CHAPTER ONE … the stranger in the woods
pairing : ateez x f!reader (eventual poly relationship)
genre : atla au, slow burn, comedy, angst, fluff
word count : 2.6k
warnings : language, mentions of being attacked by fire benders
note : tag list has been moved to the end of chapter! feedback is appreciated!
you found a stranger in the woods during a storm, not yet knowing that it seemingly change your life.
IT WAS RAINING THE DAY YOU CAME ACROSS THE STRANGER. the storm had been raging on for what felt like hours now, and you were surprised to see that the large gusts of winds and rain hadn’t blown you away yet.
but the storm was the least of your worries as you found the stranger, heavily injured and now thanks to the rain, covered in mud and leaves. he looked like he was on the verge of death and you noticed the burn marks here and there on his body. you felt your hands throb underneath their bandages as you remember how it felt to be burned by fire – or firebenders.
was he attacked by firebenders? was what ran through your head as you picked him up, throwing his arm over your shoulder as you hurried as fast as you could back to your grandmother’s house.
your grandmother was surprised when you busted through the door with the stranger, and she immediately had you lay him down in order to patch his wounds up. you hadn’t noticed it when you picked him up, now that you were out of the storm, you took in his vibrant blue arrow tattoos that covered his body.
was he an airbender? you had only heard stories of how the airbenders would gain those tattoos after mastering their element. you figured only older air nomads had those arrow tattoos, but you’re glad to see your assumption proven wrong. you also couldn’t help but notice how beautiful the stranger was.
he was probably the most beautiful man you had ever seen in your life. not even the village’s most handsome could match against this stranger.
“he should be fine now, thankfully his injuries weren’t too bad,” your grandmother says and you let out a sigh you hadn’t known to have been holding. after that, your grandmother scolded you to go change your clothes, not fully noticing how you were still soaked to the bone. your mind is only concerned about the stranger.
“do you think he was attacked by firebenders?” you asked your grandmother after you had changed your clothes. the older woman is silent for a moment as she stirs the soup she had been previously making before you stormed inside the door.
“his injuries sure do seem like that’s what happened,” she replies, but you can sense the dread that takes over her body. she really didn’t want that to be the case. recently, you had overheard several of the men in the village talk about how the fire nation has been seen all over the earth kingdom.
everyone felt tense about it, and rightfully so. the fire nation was a powerful nation with their military and obviously also thanks to their bending powers. fire. some would consider fire to be the most powerful element, but others would argue and say it was the most destructive.
you would have to agree with fire being the most destructive element. only because you’ve only seen people use it for destruction.
“i heard some men in the village say they’re worried about the fire nation. some travelers are talking about how they are planning to start a war with the other nations,” you say as you fumble with one of her many nick-nacks that sat on the table.
it all felt weird and something uneasy sat in your stomach at how this was all going. your eyes drifted over to the stranger who laid peacefully in bed.
“i’m not sure, dear, many things happen in this world without reason or explanation and sometimes we just have to accept those things. if the fire nation starts a war, the other nations can only do what they can to either stop it or fight back.”
her words settled on your mind for the rest of the night, even as you ate and went to bed. the stranger was still unconscious and the storm still savagely raged on. you remember your grandmother mumbling about how the spirits must be upset about something for the storm to be this harsh.
WHEN YOU WAKE UP THE NEXT MORNING, you find the stranger trying his best to make it to the door. you let out a gasp at the sight of him limping towards the door.
“hey, you can’t go out! you’re still injured!” you say doing your best to stop him from leaving. the stranger, despite his injuries, is surprisingly much stronger than he seems. he easily blows a gust of air at you, knocking you down as he reaches for and opens the door. you let out a huff as you move and manage to grab his ankle, stopping him from moving.
“let go! i have to go find moni!” he hisses out trying to pry your hand away from his leg.
