macadelickid

[thinkingisadangerouspastime]

there are no accidents

Kuzon grinned, shifting on the tree branch to face Aang directly. The wood creaked as their legs continued to dangle off the sides, bare feet occasionally brushing. The evening breeze threaded around the two of them, rustling the tree’s dying leaves and sending Kuzon’s hair that had fallen from his topknot in a million different directions. “It was with Bumi.”

Aang’s jaw dropped. “It was not.”

(Written for Day 2 of Aang Rarepair Week: First Kiss OR Last Kiss, hosted by @aangtheestallion. Pairing: Kuzon/Aang. Read here on AO3, or continue reading below.)

It was an accident.

Aang jerked away faster than lightning, lips tingling with imagined electricity where they’d brushed the corner of Kuzon’s mouth. “I’m so sorry!” he sputtered, scrambling backwards and nearly tumbling off the tree branch they were both balanced precariously on. Maybe Kuzon would believe the glaring red of his cheeks was just a reflection of the setting sun? “I swear I was just trying to turn, I didn’t mean to—”

“You’re fine, Aang,” Kuzon interrupted with a laugh, smiling in such an honest way that Aang’s heart melted in his chest. Relief blossomed as replacement, relief and a mixture of… other emotions Aang that was far too overwhelmed—now and always—to consider. “You’re not gonna believe it, but this isn’t the first time one of my friends has kissed me on accident.”

Aang blinked at the revelation, a strange and—and almost hot sensation gnawing in his stomach. “What?”

Kuzon laughed, presumably a reaction to Aang’s dumbstruck expression. “My mom always warned me that some kind of slip-up would happen eventually, since according to her I have no sense of personal space.” He shrugged. “Still. As of now, I’ve only experienced two accidental kisses in my life. Could be worse.” He smiled at Aang again. “So I promise you, it’s really not a big deal.”

A beat passed before Aang nodded. He returned Kuzon’s reassuring smile with an admittedly far more awkward one of his own. “Okay. If you’re… If you’re sure.” Heat crept up his neck as he absentmindedly rubbed his lips together. He knew the sensation was nothing more than a figment of his imagination, but part of him swore he could still feel the warmth of Kuzon’s feather-light touch across his skin. “I mean, I’m glad I didn’t ruin your first kiss, at least. Then I might not have been able to forgive myself.”

Kuzon burst out laughing. “Oh yeah, that happened a year ago. You’re well in the clear.”

Aang barely withheld an overdramatic scoff, because really. Kuzon couldn’t just say that and not expect him to inquire for more details! “Who was it?” he asked, eyes wide as he finished shoving his embarrassment into a locked box at the back of his mind, never to be opened again. “What happened?”

Kuzon grinned, shifting on the tree branch to face Aang directly. The wood creaked as their legs continued to dangle off the sides, bare feet occasionally brushing. The evening breeze threaded around the two of them, rustling the tree’s dying leaves and sending Kuzon’s hair that had fallen from his topknot in a million different directions. “It was with Bumi.”

Aang’s jaw dropped. “It was not.” The strange, fiery sensation in his stomach grew stronger, just as he’d started being able to ignore it.

Kuzon nodded, his grin only widening. “Yep. And like I said, it was a total accident!” He braced himself on the trunk of the tree, leaning his back against it. “I was visiting Omashu this one time with my dad. Bumi and I were sparring together, and you know he’s almost as much of a prodigy with earthbending as you are with airbending, so he had me beat within ten minutes. Well, probably less.”

Aang raised an eyebrow, certain there was more story to follow. “But?”

“But, Bumi can be a lot more unwieldy with all his rocks than you are with the air,” Kuzon continued, gesturing wildly around him, “and at the end of our match when I was yielding, he managed to nick me in the face across the lip with the tiniest pebble you’ve ever seen.”

He touched beneath the left corner of his mouth, and sure enough Aang could see a slender scar, so faint across his friend’s brown skin that he’d never have noticed had Kuzon not pointed it out. In another year, it might have faded entirely.

“Bumi felt bad, obviously, and he tried to come over and see if I was okay. He takes two steps, trips over one of the very chunks of earth he’d been bending with, and ends up crashing on top of me!” Kuzon snickered as he shook his head. “I’m pretty sure you can figure out what happened next.”

Yes, Aang had a very clear idea of the following events. But despite that they were quite possibly the most hilarious mental images he’d ever had the good fortune to be graced with, he only managed a weak laugh in response. “Wow. That’s—That’s quite a story.”

For a reason Aang couldn’t put a finger on, he was not particularly keen on the idea of Bumi—of anyone, really—reaching towards Kuzon to check his injury, fingertips gently brushing over his friend’s bottom lip.

Huh.

“It was really awkward at the time,” Kuzon admitted, “but you know Bumi—he was over it by the next day.”

Aang nodded, throat tight. “Yeah, that sounds like him.”

“So that’s the story of my accidental first kiss!” Kuzon said with another laugh, throwing his arms out. He glanced at Aang, their eyes meeting for the briefest of seconds before Aang tore his gaze away. “What about you? Have an embarrassing first kiss story you’d like to share with the class?”

