Blended - 3
Note: Why hello - thanks for staying tuned and being here to check this out. Leave a note what you think. :)
Title: Blended
Previous installment here and chapter one here.
Legend of Korra, Lin/Tenzin, Modern AU, no bending
Blurb: A modern AU with no bending where Lin finds herself with three kids, where Tenzin is Mr Big Shot CEO, where Mako is an overprotective son, where Ikki endears herself to Lin, where Bumi is the cool meddling godfather/uncle and where Pema is out of the picture.
Multi-part, WIP
---
Another teenaged boy joined the first boy and Lin.
Lin ruffled the other boy’s hair in greeting.
Probably noticing Tenzin’s thunderous expression, Jinora turned around.
The first boy gave a half-smile then saluted her. The young girl rolled her eyes as she smiled back and saluted.
Ikki, to his surprise, gave an enthusiastic wave that the boy returned. “Is Mako joining us?”
Mako. Tenzin filed the name away for future review.
Ikki knew him? Just how close are they…
Jinora shrugged. “Mom won’t let him.”
“Oh?” Tenzin’s tone of practiced disinterest came into play.
Jinora rolled her eyes. “He could be quite overprotective.”
Tenzin frowned as both girls turned their attention back to their meal.
How dare that slip of a boy even presume that he was going to do something unsavory.
Lin slipped back into the booth, carrying a root beer float with two straws. “Mako sends his regards.” She nudged the drink towards the two girls. “Anyway, so thought of any questions, sir?”
Sir?
Tenzin cleared his throat as Lin waited with an amused smirk. “You can call me Tenzin, not… sir.”
Not awkward, not awkward at all.
“Okay then, Tenzin.” The emphasis on his name was somewhat derisive.
“Hmmm, yes – I think Ikki would be in good hands.” He paused, thinking of questions to ask.
How is Mr Lin taking this? Where is he? Is he in the picture? Why isn’t he mentioned? Is he okay with having a sleepover at their house? Did he mind that there was a young pup hovering around his woman and child? Or, heaven forbid, is Mr Lin that boy?
He heard that plastic surgery does wonders, and some ethnicities do tend to age better than others.
“I take it you don’t have any questions?” Lin finished her drink by now. “Well, then. For tomorrow, we will be heading out anyway so I can bring Ikki to your house, or we can meet at the mall.”
There was a challenge there. After all, it was a conglomerate in the mall industry that was the root of the demise of their long-term relationship.
“Sure, let’s go to the mall.” And they agreed on a time and place to meet the next day.
Lin waved the waiter over and requested to have the leftover food of the girls to be packed home (“You’ll both remember your unfinished waffles later tonight when you’re finishing your project so best to take it home.”).
Tenzin motioned for the check.
“Already taken care of.” Lin nodded.
“You didn’t have to.” Tenzin mumbled weakly, putting his wallet back in his pocket.
He was met with a shrug. “Consider it as a belated welcome gift to this city.” Lin stood up once the leftover food was brought over by the waiter, and they all prepared to head out.
Tenzin was well-aware of the two boys from the other table following them.
“Mako, Bolin – please help Jinora and Ikki with their things while I get the car ready.” Lin walked over to where she was parked to turn on the air conditioning.
For his part, Tenzin led the children to his car, surreptitiously watching their interaction.
Ikki gave one of them (Bolin, was it?) a high five while Jinora was quickly exchanging words with Mako.
As he was pulling out the key from his pocket, a hand shot in front of him.
“I’m Mako.”
He shook the hand without hesitation. “Tenzin.” He clicked his key to unlock the car and opened the trunk, where the overnight bag of Ikki is as well as the other art supplies of both girls.
The other boy came forward now, extending his own hand. “Bolin here.” He grinned widely, a touch friendlier than Mako.
Tenzin grasped it and introduced himself as well. He handed Bolin one of the heavier bags while Ikki and Jinora went forward to get their lighter ones. Mako, meanwhile, hung back and was sizing him up from the looks of it.
Only, he wasn’t sizing him up apparently.
Mako moved silently to pick up the bulkiest of the materials so that Jinora did not have to carry it.
The young girl beamed up at him, saying. “That’s why you’re my favorite brother.”
Brother?
