Kyoshi’s gently unpacking the small clay pots of paint from her chest when she feels Rangi’s eyes on her and looks up. Her best friend is barely a pace away, leaning against a tree trunk and Kyoshi flushes as she sits back on her heels.

“What?”

As if she’s been caught by Jianzhu with her hand in the cookie jar in the kitchens, Rangi’s cheeks redden to match her tunic as she straightens. She fumbles for a moment before gesturing vaguely to the brown adobe crocks in the grass. Looking away, she tucks her hands under her arms rigidly. “Can I -  I mean, may I...you know...”

She trails off unsurely and Kyoshi dusts off her hands before standing. Stepping over the pots, she steps forward until she’s a hand’s width from the firebender. “Hey,” she says softly when her best friend still doesn’t meet her eye, looking down at her feet. “Rangi, look at me.”

As if it pains her to, Rangi lifts her head to meet her eyes. Kyoshi nods, smiling reassuringly.

“There you are.”

Rangi’s cheeks are still flushed as she stares up the Avatar before her. She opens her mouth once, twice, before shutting it and trying to look away but Kyoshi’s thumb on her chin stops her.

She blinks, surprised and Kyoshi drops her hand like she’s been burned. She hadn't realized her arm had moved. “Sorry,” she murmurs and goes to take a step back but Rangi shakes her head, following her until there’s less than a pace between them.

There's a beat of uncertain, hanging silence between them before Kyoshi is knitting her eyebrows.

“What were you going to say? Before?”

“I...” Rangi starts before pursing her lips, recrossing her arms as if she's hugging herself. Kyoshi notices she doesn't look away this time. “I was going to ask if I could help. Put on your paint, that is. It looks complicated if you’re doing it alone and without a mirror.”

It’s Kyoshi’s turn to blink, caught off guard but then she’s nodding. “I’d like that,” she says softly with a smile to match before Rangi drops her arms and intertwines their fingers gently after a wavering moment of hesitation. Kyoshi squeezes them. “I’ve been using my reflection off the fans to put it on.”

Rangi chuckles. "How?"

"I propped them up on the side of the chest," she shrugs and leads Rangi back to the small semi-circle of earthen pots as she continues. "I must admit now that wasn't very smart. They're weapons, not mirrors."

She waits until they’re both settled in the grass, knees almost touching from where their legs are folded in front of them before Kyoshi speaks again. Something about Rangi’s request to touch her and the quiet of the clearing they’re in makes the intimacy of what they’re about to do clearer and Rangi studies her as a flush rises abruptly.

“What’s wrong?”

Kyoshi waves off her concern, looking at the jars instead of her eyes. “N-nothing,” she stutters, chuckling awkwardly before tying back her hair, “it’s really hot out. I don’t know how this stuff isn’t going to just slide off my face.”

Rangi doesn't laugh with her.

There’s a moment where Kyoshi thinks Rangi will push the topic, studying her closely where she flushes deeper under her gaze, but there must be something in her eyes that makes the firebender shrug and drop it. She sits up straight as she watches Kyoshi finish tying back her hair before her fingertips dance over the lids of the crocks next to them.

“So should I start with the white..?”

Kyoshi shrugs. “I usually do but you don’t have to. Lips are last, though, it’s easier that way and less likely to smear...at least I've found so."

Throughout it all Rangi is nodding seriously, finger tapping her lips in thought. When she's finished, Kyoshi watches her take the biggest clay pot - the one containing white, meant for her entire face - into her lap. The firebender cradles it against her like it's the most precious thing in the world.

To Kyoshi, it  is. Her chest warms at the obvious care of Rangi's hands as she unscrews the lid before setting it aside in the soft grass.

"Ready?" Rangi looks up and whatever's on Kyoshi's face softens her own.

Kyoshi nods before she closes her eyes and braces herself for the first touch of cold paint to her face. She still isn't used to it but the sensation never comes and she's halfway to opening her mouth when there's a brush of fingertips against her cheek.

