Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Prince Zuko sighs as he rolls over in this bed. He feels his inner fire rise inside of him with the sun. It is one of the only moments he hates being a firebender. Well, he doesn’t necessarily have to leave his comfortable bed. He knows that there is something important happening today, but his brain can’t seem to wake up enough to care. He also knows his Father set up another date for him today and that is enough for him to pull the covers up a bit higher. There is a hasty knock at the door and before he can even sit up, he hears it open. Since they just came in without saying anything, he knows who it is. He lets out a dramatic groan to convey his thoughts of her just coming in.

“What’s the matter Azula?” He grumbles from under the covers.

“Get up dumb dumb. Father wants us to get to the meeting room in thirty minutes.” She chimes. Her voice seems light and excited. That must mean that their Father is in a good mood. It also could be because their uncle came back last night from being on the sea. They haven’t seen him in a while. Zuko peeks out from under the covers to find his little sister fully dressed and she has an excited look in her eyes. Why is she so excited? Oh right! When he remembers what day it is, Zuko almost jumps out of bed. The avatar is supposed to be finally arriving today. He was supposed to arrive a few days ago. His advisor and mentor showed up, but the Avatar was nowhere to be found. They then received a messenger hawk that apologetically told them he was running late and that he would be here today. He sits up happily and looks at her.

“Father wants to meet before he gets here?” 

“Yep, so let’s go before he slips out of his good mood.” Azula looks slightly nervous as she says this but then she fixes her face and looks excited again. Zuko hops up and stretches. Once Azula steps out the royal dressers come in to dress him. He tries not to huff as they get him changed in and out of his clothes. He looks away from the mirror as they pull the hair away from his face. He can feel the hands brush the edges of his scar and it tingles. Finally, they are done, and he heads out of his room to see Azula waiting for him. They rush to the throne room. Right when they get outside, they look at each other.

Azula has a slightly worried look in her eyes so Zuko gives her as much of a reassuring smile, he can muster as they head in. He tries to not let his nerves show. He knows that Azula won’t show her fear, but he can mostly see past her walls. Zuko nods softly and pushes the door open.

Their father is sitting on his throne surrounded by fire as Iroh stands off to the side. Their uncle gives them both a small smile as they approach them. Zuko is really excited to see him, but he cannot do much more because of his father. He knows that their uncle will come see them for a proper reunion later. Zuko and Azula get on their knees bowing their heads down to the ground. Their father laughs softly, getting the fire siblings to flinch slightly.

“Hello Zuko, Azula. You can sit up.” They both sit up but stay sitting on their legs in front of their father. “I am sure you guys know what this meeting is about. The young Avatar should be arriving today.” He looks at Zuko addressing him first. “Zuko as you know it will be mostly your responsibility to train the avatar. You barely finished your mastery of firebending, and this will be a test of your skills.” Zuko knows that it is also a test of his worthiness but neither of them speaks about that. Zuko groans inwardly, already feeling the pressure as he continues to talk. 

“He will be an honored guest here at the fire nation capital because he is an extraordinarily powerful bender despite his upbringing with those weak Airbenders.” The distaste in his voice is clear as he talks about the airbenders. He slowly looks over to Azula acknowledging her. “Azula, you will not be teaching him lightening bending. I know that Zuko cannot because he has failed to learn it, but you won’t. In fact, no one is allowed to mention the existence of lightening bending to him.” Zuko sees Azula’s jaw tighten at his jab at him. She is smart enough to not comment on it though. “There are a few more things to talk about, like your marriage to the Avatar, but we will get more into that when he gets here.” He moves on like he didn’t just drop that huge bomb on Azula. Zuko tries not to look over at his sister. “You may go…... Oh and Zuko. Remember you have lunch with OnJi. You should see if you like her. I know that marriage is not that pressing because I am young and healthy but honestly Zuko, it has been three years, and you haven’t shown any interest in the girls that the Sages have found. Now you may go.”

