Republic City?" If it was anyone else, he'd be insulted, but it was Korra, and he understood her naïve curiosity about him and about the rest of the world. "Really? How about we go there together?"

She didn't answer his question, but instead gave a question of her own. Somehow, he knew she was going to do this. As much as he wanted to tell her that she should run away with him, he accepted the fact that she had her responsibilities she needed to finish here in the South.

He smiled and sat up, his eyes twinkling, teasing her. "How about we wait a few more years?"

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"So why exactly don't you have an accent? Mom says that people from the swamp have these weird accents, but you don't sound…well, you sound really weird, but hey, what's there to expect from you?"

Rude. Tahno's quite had it with her unnecessarily offending him, but he knew that she just liked to get on his nerves. His lips quirked up; he would never give her the satisfaction of getting the better of him.

"I think," he started, taking a bite off the seal jerky on the plate in front of him. "That you rather like my unique way of speaking, little girl."

Korra seemed undeterred. "You mean how you drawl every syllable just to hide you were from the swamps? As if."

"You think I'm a phony?" Tahno straightened his back and raised a brow at her. He tried his best not to outright frown and glare at her as it would have seemed childish—and he definitely wasn't the child between them.

"Dad says that traditionally, people from Foggy Swamp wear leaves and barks or something. I understand that times have changed and everything, but I don't think a place as rural as yours would be so greatly affected by the new fashion trends, right?" Korra finished proudly and sipped on her seaweed noodles.

Tahno started to grit his teeth. Oh, this girl just wanted to get a rise from him. No, he wasn't going to lose it so easily just because she wanted it. "Actually, we don't usually wear shirts at the swamp because it's too hot there, but if you ask me to be the swamp guy for the day, I'd happily oblige."

He stifled his laughter when he saw Korra blush and turn away. "You can't do that!"

Tahno learned that she wasn't good at reasoning or at coming up with retorts or speaking in general. And now was one of those moments wherein she was blatantly unaware of how embarrassing she could be.

"And why not?"

"Because for one, it's um, too cold out here and you'll have hypothermia and that'd be really terrible and, um…look, I just don't want you to be naked in the tundra, okay?"

Okay.

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15&&20

Korra could tell that he's changed, but somehow, the nicknames stuck.

"Pretty boy," she acknowledged the grown man with a nod. He looked so different, so mature, and she hated how she couldn't deal with him not looking like he did when he was still fifteen—when he was as old as she was now. "It's been three years."

Far too long, she wanted to add because he had grown even more handsome and taller and he had gotten a bit tanner—but how? It was like he went on ahead without her.

But she couldn't be a hypocrite—she's changed, too.

"Little girl," he answered back, his tone gruff. His voice was also different. "Hm, not so little anymore, really. Well, look at you, Avatar Korra. You're all grown up. Tonraq says you've started on your firebending, is he right?"

"Dad has no reason to lie," she told him with a shrug—she sucked at not showing how upset she was over his arrival. "I mean, you know him. Always so happy and honest."

Tahno picked up on this. "Hey, is there something wrong?"

Yes. You're what's wrong. You weren't there the few weeks off the Order gave me last year and last, last year and the year before that, and now you're here and you're not the same as you used to be.

"No."

"So why are you ignoring me, little girl?" he asked with a hurt look on his face, his hand clutching the fabric over his chest—all dramatics for him. "Huh, uh-vatar? Outgrew me already, did you?"

She cringed. Even the way he said it was different.

"Listen, Tahno…" she started hesitantly. "I just don't think we can be best friends like we used to. I mean, now that I think about it, I've only hung out with you for a month. A month in five years. I don't think that's how friendship works."

Korra expected him to say something arrogant, something that would tell her she didn't really have other friends aside from him, but he didn't anything at all.

Instead, he was looking at her blankly with a dazed expression. Confusion, then. Hurt? Panic? She couldn't really tell what with half of his face being covered by that pretentious hair of his.

She started to get up and brush the snow off her parka. "Right, well. What was there to expect from you anyway?"

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It took him half a week to apologize—four bloody days, and she wanted nothing but to practice breathing fire so that she could maybe have his hair accidentally catch some sparks and be reduced to ashes. He deserved as much for being such a jerk.

But the way he said it sounded so sincere and so Tahno—she couldn't refuse him. And the red rose he was magically able to procure really helped him redeem himself.

Just a little bit.

"You're not forgiving me fully, sweetheart?" He sat next to her, on the empty space of her bed. "Even with all the effort I had to put in that?"

"Of course not," she responded, continuing to twirl the rare flora in her hand. "I still don't think we're friends, really."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Well, that's such a shame," Tahno said as he started to get up. "Senna gave me something and told me to give it to you because you'd know what it would mean and that you'd really have to forgive me."

Korra was suddenly interested in what he had to offer—if her mom was in it, her dad was most probably in it, too. And that definitely didn't mean something good. "What is it?"

Tahno dug deep into his pockets, and when he was able to retrieve the object he was searching for, he began to juggle it in his hands. Korra's eyes widened at the sight of the beautiful blue stone that was meant for her.

"Spirits, Tahno," she breathed out, her heartbeat starting to race. "What did you tell her?"

He seemed to think for a second, and then: "Nothing she didn't already know."

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HAHAHAHA CLIFFHANGER PART TWO WILL COME OUT AFTER I HAVE ENOUGH TAHNO FEELS TO CONTINUE THIS HAHAHAHA

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