If anyone could look surprised under a mask, Amon was, somehow, managing to.

“You want me to what?”

Hiroshi put his hand to the back of his head. “I need the house alone for a while, for our projects. I can’t have Asami there, so I was wondering if she could stay with you for a while. I couldn’t get a hold of anyone else.” Asami, who had been staring at her shoes, looked up at the sound of her name, only to catch a glimpse of the masked man and look back down.

It took a moment for Amon to respond. “Are you sure about that? You couldn’t get anyone else, at all?”

Hiroshi shook his head. “I’m sorry. It’ll only be for a few days, three at most. If you really can’t do it, I can find-”

“No, it’s fine.” Amon interrupted with a slight gesture of his hand. “I understand. I’ll take her back to my apartment, and you can call me when it’s time for her to come back.” He turned to Asami, but she couldn’t tell his expression under the mask. She looked back at her shoes.

Hiroshi put his hand around Asami’s shoulder. She flinched at the touch. “She’s all packed and ready to go, if you are”

Amon nodded. “Alright. Asami, are you ok with that?”

Asami frantically sat up straight to look Amon in the eye and nod. She put her hand over the satchel bag she was wearing- she had packed it that morning when her father told her she would be staying somewhere else. It held a few days worth of clothes, her toiletries, and a few books. “Yes. I’m ready to go now if that’s ok.”

Amon smiled and stood up, heading to the door. He paused in front of it, then looked back at Asami. She hadn’t moved from the couch.

“Come on.” Amon gestured for her to follow. Asami got up and walked over, quickly and obediently before turning back to her father.

“Wait- don’t you two need a lift?” Hiroshi asked, almost getting up to escort them out.

Amon shook his head. “We’ll take the tram. Come on, Asami.”

Asami had never ridden the tram before. As her father owned the leading automobile brand in the city, they had always driven places. Her mother used to promise to take her on the tram one day, down to the museum district where they could see the Republic City library, but those days were long past them and her father had priorities other than fulfilling her mother’s little dreams.

Asami was almost nervous to board it, but Amon’s hand around hers gave her enough confidence to step on board. They got stares- more stares than Asami was used to- but it was easy to figure out why. Amon didn’t seem bothered by it, though, so Asami tried not to pay it much mind. They took seats at the back of the tram, and Amon let her have the window seat, shielded from the rest of the world in a tiny, temporary pocket of security.

As the tram started moving down the street, Asami looked out the window. In her opinion, Republic City always looked beautiful when covered by snow- like out of a dream. When her breath fogged up the glass, she returned to her seat.

“Do you like the snow?” Amon asked.

Asami shrugged. “I like looking at it more than I like being in it. What about you?’”

Amon took a moment to look out the window himself. “I’d have to agree with you on that one. Snow’s not much fun to be in for a long time.”

Asami nodded and looked back out the window- they were passing a schoolyard. Since it was noon, there were children out playing in the snow, their mutlicoloured coats a contrast against the pale white of their surroundings. Asami clenched her bag closer to her body.

Amon looked up to check something- the number of the stop they were slowing down for. “We’re only a few more stops from my apartment. We’ll be there in no time.”

Amon’s apartment was on the fifth floor of a modern apartment building in the downtown area of the city- far from the mansion Asami had grown up in. After fumbling with his keys for only a moment, Amon opened the apartment door, revealing to Asami what would be her home for the next few days.

The apartment was small, from what Asami could tell, and sparsely decorated. Unlike her father, Amon chose minimalist furniture in neutral colors with mostly geometric decals, and seemed to decorate only in books and the occasional succulent. Everything was so blank compared to what Asami was used to. It was almost refreshing.

Upon entering the apartment, Amon removed his shoes and coat, storing them respectively in the shoe bench and on the coat rack. Asami did the same, neatly placing her shoes next to Amon’s- they looked tiny in comparison. Surprisingly (or maybe not, Asami didn’t really know what she had been expecting of the man), Amon didn’t remove his mask when they came inside, only the hooded cloak he wore over a simple, long sleeve tunic. It was almost a jarring sight.

“Are you alright?” Amon turned to Asami. His voice was kind, and genuine. She knew the story of why Amon wore his mask, and decided against asking anything about it. If she had to carry a reminder of her mother’s death on her face, she wouldn’t want to talk about it.

Asami nodded and put her hands around the straps of her bag. “Yeah, I’m alright.”

Amon nodded, somewhat awkwardly. He stood up straight. “Alright, come on. I’ll show you around the apartment.

Amon’s apartment was small- comfortingly so. He had a small kitchen (and explained that he would cook dinner tonight, though he wasn’t the best cook in the world and it probably wouldn’t be what she was used to), a living space, a bathroom, and two bedrooms, though he explained that one of them was his office and that she could sleep in the actual bedroom if she wanted to. Asami had nodded and taken his offer, then went to settle in what, at least for the next few days, would be her home.