“Hey!” Bolin grumbled from the other side as he swung on his back two duffel bags. “What about me?”
Correction: brothers?
“You’re my favorite brother-friend.” Ikki punched his arm.
Bolin laughed boisterously while they went off to Lin’s car.
Ikki turned to face her father quickly who was bringing up the rear. “Don’t tell Meelo.”
Tenzin raised his hands in surrender. “Of course not.”
“Well, technically, I’m not your brother so…” Bolin wringed his hands worriedly. Thinking that maybe Tenzin would say something about it.
So… brothers.
Tenzin had a lot of questions while Lin and her children loaded the things of Jinora and Ikki into their trunk. The boys were a lot older than Jinora. Much, much older… Something that did not quite sit well with him.
Before he knew it, Tenzin was left at the parking lot as they waved good-bye at him as the car sped off.
---
Pema settled herself at a quiet corner in the coffee shop. She placed down her bag beside her and let the waiter place the tea tray on the table.
She checked the time on her tablet.
It was time for her weekly call with her daughter.
Ever since the divorce, she and Tenzin tried to figure out a way to co-parent despite being a couple of countries apart. One of the things they agreed on is that they were not going to let their children bounce from one household to another a lot during the school year. Another is that Pema would continue to consistently remain in contact with the kids through a weekly video call. This also linked to their eventual agreement that Ikki was to have her own (child-locked and parental monitored) phone.
It was something that Pema looked forward to every week.
For all the differences that she and her ex-husband had and the reasons that they went into the marriage, Pema does not regret her children with him.
“Hi Mommy!”
“Hi Sweetie!” Pema found herself smiling at Ikki’s toothy grin. “How are you doing?”
Ikki, as she expected, launched into this enthusiastic story about what she had been up to since the last time they chatted. When she was in the middle of gesturing and talking about her big sister-little sister project, other voices wafted into the call - voices that Pema was unfamiliar with.
Pema leaned closer to peer into the screen, brows furrowing, only noticing that the background of Ikki’s call was different.
In the background, someone (a male someone) let out a loud whoop.
Ikki paused to take a deep breath and Pema interjected. “Dear, where are you right now?”
“Oh-oh-oh! That’s what I was going to tell you next, Mommy!” Ikki waved her hands excitedly in front of her. “I’m on a sleepover with Jinora! At Jinora’s house!”
Pema was surprised but did not let it show. She did not want to dampen Ikki’s delight. She would not be that mother (she would not be her mother). And, well, at the end of the day, she did trust Tenzin’s parenting decisions. “That’s great. How is it so far?”
“It’s fun! She has two brothers. Two brothers, Mommy! And not two Meelo’s too. They’re very nice. Her mommy is really nice also – not like Korra’s uncle. Korra’s uncle is grumpy at home but nice outside. Jinora’s mommy is nice both outside and at home.”
Pema had to bite back a smile at Ikki’s commentary. Having crossed paths with Unalaq during her marriage with Tenzin, she did not particularly enjoy spending time with the politician. Everything was mostly for show and behind closed doors, to family, the man could be quite cold and standoffish.
There was raucous laughter from Ikki’s side and Ikki looked to the side, to someone or something off-camera.
“That’s Bolin, Mommy. Jinora’s older brother.” The view shook a bit as Ikki was likely moving her phone around to show her mother the view of the room. “And that’s her brother, Mako.”
Pema could see that they were probably in some sort of study room. Behind Ikki, there were two computers set-up, each with a teenaged boy sitting in front of it wearing a headset.
“And here’s Jinora.”
The view moved again and a familiar girl who she has talked to in previous calls waved at her. Jinora was beside Ikki and was in the process of gluing something to a small card.
Ikki placed her phone steady again and went into detail about the project they were working on, and Pema could see the door at her side opening.
“Bolin, Mako – no yelling, you know Ikki will be on a call right now.” The woman who entered the room hissed audibly at the teenagers.
“Sorry, Mom -.” The stocky boy started to apologize then trailed off, inaudible to Pema’s ears.
What struck Pema most, however, was not the amount of glitter that Ikki and Jinora were putting on their projects, or the two boys punching each other’s arm when they probably get a point in their computer game. No, it was the woman who stood watching their game, hands at her waist.
It was a woman that she has never met but was quite familiar with.