Her eyes fly open. Golden eyes ringed with amber-brown flecks stare right back and Kyoshi stills as her fingers tuck a lock of brown hair behind her ear that she hadn't tied back.

Rangi bites at her lower lip as she smiles and Kyoshi returns it without a thought. She settles back into a relaxed sitting position and then Rangi's warm fingers are smearing cool paint over her forehead. "Hold still," she murmurs and swats at Kyoshi when she grins, "and no smiling! Your forehead wrinkles when you laugh, you'll crease it."

"Sorry, sorry," Kyoshi giggles but Rangi is chuckling, too.

She relaxes into the touch and the sounds of the forest around them melt into the now-amicable silence. There's cicadas in the trees around them, humming lowly under the chirping of birds and the stream in the distance Kyoshi can hear the Flying Opera Company splashing around in.

It's quiet, tranquil. Rangi thumbs paint across her eyebrows before she's scooting forward ever-so-slightly to drag her fingertips down the bridge of Kyoshi's nose when she's finished with her forehead. Their knees press together. Fingers disappearing from her nose, her breath catches in her throat when Rangi replaces them with her lips and presses a kiss to the tip instead.

"I thought you didn't want to smear the paint," Kyoshi teases, cracking open one eye.

Rangi's flush is embarrassed but pleased. "Hush," she snorts before she taps her fingertip against where she'd kissed, "plus I didn't paint the tip of your nose yet. Nothing to smear. Now, eyes closed and turn your head. Cheeks are next."

When Kyoshi dutifully closes her eyes, Rangi hums. "Thank you. I'll try not to get it in your eyes but you'll have to be still."

Without looking Kyoshi nods. She doesn't have to; she's never trusted someone as much as she trusts the firebender before her. Rangi's fingertips carefully trace the space underneath each eye until she makes a sound of satisfaction.

She shivers when Rangi's paint-covered fingertips touch her cheek. Even as Rangi murmurs an apology she doesn't stop and as she works in methodical strokes, Kyoshi can't help but admire the little noises she makes as she does. Throughout it all the pressure of her fingers stay constant and she doesn't move on until each patch of skin is thoroughly coated.

When Kyoshi mentions it, Rangi's smile is evident in her voice, flattered. "Thank you."

They both quiet again. While it should be an awkward silence, Rangi's breath ghosting across Kyoshi's face with how close she is, it  isn't and Kyoshi finds herself almost leaning into the firebender's touch.

From her right cheek, Rangi moves to her chin.

Fingers drag from her jaw down her neck to the collar of her green tunic and back up. When Rangi traces down the strong column of her neck, Kyoshi knows they both inhale sharply at the path. She tilts her head up ever-so-slightly unconsciously to offer access easier and Rangi's breath rushes out of her heavily.

Although they've never done anything more than kiss and Rangi painting her face shouldn't light a fire under her skin, all of a sudden the air between them is charged with lightning.

Kyoshi licks her dry lips before blushing when Rangi's breath hitches audibly. Even without opening her eyes she knows her best friend is staring at her mouth, gaze burning across her lower lip that tingles. Gulping, Rangi's fingers twitch for a moment against Kyoshi's neck before she clears her throat and moves to her left cheek.

Although she burns with question Kyoshi simply purses her lips. When Rangi's fingers leave her cheek, there's the sound of her scraping them against the lip of the pot.

Her voice is hoarse. "Next?"

"Eyes," Kyoshi replies, just as thick.

She clears her throat but anything more seems stuck and Rangi makes a noise of acknowledgment. "Red, right?" she asks even though there's no need as she's already unpotting the next crock.

Kyoshi nods wordlessly, rocking back and forth to settle further into the grass. She's ready this time so the touch of Rangi's fingertips to her eyebrows doesn't make her startle. Rangi's breath puffs across her chin with a small laugh and Kyoshi opens her eyes regardless of how the red paint could get into them.

"What?"

"We'll never get done at this rate,” Rangi chuckles before tapping at the space above her eyelids. “Now don’t make me poke your eyes out.”

