Day 11: Benders AU
“Hey, Ivor--”
The older man spun around so fast that Jesse almost wondered if he was standing on a dime, hand flying out. Instantly, the liquid from the finished potions that he hadn’t corked yet-- apparently that let it ‘stew’ for a bit-- curled out of the bottle, not even dripping, liquid hardening into ice in midair, before shooting at Jesse.
Jesse automatically flicked their hands up defensively, every single shaft of ice being caught gently in a sphere of air, spinning so quickly that it managed to generate its own little breeze, flipping a few pages of a book.
It took Ivor a moment longer to realize who it was, and his hand relaxed a moment later, drawing the frozen liquids back to him as he returned it back to water and let the potions return to their respective bottles. “Oh. Jesse.”
“Hi.” Jesse gave a little wave, letting the sphere of air dissipate in a final breeze that made the ends of Ivor’s hair ruffle a little bit. “Um, we have dinner ready upstairs.”
They can’t help but repress a grin. “And no, Magnus and Axel did not cook, seeing as Magnus seems to like burning everything and Axel just tends to get mud in everything.”
Ivor’s mouth, which had started to open in a questioning way, stayed ajar for a moment longer before he shut it again. He was staring at them in a way that made Jesse wonder if they had something on their face.
So, this just made Jesse start being extremely chatty.
“Um, Petra didn’t cook either. She has a penchant for burning stuff, too. And Olivia tends to metalbend while she’s cooking, which is fine, but sometimes it means she’s not holding onto anything while she’s cooking, so I helped her for most of it. Turns out airbending means I can catch a lot of ingredients.”
Jesse pauses, and then turns their eyes to look at the ceiling of the basement. It’s a rather cold, uncompromising stone. “Lukas isn’t bad at cooking, either, so I had him watch it with Olivia. I think the main reason was that he could extinguish any fire that might pop up.”
Ivor was still staring at Jesse.
“... uh...” Jesse shifted awkwardly, before a thought occurred to them.
“You wouldn’t happen to have a potion that could cure, like... a fear of heights, right?”
Ivor blinked, finally breaking the stare a little bit. “Er... no.”
Another short, awkward pause, before he remarked, reaching up and tangling one hand in his hair, “I mean, it’s a very nice sentiment to ask about it for Soren, but we don’t even know where he is anymore, and it’s not like potions like that exist anyhow--”
“I’m not asking for Soren.”
Ivor pauses again, looking at Jesse as they bring their hand to their mouth automatically, painfully aware of how their voice just cracked slightly, betraying the way they’d been trying to ask normally, calmly, not like... not like they were afraid.
But they were.
Every time they went to bed they were back with that monster, they were inside, being lifted into the air by tractor beams or sucked off of the ground by the Command Block or screaming until their throat was raw as Reuben, their Reuben, their little pig fell out of reach and to his death, because he was dead now.
And it was Jesse’s fault for not trying to put him back on the ground before it was too late, it was their fault for not having one of the others restrain him, it was their fault--
“I’m sorry.”
Jesse paused, blinking, belatedly realizing tears were forming in the corner of their eyes. “Huh?”
Ivor wasn’t meeting their eyes. The potionologist’s potions were starting to ripple uneasily. It seemed he wasn’t even aware that he was starting to manipulate them. “If I hadn’t created the Witherstorm, then... he wouldn’t be dead,” he said at last, in a voice that was uncharacteristically soft for the man.
The air around the both of them suddenly seemed tense.
Literally, as Jesse’s fists clenched in surprise, a breeze springing to life around them in the dead of this dark basement that was barely lit properly. Papers rustled in the breeze, and a few empty glass bottles clinked.
Ivor gave a low sigh, before looking up at Jesse again, with eyes that were tired. Too tired. “So... I’m sorry.”
Now it was Jesse’s turn to stare. The wind around them wasn’t getting any faster, but it wasn’t slowing down either.
Ivor looked up after a moment, opening his mouth again to say something before faltering.
After another moment, he simply lifted his hand and made a brushing motion. Drops of water slid off of Jesse’s cheeks and out of the corners of their eyes, resting as beads of water in Ivor’s palm for a moment before he set them down in a bottle.
Jesse snorted, slapping their hand to their mouth a second too late as some sniggers escaped. The wind momentarily cut off, before dying down to a normal level.
“What?” Ivor’s voice had sharpened.
“Nothing, nothing, it’s just--” Jesse giggled, a rather childish sound that they wish sounded more mature sometimes. They just sound so much like a little kid. “I’ve never seen someone use waterbending just for that purpose.”
Ivor raised his eyebrow. “It’s irritating when people cry.”
Jesse let out another laugh, sidling over and butting their head into his shoulder in a sort of affectionate way. It’s not very hard; their head is about level with said shoulder. “I’m sure it is, Ivor.”
Ivor started at the contact, but when Jesse started to pull apart he suddenly reached out and tugged them back over, wrapping his arms around them in a tight hug.
The short airbender wasn’t really sure what they could do. Sure, they could just push him away using air, but by the way he was awkwardly clutching onto their shoulders and his chin was almost resting on their head protectively but at the same time... well... awkwardly, he almost seemed to be rather surprised by the action himself.
So, they slowly wrapped their arms around him as well, in a rather awkward hug. Judging by the way his stance stiffened, he expected that even less. Jesse’s face was buried in his shoulder, his chin was resting on their head somewhat awkwardly, his arms were tensed, and the hug was awkward and stilted and weird.
It was a wonder that neither of them attempted to pull apart.
“... I’ll be up for dinner in a few minutes.”
Jesse let out a huff of laughter from where they were hugging him, face buried in his shoulder. “Okay.”