Their father turns his attention to their Uncle Iroh signaling that he is done. They both get up and leave. Zuko peeks over at his sister and sees that she is deep in thought. He feels a slight sense of dread thinking about lunch with OnJi. She was probably nice enough, but Zuko was horrible about these sorts of things. Plus, he knows that he isn’t going to suddenly like her romantically. There is a pretty big reason why he won’t. One that nobody, not even Azula, knows. He likes men. The young firebender had a confusing childhood coming to terms with him being different. In the past in the Fire Nation, it was okay to love those of the same gender. It wasn’t necessarily common, but they really didn’t mind if you kept to yourself. But then his great-grandfather Sozin made same-sex relationships illegal. Way before Zuko was born. If his father ever found out that he liked men, he would be furious. Who knows what he would do… Zuko feels his scar tingle and he shakes it off as best as he can. He can’t deal with that right now. He has to go get ready for this lunch so that it can be over by time the Avatar gets there. That would be horribly embarrassing for him to show up and see Zuko on an arranged date.

Zuko gives his sister a reassuring hug that she barely returns because she is still deep in thought. He will have to talk to her later. He can’t even imagine how she must feel right now. He looks at her to silently ask if he can come by later to talk. Azula nods softly at the question he didn’t ask her and leaves.

He sighs and rushes to his room. He lets the servants dress him in something casual but still royal. That’s what they said it was at least, but they are just clothes. Maybe he should try to like OnJi. He is going to have to marry a woman anyways. Unless he stays single until he becomes Firelord, then he could change the law. His father probably wouldn’t allow that. He groans and decides to take the last time that he has to breathe because he doesn’t want to mess up and lose his temper during the date, which is something he always does. As he settles down in his breathing area, he hears a knock on the door. It is five taps then two louder knocks. He rolls his eyes. Only one person knocks like that.

“Come in Zion.” He groans. Zuko tries to be nice to Zion because it is pretty obvious that Azula has a HUGE crush on him. He also has one on Azula. The only problem is that he is really annoying. At least to Zuko. Also, Zion is the young prince’s personal servant, so he spends entirely too much time with him. To be fair Zuko finds most people annoying.

Zion smiles at him. He has his hair pulled up in a simple topknot and is holding a tray with a cup and a steaming bowl. He brings over the tray and Zuko can smell the bowl of spicy fire flake soup. Zuko feels his stomach grumble from the smell. So much for concentration. “Here you go, Prince Zuko. I know that you are having a lunch date, but you never really eat well when you are nervous, so I brought you some food for before.” 

Zuko rolls his eyes, but he is grateful. “Thanks Zion.” He takes the tray and starts to eat. It is delicious as always. Zion sits on the floor entirely too close.

“I’m sure this will go well Prince Zuko.” He smiles. “I used to go to school with OnJi. She is pretty and really nice.”

Zuko nods feeling annoyed. He tries not to take it out on Zion. It isn’t his fault that he won’t like OnJi, no matter how nice or pretty she is. “We will see.”

Zion looks like he wants to ask something but doesn’t. After the third time that he bites his lip Zuko loses his patience.

“Yes?!”

Zion laughs softly and rubs the back of his head. He looks at the door as if double checking that they are alone in here. “Do you know what is wrong with Azula? She seemed so upset when I passed her in the hall, and I couldn’t ask at the time.”

Zuko sighs thinking about his sister. He wishes he could change this for her somehow. It really isn’t fair. “You should ask her.” Zion nods but doesn’t look settled. Zuko sighs. “I’m sorry you just know how badly Azula hates being ‘handled’. She will tell you if she wants you to know. Anyways can I please relax before this da…”

Zuko is interrupted by the door opening softly. He must not have heard the knocks over their secret conversation. An older guard comes in. The guard is quite handsome in Zuko’s opinion. For an older guy. “Prince Zuko. It is time for you to head to your date. The palanquin is outside waiting for you outside.” Zuko groans. His ever-present headache is settling in hard as he forces himself to stand up. Agni help him.