Kyoshi mock-salutes before shutting her eyes. “Yes ma’am.”

“Ma’am?” the firebender asks, amusement coloring her voice as she carefully paints the red underneath Kyoshi’s eyebrow. “If anything I should be calling  you ma’am. You’re the Avatar, not me.”

Humming, Kyoshi lets her mouth curve into a smile as Rangi moves to her other eye. “Yes, but you’re the Avatar’s bodyguard. That means more than the Avatar does; you keep me  safe . I wouldn’t be here without you.”

Rangi’s fingers freeze against her face, ghosting across the sensitive skin by the side of her eyes and Kyoshi opens them. “Rangi? You alright? Was it something I said, I’m sorry-”

“No,” her best friend chokes out, tears glassing her golden eyes, “no, Kyoshi, you don’t have to apologize.  Thank you."

“Thank you?”

Rangi nods, scooting even closer and leaning forward to match the insistence of her words. Their faces are barely inches apart and Rangi’s fingers tip her chin so that their eyes meet. “Thank you, Kyoshi. For giving me a place at your side, not just as your bodyguard or your friend but as your companion. Your lover. Thank you for allowing me to have  you. It’s an honor.”

At the word  lover, Kyoshi flushes deeply but it doesn’t stop her from cupping from Rangi’s cheek. The firebender leans into the touch, eyes lidding and Kyoshi smiles gently.

“It’s an honor to have you,” Kyoshi murmurs, “and if we’re going to play the grateful game, I have you to thank, too.”

“Me?”

Kyoshi nods, thumbing a half-circle against Rangi’s cheekbone. “You were my friend first, my closest friend before I ever was the Avatar.”

“You always were the Avatar,” Rangi points out but Kyoshi chuckles.

“But you were there for me before all this happened,” she insists and her other hand ghosts uncertainty to the curve where Rangi’s hip meets her thigh. “I know it’s your honor to serve the Avatar but you were always there for me,  Kyoshi, when I was just a clumsy, orphaned servant and not some legendary reborn warrior.”

Instead of answering Rangi leans forward until their noses brush and Kyoshi’s breath hitches audibly. Rangi’s eyes ask a question she doesn’t vocalize and Kyoshi licks dry lips, her own gaze darting to the other woman’s mouth before she’s nodding. Her hand flexes on Rangi’s hip as Rangi’s own hand cups at her hairline below her jawline, behind her ear and gently pulls her in.

At the first brush of their chapped lips, Kyoshi immediately melts into the warmth of Rangi’s mouth. While they’ve done this before, lingering and slow kisses stolen out of view of their traveling companions, there’s something about the wide silence around them that speaks volumes to how truly  alone they are that sends fluttering butterflies to Kyoshi’s stomach until she’s giddy.

Rangi chuckles against her lips when Kyoshi shifts, pressing closer but she doesn’t protest. She simply tilts her head, sweeping her tongue over the seam of Kyoshi’s mouth and gasping in surprise when Kyoshi parts her lips, letting her in.

Two hands come to cup at Kyoshi’s jawline,framing her face and probably smearing the paint that had been so close to drying but Kyoshi finds she doesn’t care. All she can focus on is the warmth radiating off Rangi’s lips until she feels sunburnt under the heated attention and the dim registration of Rangi pressing herself closer until she can slide into Kyoshi’s lap.

Somehow Kyoshi’s ended up with her legs stretched in front of her and Rangi settles her knees on either side of Kyoshi’s hips until she’s straddling her and can press their chests together. The sound of the green linen of Kyoshi’s robes sliding against Rangi’s tunic makes her gasp and Rangi nibbles at her lower lip.

Hands stay on hips and necks, not wandering and eventually their kisses slow to something more subdued, delicate, softer. When Rangi pulls back slowly there’s white paint smeared on the tip of her nose and curve of her cheek and Kyoshi knows the lidded, unfocused gaze is reflected in her own dark green eyes.

“You got a little,” Kyoshi trails off with a laugh, cheeks burning beneath her face paint and swiping a thumb across Rangi’s cheek, “a little paint. There.”

