ATLA & LOK Girls x Male Reader One-Shots

Cartwheels [Ty Lee]

It's the night of your debut act at the circus, and you've never been more anxious in your life. 

You've been training as a fire dancer pretty much your whole life, but only as cheap entertainment at family gatherings, or kids birthday parties. You've never performed in front of a whole crowd of people before! 

You try to calm down and convince yourself it won't be that bad. You pull the curtain aside and peer into the stands ─ oh wow, that is a lot of people. You quickly lower the curtain and step away again, feeling even worse than before. The show isn't due to start for another two hours, and already there's more than three dozen people waiting. You're not sure you'll be able to cope when the stands are completely full. 

As you continue stressing and fretting, you don't notice that someone's approaching until they're right behind you. 

"Hey, Y/n!" Ty Lee says, making you whip around in surprise. For one thing, you didn't even hear her come up to you. Also, she knows your name? You've spoken to her a few times, travelling with the same company for the last few weeks, but you didn't think you were important enough to be remembered. Your heart does an excited little jump. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" you respond perhaps a little too quickly, looking quite panicked. Ty Lee tilts her head at you, unconvinced. 

"Are you sure? Because your aura is all blue, and you look kinda... stressed," she says, taking note of your frazzled appearance. 

"I'm good, I swear! I just... don't know what to do with myself." You wring your hands in front of you. "I'm getting so nervous and excited seeing all those people roll in... I feel like my stomach's gonna explode from butterflies!"

Ty Lee smiles, rocking on the balls of her feet. "Sounds like you need to vent some of that pent-up energy!"

You look at her curiously. "Did you have something in mind?"

Her smile grows as she nods enthusiastically. "You need to do cartwheels!"

You blink, slightly taken aback by her suggestion. "What, here? Now?"

"Where else, silly? We've got the whole courtyard to ourselves! And cartwheels can be done anytime, anywhere." Ty Lee winks at you, then takes a step backwards. "Here, I'll go first!"

She takes a running start to gain momentum, then leans onto her hands and performs a cartwheel... followed by a series of elaborate flips and twists. 

Your mouth hangs open as you watch her. She doesn't seriously expect you to be able to do that, does she? "Uuuuuhh..."

Ty Lee finishes by landing in a handstand, and she shoots you an upside-down smile before turning herself right-way up again, raising her hands above her head with a flourish. 

"Ta-da!" she exclaims, beaming. "Now your turn!"

You just continue to gape at her, your mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. "Um..."

Ty Lee laughs at your expression. "I'm kidding, duh!"

"...Oh," you say dumbly. "Oh, yeah. Duh. I knew that... obviously."

She laughs again. "Wow, you really do need to relax a little. Here, just try this."

Ty Lee demonstrates a simple cartwheel. At least, she makes it look simple. You don't completely trust yourself not to snap your neck and die, but she looks so excited and it would be rude not to at least try. 

"Okay... Here goes nothing, I guess..." You take a deep breath, then take a running start, putting your hands down towards the ground... 

...And then you trip and crash to the floor.