He follows the guard out and Azula is waiting for him. She seems still deep in thought. She is frowning slightly but when he approaches her, she looks up and smiles at him. “It’s okay Zuko.” She gives him a hug so she can whisper in his ear. “I know you prefer your hair down, but I promise you don’t have to cover your scar to look nice.” She pulls back with a playful yet cocky glint in her eyes. “I mean not as nice as me, but you can’t compare to perfection.” She says playfully.

She says this every time his hair is up. He smiles at her and squeezes her shoulder to show he appreciates it. Neither he nor Azula is the best at showing gratitude, but he really is thankful. He sees their uncle come over. He smiles at them both and gives Azula a hug. Then he nods at Zuko.

“How have you been?” he asks, still smiling.

“We have been good uncle.” Azula smiles fully now.

“How was your trip.” Zuko asks peeking at the guards waiting for him.

Iroh’s eyes look a little downcast. “It went well. We stopped a band of criminals from terrorizing the colonies. Then we were able to come home a whole fortnight early.”

Zuko is about to ask more about it but then the escorts open the doors. Zuko nods at them. He walks to the outer wall of the palace and walks through the gate. He sighs looking at the palanquin waiting for him and then gets in and settles down as they lift it. The ride is relatively short considering the restaurant is only a block away, but ‘it is not a princes place to walk anywhere.’ He rolls his eyes just at the thought of it. The guards slowly set him down and he takes a deep breath. He steps out and nods at the two guards that accompanied him and the palanquin carriers on the trip. He sees that the small restaurant is empty except for a girl. He can only see the back of her head. Unfortunately, this isn’t exactly inconspicuous so there is also a group of people, mostly girls, standing outside to greet him. The guards that were already here are keeping them at bay but that doesn’t stop the screaming or the pounding in his head from worsening. 

“Thank you.” Zuko sighs.

“OMIGOD! IT’S PRINCE ZUKO!!!!”

“PRINCE ZUKO OVER HERE!” 

“IS IT TRUE THE AVATAR IS COMING TODAY?!” 

“I LOVE YOU PRINCE ZUKO!” 

Zuko groans and pinches the bridge of his nose. He takes a deep breath, calming himself then goes inside. The restaurant unfortunately smells like tea. He gets enough of the stuff from his uncle. It looks abandoned since there is no one in here except him, OnJi, the waiter, and the chef. The young prince wants to get this over with as soon as possible. OnJi stands to greet him. He has to admit she is pretty. She has amber eyes to match his own, short bangs with her hair pulled in a ponytail, and a kind smile.

“I can’t believe you are here!” She gasps and bows unbelievably low. “I’m so honored. I’m OnJi. And you are Prince Zuko of course.”

He watches and as she straightens out. “Y…. you can call me Zuko considering we are on…….  a uh date or whatever.”

She smiles. “Okay Prince Zuko.”

He clears his throat. “So, what do you…. wanna do? We can uh…. get something to eat.” He sighs from how awkward he is. Of course, they are getting something to eat. They are at lunch. He sighs knowing this is going to be a while.

They sit down and to Onji’s credit she calms down a bit after she drinks some tea. They talk about plenty of things and Zuko slowly finds himself relaxing. OnJi is really nice. Almost reminds him of a less annoying TyLee. He finds himself enjoying the date. If only he could feel something. Literally anything. He desperately looks for something attractive on her and just can’t.

Soon enough the date is over and Zuko is feeling a bit better. He considers telling his father that he does like OnJi. She is not the worst to talk to and he would rather have to go on many dates with her opposed to some other probably annoying girl, but he knows he can’t. It would lead to his father wanting more and eventually wanted them to get married and that’s not fair to OnJi. She is too nice to get dragged into that so Zuko sighs and prepares to go disappoint his father again.

 Azula checks the hall one more time before she pulls Zion into the kitchen. Nobody is here this time of day so they can always talk. Sometimes the cook will come in, but she has not said anything about them before. She paces playing with her hands.

“What is going on Azula?” Zion asks. One peek at his face and Azula can see the concern plain as day.

