Media: Fic
Title: Solar Winds (Avatar: The Last Airbender Fusion, 1/?)
Rating: PG-13 for innuendo.
Spoilers: Blaine exists.
Warnings: Uhhh, mild sexyness? Extreme weirdness? Srsly, I don't know why I wrote this.
Word Count: 1679
Summary: Kurt Hummel, current incarnation of the Avatar, learns Firebending from Prince Blaine in what is probably the least secret (and least appropriate) Secret Training Session in history.

Author's Note: IDEK, you guys. Over the holidays, I watched an Avatar: The Last Airbender marathon or two and found that I really dig that show. But I also really dig Glee. So I decided to mix the two—however, rather than just toss them together like a bowl of Chex Mix, I decided to puree them and go for a more organic fusion; Glee characters in the Avatar world (which is why I didn't file this as a crossover- no Avatar characters will be used, just the setting).

Does it work? Hell if I know. But I couldn't get it out of my head, so here it is... my first fanfiction in months, and my first-ever Glee fic. Enjoy! :P

BACKGROUND INFO: For those who HAVE NOT watched Avatar: The Last Airbender, the world in a nutshell is this: there are four nations. The Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom, the Water Tribes, and the Air Nomads. A significant minority in each country is born with the ability to bend, or control the element that their Nation is attuned to. Bending is a learned art that involves controlled movement and concentration, much like a martial art, and each element's art is different. No one can bend anything but their natural element.

No one, that is, except the Avatar.

Born and reborn in an endless cycle, the Avatar is the incarnation of the spirit of the world, and the spirit of balance. Each life the Avatar leads, he or she is born in one nation, and must travel to all others and master all four bending arts, as well as the incredible power of the Avatar spirit itself. Guided by the wisdom of their past lives, their purpose is to protect the world and ensure balance among the Four Nations, so that all people may live in peace and harmony.

Stylistically… do a quick Google Image search for Avatar: The Last Airbender to get a good feel for the look. Basically, the world is Medieval Asia mixed with Steampunk and Fantasy. Oh, and for some reason, most animals in this world are weird hybrids of existing animals. There are Elephant Rats. Seriously.

For those who HAVE watched Avatar: TLA, this occurs in a world where the Airbender Genocide never happened. The Fire Nation is not at war with anyone, though there is another problem plaguing the world at the moment. To say more would be to give away spoilers.

As for the Glee characters; they are their canon ages for the most part, though their backstories are wildly different. The Avatar generally learns of his/her identity and begins his/her quest on the 16th birthday, so Kurt is about 16 and ½ years old here.

Beneath the clear, starry skies of the Fire Nation, in the backyard of the modest estate of the vacationing Wang family, two young men take turns attempting to light each other up. Err, figuratively speaking, that is...

"Fire," Blaine breathes against the back of Kurt's neck, "is the most dangerous element."

Kurt fights against the rising urge to roll his eyes. Must his teachers always lecture him? He's pretty sure there is no written portion to the Avatar exam. It's just one incredibly long (life-long) practical. The philosophy lessons are lovely, really, but he's in a bit of a hurry here. World to save, balance to restore, all of that.

"That's why the number one most important principle in Firebending," Blaine continues, "is control."

The young Avatar squishes the urge to tell his mentor to shut up in favor of telling his brain to shut up. The endless stream-of-consciousness is so not helping with what he is trying to accomplish here. Breathing exercises. Firebending is all about breath control. Something about Dragons, or somesuch nonsense.

"In," Blaine instructs, audibly inhaling. Kurt attempts to follow his example. "And out," Blaine exhales, his breath against Kurt's neck sending him into a shudder and totally ruining his attempt to do the same.

"Why," Kurt quietly seethes, "exactly, is it important that I perform this exercise half-naked?"

Blaine smiles. Kurt can't even see his smug little face, and he knows he's smiling. It's in his voice. "Because," the young Prince says. "It's not uncommon for amateur Firebenders to set their clothes on fire by accident. Your robes looked expensive, so I thought you might want to keep them safe on the off chance you actually ignite something tonight."

The growl that escapes Kurt's chest is definitely not good breath control. "This is impossible," he says. "We've been at this for almost a week now, and I have yet to produce enough heat to light a bong. How am I supposed to learn this stupid art if it takes me over a week to even learn how to breathe properly?"

"That's another thing," Blaine continues, his voice as calm and stupidly self-assured as ever. Stupid Fire. Stupid Firebending. Stupid Blaine. "Since I can see your chest, I can monitor how you breathe, and help you learn."

Yeah, Kurt thinks. That's why you've been eying my chest like a half-starved tigerseal. But he doesn't voice those thoughts. Instead, he pivots gracefully and voices these. "You know, maybe you're just not a very good teacher. Maybe you don't know what you're talking about. Maybe you don't even know how to Firebend and you just set up this entire charade as an elaborate excuse to ogle me in tight pants."

The Fire Prince eyes Kurt with an expression that he rarely seems to waver from- bemused nonchalance. An expression that Kurt has grown utterly tired of seeing, it serves only to spur him on further.

"Do I make you hot, Blaine?" Kurt mocks. "Do I set your coals alight? Do I make your timbers smoke? Do you burn for me? Do I—"

Like a spark of lightning, Blaine's hand thrusts forward in a perfect open-palm strike. At the end of the motion, when the force reaches its apex, it happens—a ripple in the air, followed by a beautiful orange sunburst that stops just sort of singing Kurt's eyebrows. He can feel the heated wind blow his hair out of place, and while, under normal circumstances, this would be perfectly valid reason for him to declare open war, at the moment, he can't quite bring himself to care because that was hot, in every sense of the word.

