Hangover is a bitch

Morning in the colonies of the Fire Nation came quickly, as in almost all cities closer to the equator of the continent. Many people got up with the sun, because in this world - who does not work, does not eat. This also involved one black-haired teenager with heterochromia.

Michael woke up with a loud groan and immediately nearly fell off the hammock. His head throbbed with a terrifyingly familiar pain, and his mind flatly refused to remember exactly what had happened the previous evening. He carefully grabbed the edges of the hammock and just listened to the sounds of nature for a while. Michael didn't even hear a hint of human activity nearby, so the chance of being near the city was slim.

Slowly, cautiously, Michael opened his eyes and immediately covered them with his hand from the blazing sun.

"Ugh... The last time I felt like this was after the New Year... How much did I drink yesterday?" He slowly sat up, trying not to rock the hammock, and looked around.

Oddly enough, he woke up in the woods, his hammock hanging between two tall trees. The strap of his bag was tied around his ankle, but it weighed much more than usual. Michael immediately put it next to him and decided to check the contents later.

"Where's Ty Lee?" He muttered and finally looked around.

Around him were tall trees like maples, but with wrong kind of leaves. The terrain was quite hilly, and Michael could not see even a hint of grass. It was definitely not the same forest near the city that the circus visited. He tried to remember what happened last night and gradually his memories began to return to him.

The evening with Ty Lee was fun, the girl was rather frivolous and did not hold a grudge for his victory in their impromptu competition. They ate something similar to tokoyaki and went to explore the city, where they were lured by another competition in one of the bars.

There they were told that this was a competition of who would outdrink whom, and as a proud Russian, Michael accepted the challenge. He remembered how he drank the first glass of rice vodka - 'sake, I think?' - and then his memory was blank.

"So." He started. "I'm god knows where, I don't remember last night and I don't even know if what I remember happened last night. Ty Lee must have stayed at the circus..." He muttered with a little sadness.

Deciding to take a break, he opened his bag to check its contents and immediately saw a huge problem. His metal staff, which was previously made of shit and sticks - not really, but material was shit and he wasn't a blacksmith - was broken in half. His eye twitched when he saw it. Taking out the broken staff and placing it in the hammock, he began to inspect the inventory.

All of his belongings were in place, so the weight came from something he hid underneath. He looked at what exactly lay at the bottom of his bag and froze. There, curled up in a ball, a fire-red fox was sleeping soundly.

The good thing was that none of his stuff was too heavy or sharp. All of his knives were on his body, and additional ones were wrapped in clothing. If this were not so, the fox would be much worse off. 'How can it even sleep in here?'

Michael just stared at the animal for a couple of seconds, after which he put the bag on his feet. 'I feel like a flayer. Why did I put the poor animal in a bag?' He rubbed his temples, but his mind still refused to help him remember what had happened.

He sat down in the hammock and slowly looked down. As it turned out, he hung high enough from the ground that if an normal person fell from such a height, they would definitely break their neck.

Michael blinked and looked around. He could've sworn he heard-

"Uugh..." Michael's eyes widened as he realized that his mind wasn't playing tricks on him. "My head..." It was undoubtedly Ty Lee's voice. But he had to make sure.

"Ty Lee?" He asked, speaking much more quietly than usual. Michael knew how annoying hangovers can be.

"Mic...?" She asked just as quietly, and he was able to breathe a sigh of relief. "Why does my throat feel like a sand desert?"

A couple of inappropriate thoughts flashed through his mind, but he promptly pushed them aside. Ironically, he always remembered every time he had sex, which was not as pleasant as one might think.

"Apparently we drank too much yesterday... If it was yesterday..." They both fell silent for a couple of minutes. "Any idea why we're both in hammocks a hundred meters above the ground?"

Ty Lee thought for a moment. "No... The last thing I remember is you trying to challenge the Fire Nation Guards to a dance battle." Ty Lee laughed, but immediately fell silent and groaned. "I'll never touch alcohol again..."

"Dance battle?" He muttered. "Did I win?"

Michael heard Ty Lee stand up on the hammock and heard a few pops. "I don't think so. You started out pretty good, but you couldn't drink and dance at the same time."

"Sounds about right." He stroked the fox in the bag without much thought. "Where I got a fox would be too much to ask, huh?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Michael caught a glimpse of Ty Lee sitting carefully on a tree branch next to his hammock and looking at his bag in surprise. "You have a fox?" She asked in surprise. "I've never seen a normal fox in my life." There was childish admiration in her voice and Michael chuckled.

He was pleased to know that Ty Lee was so upbeat, even when neither of them knew exactly what had happened the night before. "Me too," He admitted. "live your whole life behind stone walls and you'll never see the world. My dad used to say that a lot, never got out of the city though..."

Ty Lee looked at him with interest. "Did you live in one of the cities in the Earth Kingdom?"

It was a good question. The cities in the Fire Nation were more like cities in ancient Japan, while the Earth Kingdom's cities were filled with stone and earth. Ty Lee was smart enough to read between the lines, hence her assumption of his hometown. Some say that she is naive, but Michael immediately noticed that behind her innocent eyes there was an undoubted intelligence.

No one survives Azula just because of a pretty face after all.

"Something like that." Michael didn't notice her interested head tilt. "Well, now we need to decide what to do next." He looked around, noticing the river in the distance. They couldn't hear the sound of the flowing water, so it must have been a fairly slow river.

"We need to get down first." Ty Lee said and looked at the ground. Michael had strong doubts about his ability to move normally. Although his throat was already feeling better, his head was still in a world of pain.

"Let's go down... in a couple of minutes." He muttered and fell back into the hammock.

Ty Lee remained sitting on the branch, looking at Michael, she wasn't sure what to think now. She chose not to remember that her... colleagues were still waiting for her at the circus, this thought would definitely send her into a panic. Being completely alone in the woods with a guy she'd only known for a day was the least of her problems.

The problem was that she wasn't sure if she would be accepted back into the troupe. Of course, she was good, but not enough to be irreplaceable. 'As a last resort, they can always ask one of my sisters to take my place.' She thought bitterly. 'Ah, here are the thoughts about the circus...'

Ty Lee stood up on a branch and walked over to Michael's hammock. She bent over his dormant form and began to examine his face to distract herself. His skin was tanned , but at the same time perfectly smooth, without a single flaw. Her eyes fell on his bandaged arm and she frowned. Someone dared to damage such perfect skin, which in her eyes was a sin. She knew that of all her friends only Mai had the same perfect skin, and she was careful enough not to get scars.

"If you want to cuddle, you can just ask." Michael's teasing voice nearly made her jump, but she caught herself in time.

"Oh, really?" She asked with a smile. "Aren't boys supposed to take the first step in things like this, hmm?"

Michael opened his eyes and looked in her direction. "Yeah, we should, but who said I'm just a regular boy?" He grinned. "And you didn't even deny that you wanted to cuddle."

Michael opened his arms for a hug without losing his grin. Ty Lee tilted her head, as if listening to the advice of someone invisible. She shrugged and began to carefully climb into his hammock. "Scoot over, you'll be the little spoon." 'Maybe it will clear my mind of bad thoughts'

Michael laughed softly and moved over to give Ty Lee enough space. His bag was already on the second hammock, so there was nothing to interfere with them. Ty Lee wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her breasts against his back. He covered her hands with his and did not even notice how he fell asleep again.