“My father is trying to marry me off to the Avatar. It is not fair! He can’t just tell me who I am going to marry.” Azula growls out. She imagines shooting lightening at her father. Maybe it isn’t the healthiest fantasy but oh well it helps her feel better.

 She notices Zion’s face fall. “He… He wants you to marry the Avatar.”

“Yes.” She sighs and stops pacing. She looks at the floor. She isn’t even the heir. She should have been able to choose whoever she wanted to marry. She can practically hear the thoughts running through Zion’s head. She digs her nails into her palms before she does something stupid like cry.

Zion sighs, nods, then hugs her. She feels herself relax a bit. The annoying tears feel a bit more prominent, so she digs her nails into her palms deeper. “We will figure something out, okay. This doesn’t change anything right now.” Azula nods and finally releases her fists. Zion pulls back and smiles at her. She tries to breath. Zion leans in and brushes his lips against hers. She leans into it and takes a deeper breath. Zion is right. They can figure something out. She tries to allow herself to relax and enjoy this moment.

Zuko sighs as he comes back through the palace doors. He is just grateful that the date is over. Azula is waiting for him. She smiles.

“How did the date go? Find the future Mrs. Fire Lady?” she asks teasingly.

Zuko rolls his eyes. “No. The guards and crowds were outside the whole time looking through the windows. OnJi kept with the ‘Prince’ this and ‘Prince’ that and giggling at everything that came out of my mouth. Plus, she was hanging off of me. It was horrible.” He exaggerated a bit but whatever.

“She probably really liked you but was just nervous because you are a Prince.”

“Whatever, I don't like her.” He grumbles out. She looks at him studying in that all knowing way. He rolls his eyes at her and looks away from her intuitive eyes. He goes to pull his hair piece out but remembers he has to stay formal because the avatar should be arriving soon. A rush of excitement and nervousness runs through him. He can’t believe that he will be the one to teach the Avatar. It is a lot of pressure though. Ozai and Uncle Iroh enter the hall. Uncle Iroh is wearing his old General robes, and his father is wearing his more casual but still grand Fire Lord robes.

“How was the date Zuko?”

“It went okay. I don’t think OnJi likes me though.” Zuko lies not wanting to anger his father.

“Well, we will see.” His Father nods. His eyes flash in annoyance for a split second but it is overtaken with excitement…or the closest thing Zuko has seen to excitement on him. “Anyways we are heading to the outer walls of the palace because a soldier saw the Avatar and his er…. Bison flying in.”

With his father leading the way they all go outside and head down the long walkway to the outer wall of the palace. When they get to the massive wall the guards let them through. There is already a huge crowd gathered and the guards are holding them back. They all look at the royal family coming out. The crowd erupts in praise then they all go back to watching the skies waiting for his arrival. There is an excited buzz in the crowd that Zuko finds contagious. He looks over at Azula and sees she is looking at the sky also. She is trying to hide her excitement about anything not Azula, but Zuko can see it in her eyes as she searches the large expanse of blue. Zuko watches the sky also. Suddenly a small white and brown blob appears in the distance. Zuko has never seen a sky bison, but he thought they would be bigger. As it gets closer, he realizes they are huge. The small blob keeps growing and growing until this massive, towering creature lands in the courtyard. The crowd quiets down in shock and anticipation. There is some rustling around in the saddle and everyone looks. A person who must be Avatar Aang floats, yes, he literally floats, off of the bison. Right when his feet touch the ground the crowd immediately erupts again.

The young prince is about to roll his eyes at the crowd but then he makes eye contact with him. He is stunning. He has stormy silver eyes that have a playful glint to them, a stunningly bright smile, and a sharp jaw. He is tall, only an inch or two shorter than Zuko, and muscular. He isn’t bulky or anything, but his body is toned and defined. He has his head shaved and he has bright blue arrow tattoos running down his head and arms. He isn’t sure if they cover anything else because of his robes but they make him look exotic. Zuko has only ever seen two other air nomads. The two that arrived the week before to meet with the avatar, but he was late. He looks the monk over and notices that he is wearing simple bright orange and yellow robes. The robes expose his left shoulder and part of his broad, toned chest. Zuko feels his throat get dry and his face starts to heat up. Well, this could be bad.