Rangi’s own smile is incandescent and Kyoshi knows even if she wasn’t a firebender her grin would out-shine the sun itself that’s slowly creeping high in the afternoon sky. Even in the shade of the tree they’re under the air is starting to warm with a heat Kyoshi knows isn’t from Rangi’s flushed state from their kisses.

Speaking of the firebender, Rangi rocks back on her knees to settle on the tops of Kyoshi’s thighs before she’s barking out a pleased laugh. Kyoshi grins up at her, cockeyed. “What?”

“I smeared it,” Rangi chuckles and her thumb brushes over the paint painted thinly over Kyoshi’s lips and slathered thicker over her cheek, “I guess you were right. I’ll have to redo it, then.”

Kyoshi lets her palms lay against the curve of Rangi’s waist. “I don’t mind,” she murmurs and leans up to peck the firebender’s lips. Rangi moans into her mouth, pleased, for a moment before leaning back with a giddy laugh.

“Greedy turtleduck,” Rangi chides but the wide smile on her face, scrunching her cheeks, ruins the supposed scolding tone of her words. She leans to the side, scoops up the jar and snaps her fingers. “Now stay still.”

Kyoshi hums in affirmation but doesn’t close her eyes as Rangi’s fingers brush her cheeks. It’s an odd feeling, cold wet paint overtop the layer of dried paint already there but Kyoshi doesn’t focus on anything more than Rangi’s eyes focused solely on her cheek. She traces the lines of her face as the firebender concentrates, eyebrows furrowed and the small poke of her tongue between pursed lips.

It’s one of the cutest things Kyoshi’s ever seen and tips her chin up to brush her mouth along the lines of Rangi's forehead. Although the woman in her lap makes a displeased sound at her handiwork being interrupted there’s a poorly-concealed smile in her voice.

“What was that for?”

“Nothing specific,” Kyoshi shrugs, “you’re just cute. Thank you for helping me.”

Rangi’s cheeks are covered in a blush that isn’t from the heat of the afternoon as she replaces the top of the jar and sets it aside. “Flatterer,” she accuses and picks up the smallest pot - black, Kyoshi knows they both know. “Now no smiles or kisses after this; I don’t want to reapply the black too.”

Kyoshi mock pouts and draws Rangi close again until the pot is trapped between their chests. Rangi’s smile is as wide as hers.

“Then I guess I’ll just have to get it all out of my system now,” she murmurs. Rangi’s fingertips scrape lightly against her scalp and Kyoshi chases her lips with her own.

It’s Rangi that breaks the kiss. “We really never will finish at this rate,” she shakes her head and pins Kyoshi with a stern look, “no more kisses, you hear me Avatar? I’m only painting your lips once.”

“Yes ma’am,” Kyoshi straightens and Rangi’s pointer finger traces the bow of her top lip.

Their eyes meet. Rangi’s gaze smoldering gold while Kyoshi knows hers are probably like the bottom of the mossy stream nearby, she doesn’t know which one of them leans in first, only that they meet in the middle somewhere.

Kirima cackles when Kyoshi and Rangi emerge from the woods. “You got something here,” the  daofei smirks and points to the corner of her own lips.

At the sound of her voice, Wong turns. Rangi’s hand flies up to her lips, dropping Kyoshi’s hand and Kyoshi catches a glimpse of the charcoal paint smeared into the crease of her mouth before Rangi is furiously wiping at her face with the edge of her sleeve and Wong joins in the laughter.

“Maybe Kirima could paint me next,” Wong jokes and Kyoshi knows both she and Rangi flush violently, “if that’s what the kids nowadays are calling it.”

Rangi lifts her chin and shoots back something clever and witty, Kyoshi knows, but she doesn’t hear it because there’s still the slightest bit of black paint on Rangi’s lips and she can’t focus. Rangi’s hand slips into hers and she offers the Avatar a wide, if not embarrassed, smile.

Kyoshi squeezes her hand and smiles back.

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