“no! you’re still injured! you need to rest before you hurt yourself even more,” you bite back before pulling on the stranger’s ankle and making him stumble back.
the stranger falls back, landing on your body and you both let out a groan and you hear footsteps coming from somewhere else in the house, that you can only assume it's your grandmother.
“what on earth are you two doing?” she asks, coming into the room and is surprised to see the stranger collapsed on top of you.
“he was trying to leave, granny! i was just… ugh, trying to stop him. hey, will you… please get off me! you’re kind of heavy,” you say and you feel the stranger shift before he manages to roll off of you and you are quick to stand up.
“i need to leave! i have to go find moni before those fire bastards find him!” the stranger says and it only confirms the fact that he was attacked by firebenders.
“boy, you are in no shape to be looking for your friend. you need to rest,” your grandmother says as she helps him up and makes him sit back on the bed. “if it makes you feel better, my granddaughter will go search for him.”
you look at your grandmother in shock. surprised that she would volunteer for you to search for this stranger’s friend.
“that’s very kind of you, but i would rather look for him. i know he’s probably very scared right now especially thanks to the storm that was going on last night,” the stranger says as he once more stands up. he lets out a small grunt as he stands, but tries his best to hide it.
“then let her go with you. my granddaughter is very familiar with these woods and will help you find your friend faster,” she says and the stranger looks from her to you before down at the floor. its obvious he’s considering it, thinking it over before he lets out a small sigh. its clear your grandmother will not let him go out by himself, adamant on you going with this stranger.
“fine, if you are insistenting then i guess i could use the help,” he says and your grandmother smiles at him before she turns to pack your bag for you to take.
“yeosang,” the stranger says as he watches your grandmother pack the bag. you look at the man with a confused look. “my name… it's yeosang,” he finishes.
“oh, i’m y/n,” you tell him with a little smile.
“SO… WHAT DOES YOUR FRIEND LOOK LIKE?”
“large, fury,” he answers as the two of you walk through the forest together. the aftermath of the storm is something you haven’t seen before. trees uprooted and threw across the forest, branches broken here and there, and it really looked like a tornado had swept through the area.
“well, then he should be pretty easy to find then. there’s a cave not too far from here, maybe he went there to hide,” you suggested after the two of you basically climbed over a large log before continuing on the dirt path that had been basically man-made over the years of people using this route to travel between the different villages in the earth kingdom.
“that’s probably a good place to check,” he says before he allows you to lead him to the cave that’s nearby. the cave is usually a place known to the villagers, especially the kids who are hiding there from their parents when they are going through their “runaway” phase.
“it should be close,” you tell yeosang as and sure enough the two of you come across the cave. yeosang quicken up his pace as he rushed into the cave, calling out to his friend as he entered it.
“moni! moni, are you here? moni!” his voice echoes throughout the cave as you follow close behind him. you were shocked when you seen a large bison hiding out inside the cave, but this didn’t seem like any regular bison. the arrow design on its fur let you know this was a flying bison and more than likely yeosang’s “friend” he was looking for.
“moni!” yeosang said with a sigh of relief as he ran up to the bison and hugged him. the bison lets out a small roar before he lazily licks yeosang who you notice smiles up at the bison before he’s turning to you, his smile somewhat disappearing, but still remaining on his face. “thank you for helping me find moni,” he tells you and you feel a heat rush over your face as you as you can notice the rather gentle smile overtake yeosang’s face.
“um, it's no problem! but… you still need to rest though, you’re in no place to be trying to leave or fly anywhere,” you tell him, still concerned over his well being.
you can tell yeosang is conflicted about what you are telling him. you can see the conflict of everything going through his mind and you wonder if there’s something else he’s worried about. something different than finding his flying bison.
did it have something to do with the firebenders attacking him? was he separated from someone else and wanting to go find them?
“how long will it take until i can leave?” he asks, bringing you out of your thoughts.
“three days at the most,” you answer him.
“then i’ll stay and rest, then on the third day i’ll leave. i… have someone that i need to find,” he says, proving your theory that he was probably wanting to go look for someone.