Every room in Amon’s apartment was sparsely decorated in neutral tones, and none more than the bedroom he had loaned to her. There were no intricately carved gold furnishings, no fine woven rugs beneath her feet, no abstract art hanging on every wall. It was simple- simple enough that it allowed Asami to think, and to breathe. She didn’t really know what to think of her father’s boss (if she could call him that, she really didn’t know what her father’s position was relative to Amon’s), but she was pretty sure she liked him. He seemed honest, at least more honest than her father. And he didn’t ignore her.

After she had set her bag down on the dresser- she would only be there a few days, so there wasn’t much need to unpack- Asami sat down on the bed and looked at the bookshelves. Amon had a lot of books, almost all of them bigger than her hand. She wondered which one was his favorite, and where he got the time to read (Asami assumed that, like her father, Amon led a normal life on top of the equalist stuff). She had a hard enough time balancing her schoolwork with all the reading she wanted to do and her design work. After reading the titles of nearly every book on Amon’s shelf, Asami grabbed her own book from her bag and left for the living space.

Amon was easy to find- he was in the living space, doing exactly what she had planned to be doing for the rest of the afternoon- reading. The book he held was as thick as the ones Asami had seen, and he even had a notepad and pen ready to take notes. He looked up when Asami entered the room. “Oh, hey Asami.” There might’ve been a smile under the mask he was still wearing, but Asami couldn’t tell. “Are you all settled in?”

Asami nodded and sat down on the couch opposite the armchair Amon sat in. “Yeah, I’m good. I’m just going to read, if that’s ok.”

Amon nodded and returned to what he was reading. “Alright with me. I think I’ll make dinner in…” He checked his watch. “How does six pm sound?”

Asami nodded. “That sounds good.”

“Good.” Amon nodded before returning to his reading. Asami did the same.

After a few hours and most of Asami’s book finished, Amon closed his own book- a heavy tome that made a thudding sound when he shut it- and stood up. “I think it’s time for dinner, if that’s good with you.”

Asami nodded and closed her own book. “Sounds good to me.” She followed him into the kitchen and sat down at the table while Amon hovered over the stovetop, cooking noodles. Within a few minutes, he turned back to Asami and put a steaming bowl of noodles in front of her. “Sorry it’s so plain,” He apologized. “This is really the only thing I know how to cook.”

“It’s ok.” Asami said, then paused when Amon sat down at the table with nothing in front of him. “You’re not going to eat?”

Amon gestured to his mask. Asami had gotten so used to it, she had almost forgotten it was there. She looked down into her food. “Oh, sorry.”

“No, it’s ok. I’ll just eat later, when you’re asleep.” Amon shrugged. “I don’t usually have company over, so this is pretty new. It’s ok.”

Asami nodded and ate her dinner, but it didn’t help the feeling of almost-guilt she felt.

Asami couldn’t sleep, and she couldn’t figure out why. It might’ve been because of the new environment, though she always had issues sleeping at home anyways. She felt overwhelmingly warm, a terrible reminder of the night her mother had died. It felt almost like she couldn’t take breaths long enough to relax, like she was drowning. Asami settled on doing what she always did to clear her mind back home, which was to go get a glass of water.

When she left to the hallway, Asami noticed a sliver of light coming from Amon’s office. She didn’t know how late it was, but she assumed it was a decent hour for him to be up. She hoped he had gotten something to eat like he said he would.

As Asami passed the door to Amon’s office, she couldn’t help but glance inside. The door was cracked just enough that Asami could see inside it without opening it more. Amon was sitting at his desk, taking notes on the same book he had been reading before and comparing them to other notes. To Asami’s surprise- to her genuine, complete surprise this time- he wasn’t wearing his mask- it lay unattended on his desk. Even more jarring to her was the fact that his face was completely unscarred, meaning what he had told her father was a lie. Every instinct told her that she needed to run, but she was frozen in place.

Amon looked up and noticed her. He jumped to his feet and rushed over, not bothering to grab the mask on the desk. “Asami- I-”

Asami stepped backwards, away from Amon. She could feel the tears forming in her eyes.

“Spirits- this is bad.” Amon muttered. He sat down on the floor and put his hand over his eyes. Asami followed his motion. “This looks really bad, doesn’t it…”

Asami couldn’t say anything. She couldn’t even nod in agreement.

“I- I’m sorry I lied to you and your father.” Amon sighed. “It wasn’t all a lie, it’s just…it’s very complicated.”

“That’s ok.” Asami whispered. She pulled her knees closer to her. If Amon didn’t want to tell her everything, she guessed he didn’t have to. “I’m- I’m used to people lying. And you’re… you’re nicer than my dad.”

“Oh.” Amon replied. “Oh. I’ll have to have a word with Hiroshi, then.”

“Please don’t tell him I said that!” Asami cried in a moment of panic. She didn’t know what her father would do if he knew she had said that.

Amon shook his head. “I won’t, I promise. As long as you don’t tell him about this.” He gestured to his face.

Asami nodded. “I promise…” She hesitated. “Can you give me a hug?”

If Amin was off-put by the request, he didn’t show it for more than a moment. “Alright.” He whispered before moving over to be closer to her. He put his arms around her. “Is this good?”

“Yeah.” Asami nodded. It was the warmest embrace she had felt in years.