Zuko sees his father step forward. “Avatar Aang, we are glad you…...” He is interrupted when two young kids run over to the Avatar. He looks slightly annoyed when the young airbender turns his attention to the kids first.

“Avatar Aang! Is it really you?”

“You're so cool!”

A guard who looks even more annoyed than Ozai as he steps forward. He is probably going to snatch the kids back. Zuko holds his breath nervously knowing the kids shouldn’t have stepped forward. There is a subtle rumble in the ground as the earth shifts gently, moving the guard away from the young kids. The Avatar lifts his hand slightly at the guard as he steps closer to the kids still smiling at them. It wasn’t threatening, it was just a little warning. Zuko almost laughs at the look on the guard’s face as he gets impossibly angrier but in all honesty what can he do but back off.

“It might be.” The monk says as he smiles that bright smile. His voice is velvety. It rushes over Zuko making his skin tingle. What?! Zuko shakes his head. He can’t be thinking like that. He notices that the young Avatar looked a little overwhelmed at all the attention but now he looks in his element as he addresses the kids.

“Whoa! Did you just earthbend?!” One of the kids asks in awe. “Can you do it again?” 

“Sure, I can.” He speaks. Zuko looks over and sees his father’s jaw tick in annoyance at the avatar ignoring the royal family for these peasant kids but again what can he do. Zuko again has to hide his laugh with a cough, and he looks back to see the monk setting what looks like a wooden staff against his large bison. “Watch this.” He gets in a sturdier stance and taps his foot on the ground bringing out a small rock from the stone floor. Everyone gasps in awe. He turns his hands around the rock and then flexes his fingers and the rock transforms into a small statue of the bison. Everyone claps excitedly then quiets down to hear him talk. It is the craziest thing Zuko has ever seen. He hands it to the boy who asked. “It’s my bison Appa.”

“Awesome! That was so cool!” Both boys gush over it.

“You think that’s cool?” He asks mischievously as he reaches into his robes. “Then check this out!” He pulls out three small marbles and cups his hands around them. His face looks concentrated as he opens his palms, spinning the air around them to make the marbles spin. He turns to the crowd and smiles his too bright smile as he does it and the effect is instantaneous. The entire crowd explodes. The men and children clap and cheer as if he is moving a mountain. The women and girls cheer too looking love stricken. Zuko shakes his head at the absurdity of it all. Zuko tenses a little as his father clears his throat, stepping forward obviously tired of being ignored. The Avatar puts his marbles away and grabs his staff. He smiles and waves goodbye at the kids and watches them disappear into the crowd. He then turns towards the family, making Zuko’s throat feel dry again.

He starts to bow with his air nomad hand placement then he catches himself and settles his hands in the fire nation placement and bows. “My apologies, Hello Fire Lord Ozai.”

Father grumbles a little and bows back slightly, not liking having to bow for anybody. “It is our pleasure, Avatar Aang.” 

“Just Aang is fine.” The avatar smiles happily.  

“Right well… this is my brother General Iroh, my son Prince Zuko, and my daughter Princess Azula. Shall we talk more inside?” 

“Of course.” Aang smiles and waves bye at the crowd. Then he grabs his bison, Appa’s reigns. Zuko still doesn’t try to get too close. He is huge. Do those things eat people? No way something that huge only eats plants. They walk back into the privacy of the palace walls much to the crowd’s disappointment. Appa grumbles lowly causing everybody except the avatar… Well, Aang to jump.

“Okay. Zuko will show you to the stables that we built for your…... companion and then you two will meet us all back in the castle.” Ozai says then he, Iroh, and Azula leave them. Zuko clears his throat.

“Uh… follow me.” He says and turns sharply towards the new stables. 

Aang follows. “So, you are going to be my firebending Sifu?” He asks.

Zuko almost blushes at being called a Sifu. “I suppose so.”

“How old are you?” 

“Nineteen.” 

“Cool so what do you do around here for fun?” He asks. 