“okay,” you tell him before you and him are making your way back to your grandmother’s house. yeosang is kind enough to allow you to ride on the back of moni.
THE NEXT THREE DAYS, you spend making sure yeosang doesn’t push himself while also helping take care of moni. the giant bison seemingly takes a quick interest in you as you feed him different types of vegetables that you and your grandmother grew in her small garden, plus whatever you had bought at the market in the village.
you have also started taking a liking to yeosang, he’s become a nice addition to the house that only kept you and your grandmother. the airbender would often share things with you about his people, telling you stories that date back to centuries ago.
you’ve noticed that your village has also taken a liking to yeosang, the village children entranced by his cool persona. often begging him to show them some of his airbending, which he does but not without a few playful complaints thrown in.
“where are you going to go once you heal?” you ask him on the his last night. the two of you are laying in a field near your grandmother’s. moni is not too far away as well, rolling around peacefully in the field.
you refuse to look at yeosang, instead keeping your eyes on the stars above you. word has been spreading that the fire nation is starting to close in on the earth kingdom with rumors about them already killing most of the air nomads.
“i’m not sure, i just know i need to find my friend,” he says and you can hear the concern in his voice at the thought of perhaps not finding his friend.
“your friend… he’s really precious to you isn’t he?” you ask, feeling your heart race for some unknown reason, or rather one you refuse to acknowledge.
“he is, that’s why i need to find him before the fire nation does,” yeosang says with a sudden spark of determination. “do you have anyone precious to you?” he then asks, catching you off guard.
“my grandmother is precious to me,” you tell him, but you know that’s not what he means.
“is there anyone else?” yes, you want to tell him, but you don’t think you have the heart to talk about him. yeosang turns his head briefly to look at you as he notices your quietness. he’s greeted with the sight of your glossy eyes as you continue to look up at the stars. “i’m sorry… you don’t– i shouldn’t have asked.”
“it’s okay, i lost him because i wasn’t brave enough and i think i’ll probably regret it for the rest of my life,” you confess with a heavy heart as you wipe your tears away. the two of you bask in the silence between each other for a few more hours, before yeosang is helping you onto moni and is taking you back to your grandmother’s.
it feels odd to see yeosang off. you want him to stay, but you know he needs to find his friend. the two of you are standing in front of each other, you shuffle from foot to foot as your eyes look from anywhere but at the airbender in front of you. his wounds have healed nicely and you’re happy to see that he’s gotten his strength back.
“um… thank you, y/n, for finding me and helping me,” yeosang says as he looks at you with a soft smile. the two of you have definitely warmed up to each other over the past three days, but you still feel like he’s a stranger to you. you kind of don’t want him to leave so soon, you want to get the chance to know him better.
before you can say anything, your grandmother is coming out of the house, a bag in her hands before she’s basically shoving the bag into your own.
“g-granny? what are you doing?” you ask, taken off guard by her actions.
“my dear, you’re going to join yeosang on his journey. he’ll need someone to look after him and moni,” she says with a smile and you miss the blush that overtakes yeosang’s face.
“go with… yeosang? but granny, what about you? i need to stay and help you out,” you say, you would love to go with yeosang, this could be your chance to leave your village, but… what about your granny? you need to be here for her and help her out around the house.
“my y/n, you don’t need to worry about me. i feel that yeosang might need you more during his journey,” she tells you and you turn to look at yeosang who is already looking at you.
“i don’t think your grandmother is going to let me leave without you,” he starts and you feel kind of bad. like your grandmother has literally pressured him into making him take you along with him. “but i don’t mind. moni seems to have really taken a liking to you, and it would be nice to have some company,” he adds with a smile making you smile as well.
“well, then i guess i can’t argue with you and granny. so… should we be off then?” you ask and yeosang nods. you bid goodbye to your granny before yeosang is helping you on top of moni. the two of you take off as you finally ask yeosang who you are looking for.
“his name is hongjoong, and he’s… he’s the avatar,” he confessed to you.
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