"See?" Blaine says, the small smile still on his face. "Control. If I had been upset or affected by your… insinuations," he continues as the smile turns into a smirk, "I might have actually burned you." The red-robed man steps forward, putting a hand against Kurt's bare chest. "Your breathing affects your emotions, which, in turn, affects your Firebending. Learning to control that is the first step in learning to focus it."

Kurt is listening now, even though he is having a very hard time controlling his air intake at the moment.

"You let your frustration get the better of you. Listen to yourself! You're panting like a tired dragon dog," Blaine teases.

Frustration is so not the reason he is panting right now, but whatever. Let the Fire Prince think what he wants.

"Don't try so hard," Blaine says, sounding almost… fond, which is an interesting turn for him. "You're Water-native. You told me yourself—it's pretty much expected that Firebending is going to be the hardest art for you to learn. It'll come to you. Relax," he says, gently poking Kurt's chest and smiling full-on for perhaps the first time Kurt has ever seen, with teeth and crinkling eyes and actual mirth and everything.

It's not a bad look for him.

"Ready to try again?" Blaine asks.

Kurt's throat is a little dry at the moment (irony, much?) so he settles for a short nod.

"Great," Blaine says, slipping behind him again. "Now, I'm going to try something," he warns, and Kurt barely has time to think 'oh, please do' before the Avatar finds himself with a very warm Fire Nation Royal fully pressed against his back and in what way is this supposed to help him control ANYTHING? "This way, you can feel me breathe, and do it with me," Blaine says, and apparently, Kurt has regressed to a 13-year-old because the only part of that sentence that his mind really registered was 'do it with me.'

Oh, this will be such fun.

"In, and out…"

Approximately seventy eight-point-eight feet away, in a ramshackle old storage shed that contains, among other things, Kaji Wang's prized collection of antique rakes, a young man fights bravely against apoplexy, while a young woman tries to balance between ignoring his stupidity and protecting him from it. It's a tough act to balance...

Finn Hudson is choking to death on a pine cone.

Okay, probably not what's really happening, but that's what it sounds like. Big boy is over by the window, switching back and forth between gasping and gagging. It's really throwing off her mojo, and she's trying to meditate over here.

"You gonna live, waterboy?" Mercedes asks.

Finn turns to her with a look of equal parts outrage and horror. "Are you seeing this?"

"No, I'm not, because unlike some creepers I know, I don't feel like the need to follow people around and spy on them!" the irate Earthbender answers. Honestly, Finn is taking this 'protective big brother' thing WAY too seriously. Especially considering that his so-called 'little brother' is older than him and THE AVATAR.

"But… look!" the ginormous water-tribesman whispers, pointing out the small window he's been peeking through. "Look at this guy! He's all… rubbing himself against Kurt," he continues, sounding completely scandalized. "Like a cat!"

Mercedes takes a glance through the window and has to stop herself from smiling. One of the participants in that training session looks like he's about to start purring, and it ain't Blaine. "Finn, sweetie, I'm sure Kurt has it under control. The boy can take care of himself," she says gently, trying to massage the message through Finn's thick skull. She's noticed, over time, that Earth Kingdom bluntness just kind of bounces off of Finn—you gotta be gentle, give it to him easy, before he'll really take you to heart.

At the moment, Finn is too busy seething with righteous anger or whatever to notice. "Bending teacher…" he grumbles. "Bending teacher, my butt. I'll show him bending… bend that guy in half…"

"Finn," Mercedes warns.

"I'm sorry, but dude is perving all over my little brother. You can't just expect me to be okay with that!" Finn sputters. "Knew there was something weird about that guy. He's too… smiley," he scowls.

"Look, why don't you just come over here and meditate with me?" Mercedes asks. "You need to calm down. You look like you're about three seconds away from having steam shoot out your ears."

"How can you be okay with this?" Finn seethes. Mercedes can see veins starting to appear in his neck, and for a second, she is seriously worried that he is going to blow his top in a literal sense. And that will be Hell to clean up. "You actually trust this 'Blair'—"

"Blaine."

"Whatever! You actually trust this guy?"

"No," she shrugs lightly. "But I trust Kurt. I trust him to take care of himself, and I trust him to know when he needs to ask us for help. And I don't get why you can't do the same."

Finn looks suitably chastised for a second, but it is all-too-brief. Suddenly, his eyes bug out and the choking noise starts up again, and all Mercedes can think is 'boy, you hock up a hairball on me, I will end you.'

The Earthbender looks out the window again to see Blaine with arms wrapped around Kurt from behind, pressing his hands against Kurt's pale chest as they breathe together.

"He's—he's—" Finn sputters. "He's touching his boobs!" She can see it coming, knows it's already too late to change his mind. "That's it. I'm going out there."

She sighs. And here she was hoping she wouldn't have to do this. As Finn stomps towards the door to the small clearing where Kurt and Blaine are practicing, Mercedes stands up and does a little stomp of her own. Immediately, the ground beneath Finn splits open into a sinkhole, and he gives a pretty fantastic arm flail before he falls into it with a yelp. Giving him no time to recover, she takes a firm stance, holds her hands out, and brings them together, closing the ground around him and sealing him up to his elbows.

"Mercedes!" he grunts. "Hey, no fair! Let me go!"

"Uh-uh," she says, sitting back down. "Not until you calm down. I'll leave you there all night if I have to. You're not going out there!"

"I'm telling you," Finn grunts. "That guy is bad news."

"And I am telling you," she smiles, "you're not going."

The half-buried boy pouts and scowls at her, but he seems to have run out of things to say for the moment, so Mercedes closes her eyes again and attempts to find her center.

"I need to pee," Finn admits, sounding mildly embarrassed.

"You're a waterbender," she says without opening her eyes. "You'll figure something out."