Zuko is feeling flustered with his arm constantly brushing against him and the barrage of questions. “Uh I don’t know.”

“But you live here.” 

“Yeah, well uh…. I mean I just…. I guess I feed the turtle ducks.” He says lamely.

“Cool. I love animals.” The young prince looks over to catch Aang smiling at him. He feels his face heat up and he trips a little but catches his balance.

“Why do you smile so much?” Zuko asks, slightly annoyed. He hasn’t seen him stop smiling since he got here. And all these blinding smiles are both flustering the prince and making him uncomfortable. Who is just that happy? Maybe his father is right, maybe the air nomads are weird.

His face looks confused then turns thoughtful. Then, much to Zuko’s dismay he smiles again. “Well, I dunno. Just because.”

Zuko sighs in relief when they get to the stables. Aang leads Appa over to the opening of the stables. Zuko watches him gently rub Appa’s face.

“I’ll be back tonight okay buddy?” Aang smiles. To Zuko’s surprise the large bison grumbles a response. It almost sounds disappointed. Aang smiles. “It’s okay buddy. I promise I’ll be back. Plus look at all the hay.” Zuko’s eyes widen as Appa grumbles again, but it sounds…. happier? Appa nuzzles Aang and then turns and starts munching on the hay. Aang smiles fondly and turns towards Zuko. “Okay ready?”

“Y…. You can talk to him?” Zuko asks as they walk towards the palace.

“No. Not exactly but we definitely understand each other.”

Zuko nods although he doesn’t get it. “Let’s just get inside and not keep my father waiting.” The other boy smiles at him and follows. Zuko watches the all too happy air bender almost skips along the path and shakes his head. He fits in the fire nation like his father would amongst the pacifist nomads. This should be interesting.

Azula is standing in the main meeting room waiting with her father. They are waiting for her uncle Iroh, Avatar Aang, and Zuko. She wishes she was back in her room. She takes a breather and tries to remember Zuko’s words. He had snuck into her room earlier to talk her down from her spiraling. She wouldn’t admit it in a hundred years but one of her safest places is in Zuko’s arms. He is always such a good brother, but she constantly finds herself asking if she is even worthy of how good he is to her. She still finds herself hiding their affection or acting differently around Ozai and truly she tries not to, but Azula has always been a survivor. She knows that she cannot beat her Father so the best thing to do is play it safe and calculate the best course of action to take. Zuko always speaks up more. She loves her brother but there is a reason she is the smart one.

 Father clears his throat reminding him of her presence. She bites her lip nervously. She hates being alone with their Father. She has always hated it but ever since he burned Zuko’s face six years ago he has been especially ruthless. Ozai comes over and looks at her.

“This is important Azula. I am not willing to accept anything other than a success from you.” He starts to circle her as he talks. Her posture slips just a touch, and she rushes to fix it. Azula hates it when he does this. She has always been incredible. Strong, smart, an amazing fire bender, never to cower for anyone. When he does this is the only time, she feels…. small. No! Not small. Azula is not small. Just slightly intimidated. Totally reasonable if you ask her.

“Yes, Father.”

“I want you to make sure that he is happy. It is imperative that things go well between you and him. I know that you know just how to get to people and make them see you a certain way so I know that you will not disappoint me Azula.”

“Yes, Father.”

“What do you think of the Avatar?”

She hears the test in his voice. It doesn’t truly matter what she thinks of the avatar, or Aang as she was asked to call him. Still, she makes a soft humming sound to make it seem as though she cannot decide where to start. “He is handsome. He seems a bit naïve, but I could feel the power radiating off of him. It was truly incredible to be in the presence of such an incredible bender. I want to spar him. Not seriously of course. Just to see what he can do.” As she talks, she keeps her voice relaxed with just a hint of breathlessness. Not all of it is a lie. He is attractive and a strong bender. It is important to keep a hint of truth to your lies to make them as affective as possible.

She can tell the answer has pleased him, because his eyes loose some of that probing look and he nods. “Very well. I am not sure what the Avatar thinks of you, but we can find that out later.”