Aang swallowed. As of about five minutes ago… Well, yes, he did. Although he did not want to ‘share it with the class.’ He also didn’t want Kuzon to feel bad, because it wasn’t his fault! The kiss had been a near-inevitable consequence of their casual closeness and the unsteady tree branch they still remained perched upon. “I mean, I guess I…” He trailed off after only a few words, and Kuzon’s eyes widened.

“Oh, Agni. Did I—”

“It’s not a big deal!” Aang hastily reassured him, echoing Kuzon’s own words from minutes earlier. He tugged at his yellow collar, unsure why he felt so warm when the evening breeze had not stopped circulating around them. “It was just an accident, like what happened with you and Bumi in Omashu, I bet it won’t even matter to either of us tomorrow! If you want we can pretend it never happened at all”—okay, he was rambling, he needed to wrap it up—“and, I mean, if I was going to accidentally kiss anyone, I’m glad it was you.”

Aang froze as soon as the words escaped his lips. Oh, spirits. Had he said too much? Revealed too much, been too open? Gyatso often warned him that his rambling could have unintended consequences, but this—

“Really?” Kuzon was staring at him. Steady, curious, but neither anxious nor piercing. No judgement laced his calm tone. “Why do you say that?”

Aang opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish-canary. First he’d talked himself half to death, now words failed him. Great. “I guess because”—he faltered, shaking his head—“I mean… you’re you.” He dropped his gaze to his lap, hands shaking with just enough intensity to be noticeable. “We’ve known each other since we were kids. I trust you more than anyone, and so I—it makes sense to me—”

Aang cut himself off with a laugh. Maybe a little strained, maybe a little exhilarated. “Of course I trust you with my first kiss, Kuzon. Even if it was an accident and we almost fell out the tree because I freaked afterwards.” Not wanting to end on too serious of a note, he tore his eyes away from his shaking hands to wink at Kuzon and add, “You’re also the prettiest of my friends by far, so that’s a nice bonus.”

Kuzon burst out laughing. Aang wondered if it was a trick of the scarlet sunset that made Kuzon’s cheeks appear so flushed with red. “I mean, I could say the same for you,” his friend teased. “Those tattoos are very flattering.”

“Guess we shouldn’t tell Bumi he’s the odd one out?”

“Eh. I think Bumi unquestioningly believes his chipped tooth is the most attractive feature known to man. Who are we to tell him otherwise?”

Aang laughed again. A fair point.

“So, we’ve both had awkward, accidental first kisses,” Kuzon mused after a pause.

Aang nodded. “Yep.” Against his will, or maybe just following his subconscious will, his gaze flickered over to Kuzon’s lips. But he didn’t allow his eyes to linger. “What are the odds of that?”

“Probably not high. But we’re usually outliers to the average, aren’t we?”

Ha. That felt like a polite way of saying they were two peas in a weird pod. And yet… Aang found he didn’t mind the comparison.

Not when Kuzon was the one making it.

“You know,” Kuzon said after another beat had passed, his voice low enough to be a whisper, “we don’t… we don’t have to consider those our first kisses. Since they were just accidents.”

Aang proceeded to endure a rapid spiral of emotions, the high being his realization that Kuzon’s first kiss didn’t belong to Bumi, and the low being his disappointment that—oh. That meant his first kiss wasn’t with Kuzon, either.

Of course, what right did he have to be disappointed by that?

Aang realized he’d let silence hang in the air a second too long and nodded. “Yes. Sounds good to me.” He paused. “Like having a clean slate.” Out the corner of his eye, he noticed Kuzon lick his lips. Aang watched said motion with probably too much closeness for someone who was supposed to be disregarding their accidental kiss.

“If you were wondering…” Kuzon’s voice was quiet, even more so than before, and his ears were red as he looked anywhere but at Aang. “I’d trust you with my first kiss, too. Only you.”

It was Aang’s turn to blush crimson to the tips of his ears. “Really?” Yikes, his voice resembled a squeak far too much for his liking. Aang cleared his throat. “I mean—are you sure?”

Kuzon laughed, and their eyes finally met again. “I wouldn’t have said it if I wasn’t sure. You know me. Confidence or bust.”

Aang did know him. Better than anyone.

He swallowed. “So if we both feel that way, then…?” Aang didn’t dare to hope, and yet all he could do was hope, unable to tear his gaze away from Kuzon’s. At some point, his friend had leaned towards him, their noses mere inches apart. Aang didn’t know which of them had laced their fingers together, but he did know that he was not complaining about said act.

“Then we could kiss. On purpose.” Kuzon’s face was burning and spirits, Aang’s was, too. “No accidents.”

“Okay,” Aang breathed, grip tightening on Kuzon’s hand as Kuzon broke into a wide—if still flustered—smile. “Okay.”

Kuzon tilted his head, lips parting ever so slightly.

Aang hesitated. Then he leaned in, eyelids fluttering shut—

(He missed, at first. Aang barely caught Kuzon’s bottom lip with the kiss. After they finished laughing so hard they couldn’t breathe, Aang once again nearly toppling off the tree and Kuzon catching his arm in the nick of time, they tried again. And this kiss?

There was nothing accidental about it.)