Pema was left pondering how her daughter landed at a sleepover at Lin Beifong’s house.
---
“OMG – is that – is that a background image of the Fire Ferrets’ place? Where did you download that?! Can you send it to me? Pleaaaase! Didn’t know you’re a fan of the Fire Ferrets!!”
Ikki read and reread the message of her cousin Korra at their chat.
It did not make sense to her.
What background was she talking about?
She scrolled up to the last picture she sent which was of her and Jinora holding up their project with their final touches completed.
Jinora nudged her, noticing her preoccupation. “You, okay?”
Ikki wrinkled her nose, showing her phone screen to Jinora. “What’s a Fire Ferret?”
“My ears are tingliiiing - did someone say Fire Ferret?” Bolin jumped in between them, his hand cupping his ear. “You don’t know who the Fire Ferrets are?” At Ikki’s slow head shake, he clicked his tongue and placed his arms around the shoulders of the girls. “I can’t believe Jinora didn’t tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
Jinora rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “I don’t think Ikki would have been interested.”
“Don’t you put down her possible interest in esports!” Bolin flicked his sister’s nose with affection. “The Fire Ferrets is today’s up-and-rising, the ones-to-watch-out, most promising esports team!” He followed up with a faux-whisper, “At least that’s what eSports Unlimited.com says in their latest ranking article. Impressive huh?”
Ikki just blinked up at him.
Bolin did not let that deter him. “And, what’s more – you’re looking at one of them now!”
“Cut it out, Bo.” Mako sighed from his position at his desk, having taken off his headset. “I hardly think Tenzin would like Ikki to be exposed to the wonderful world of esports at her age.”
“And, you’ll be right at that point, kid.” All four of them faced the door, where Lin had peeked her head. “Tenzin would not be keen on prolonged screen time and neither would he appreciate if we bring his daughter back with darkened eyebags. Bedtime now, kids!”
The pronouncement brought a cacophony of complains.
“But, Mooom -.”
“Please Ms Lin – I-.”
“Mom, we’re too old to have a bedtime.”
“Kids – please, we’re going to need to wake up early.”
“We can still wake up early – our body clock’s fantastic.”
“No.”
“Yeah, we’ll even prepare breakfast for everyone.” A punch. “Ow! What was that for?”
A snort. “Speak for yourself.”
“I’m holding you all to that then. I’ll head on – good night, kids!”
A door closes and another punch. “What was that for, now?”
---
Little did they know, while Lin was having a smidge of trouble getting the kids to get to bed, across town, a certain businessman was having trouble sleeping.
After dinner and after tucking Meelo to bed (with two bedtime stories read), Tenzin found himself exhausted from the week (and day) he has had. And so, he had gone off to prepare for bed but was unable to find a comfortable position to sleep.
Who was he kidding – he had a lot of thoughts running through his mind.
Feeling restless still, Tenzin got back up from bed and went to pull out his laptop.
He scrolled through various folders until he found what he was looking for. His fingers tapped swiftly on the keyboard, the password a muscle memory. However, his cursor hovered over the ok button, unable to belie his hesitation and uncertainty.
Tenzin paused and asked himself if he really wanted to do this.
Eventually, he pushed through and out popped the window showing files upon files. Scanned documents, audio files, slide shows, videos, saved emails and photos.
One of the reasons why he managed to bring back the White Lotus Corporation to life is his tenacity, his dogged determination to see things through. Tonight, it is this same tenacity that brought him to go through his past as he started to go through old photos with one Lin Beifong. He went through the photos and emails – trying to see, trying to look for a clue at what point did Lin start showing or possibly start getting involved with the boys’ father, at what point in their relationship did he not become enough.
Tenzin would later come to wonder if he should have just let sleeping dogs lie.
---
Note: Dundundun. Misunderstandings upon misunderstandings – my favorite genre. Haha! Hope all is good with you reading from the other side of the screen. Just a note here – Pema won’t be a nasty bitch here, and no hating gonna happen. Trying to make this as light as possible, so no overly angsty~ plot lines. Crossing my fingers this experimental story works out fine haha.
Share your thoughts, theories, feelings, anything about this story with me. 😊 I am trying to get back to writing so this might not be up to my usual length or content. Happy to hear from you though.