She nods. “Yes, Father” She is glad that he moves on to the next thing.

“This marriage between you and the avatar is very important. Since the matter has been decided between the Avatar’s advisor and I, it is a certainty. It would be better if the young Avatar was amicable though, we need that ally and those kinds of resources on our side.” Father rambles a bit. She feels her stomach turn. What does he mean ‘our side’. Currently everything between the nations is peaceful. She knows better than to ask right now though. Maybe her father will continue to rant and spill things. If not, she will probably have to kiss up to him for a little so that she is allowed to attend the next advisory meeting between her father and the other powerful people in their nation. “The Avatar could…”

Unfortunately, before he can spill more, the door opens. Zuko comes in followed by Avatar Aang. Zuko smiles over at Azula just for his face to fall. He must see her expression. She quickly fixes it to a blank one then puts on a fake smile.

“So, Avatar, what do you think of the palace so far?” Ozai smiles but it is all teeth almost like a snarl. Azula shudders a little. She has never seen her Father kiss up to anyone before.  

“It’s great and you can call me Aang.” Aang says, smiling. “It’s really big. Appa loves all the hay in the stables.” His smile it infectious. It helps Azula’s relax into something softer than the fake one.

“That is good. Let us sit.” Father leads them to the table. He sits at the head of the table and gestures for Azula and Zuko to sit at the tables right off from his on both sides. He is about to gesture for the avatar to sit when the door opens yet again.

“Please excuse my tardiness. I just got done meeting with the fire sages. I also brought the young Avatar’s Advisor and his mentor.” Uncle Iroh comes in followed by the people he named.

One is Aang’s ‘Avatar Advisor’. He is old and from the earth kingdom. The avatar always has an advisor from a different nation so that they can be objective. Then there is his mentor. His mentor looks ancient and is dressed in formal air nomad clothes. His name is Gyatso, and he is only here long enough to see to it that the avatar, or Aang, showed up, so he will probably be leaving as soon as possible. Everyone in the room gets tense as the young avatar rushes over to his mentor hugging him tightly.

“Gyatso! I missed you! I didn’t see you when I first showed up! Plus, nobody that I have seen as mentioned you! I thought that you would be gone since I took too long. It’s been almost four years.” Azula can’t help but smile. It’s obvious their bond goes beyond Mentor and Student. She sees the fondness in Gyatso’s eyes. Reminds her of her goofy Uncle Iroh.

“Aang.” He says fondly, patting his back. Seemingly remembering they have company, Gyatso corrects himself. “Avatar Aang.”  

Aang regains his composure and pulls back but he stays smiling. “I’m sorry Monk Gyatso, I missed you.” He bows and Azula notices the difference in hand placement from when he bowed to their Father earlier. Gyatso bows back.

“What took you so long? Were you and Appa goofing off?” Gyatso asks. She sees that he is trying to look stern but there is a hint of playfulness in his eyes. The same hint of playfulness that Aang has when he answers.

“Kind of I am sorry.”  

Soshon clears his throat. He obviously wants to get things started, probably seeing the annoyed look on her Father’s face from not being the center of attention. “Still Avatar Aang you should have been here. Honestly, it is time for you to start growing up and taking the role of an Avatar seriously.” Aang visibly shrugs him off and Azula has to hold in her laugh. She looks over and sees Zuko doing the same. She wonders if this complete lack of respect for this advisor is a nomad thing or an Aang thing. Azula wouldn’t dream of shrugging off one of her Sifu’s like that. “Anyways, Gyatso must be heading back. We have a lot to discuss which I’m sure the Fire Lord wants to get started on and you start your training today.”

Aang seemingly sobers up but only barely. He turns to Gyatso looking slightly sad. “Bye Gyatso.” He pulls him into a hug again, not really caring about the people in the room anymore. Gyatso hugs him back fondly then pulls away. He wishes him luck and Aang promises to write. He slowly removes Aang’s arms from around him and pats his head. Then he leaves the room.

The princess hears her Father clear his throat. Everybody sits at the table joining him. He smiles that smile again. “I’m so glad that you like it here avatar. We have briefed your advisor on everything. After this he will show you to your room to get ready. Then he will show you to the training area to get started on training with Zuko.”

Aang smiles excitedly. “Thank you. I am very excited to start firebending training. It was one of the elements I was looking forward to the most.” Azula looks at the guy she is supposed to be marrying and tries to picture it. It wouldn’t be the worst. He is really handsome and strong, but she loves Zion.

“That is good to hear.” her Father practically growls out. “You will be training with Zuko every day to learn firebending. We also will have a few events for you to attend. Other than that, you are free to do whatever you wish with your time.”

Aang nods and looks over at Zuko. Azula notices Zuko actively avoiding his eye contact and reminds herself to ask him later.  

Father continues. “Another thing we have spoken about is your arranged marriage. We were thinking about…”  

“My what?” Aang interrupts incredulously.

She looks at her Father worriedly seeing him bristle at being interrupted. “We were setting up an arranged marriage between you and my daughter. Princess Azula.”

Azula feels herself blush slightly when she sees Aang’s eyes snap to her. He looks at her then a slight look flashes in his eyes. She thinks it is an apology. His face morphs into what seems like a relaxed expression, but she notices the storminess in his eyes and the tightening of his jaw. Then he looks up at Soshon. “Soshon. I need to talk to you outside.”

Soshon looks like is going to object to walking out but Aang stands up. He turns to leave the table a slight breeze left in his wake leaving no room for discussion. Soshon mutters a slight apology as he rushes after the young monk.

The table is left in an awkward silence. Nobody has ever walked out on her Father before. Azula didn’t know what to do. She looks over at Zuko and sees him staring at the table like it is the most interesting thing he has ever seen. For once he made the smart choice. Then she sees him peek over at where their father is sitting, and he stifles a laugh as a cough. She looks over at him and sees why her brother almost laughed. Her father is sitting there with his eyes wide and his mouth slightly open. She clears her throat and looks at the table as well.  

She hears her Uncle Iroh laugh. Everyone looks at him and sees him laughing softly while covering his mouth. “My, the young Avatar seems to be stubborn. Then again, the air nomads have been known to be wayward.” Uncle Iroh laughs again, earning a glare from his brother, as he drinks his tea. She sees Zuko smile but she manages to hold her’s back.

“Honestly how disgraceful for him to just leave the table. Especially without being excused or excusing himself.” her Father growls out dangerously.

“I find it strange that the avatar’s advisor hasn’t spoken to him about the matter in advance.” Uncle Iroh notes.

Her Father hums in reluctant agreement. The table falls into silence again for another few long minutes.

After what feels like forever the young airbender, and his mentor come back. Aang’s eyebrows are furrowed, and his face is set into a small frown. It doesn’t look right on his face considering all Azula has seen him do thus far is smile. Soshon looks exhausted. They both sit back down.

“I apologize. I should have spoken to Avatar Aang about this before we all met as a group.” Soshon says. She looks and sees her Father’s eyes flash showing that that will come up later. She peeks over at Aang, and he is still silently looking at the table. She notices that he is biting the inside of his cheek. Azula can’t help but wonder if there is something wrong with her? He did leave pretty fast. His eyes lift to meet hers. His face softens and he gives a soft smile as if to apologize again. Hm. He might be a harder one to figure out. Nevertheless, Azula has always liked a challenge.

Her Father grumbles but sighs. “I suppose we should have. We can continue this later. I know the young Avatar probably wants to get to his room. Since there is a lot to think about, we can start his training first thing tomorrow morning.” He gets up signaling that the meeting is done and leaves. Azula thinks that he just wanted to end the meeting before somebody else walked out so he feels powerful. Azula almost feels unnerved since Aang is still looking at her. Almost studying her. He doesn’t look away until Soshon gets up and leads Aang out of the room. Azula looks over at Zuko. For a second everything is silent.

“Well, that went well.” Zuko laughs suddenly.

Azula laughs, also finding her brothers laugh contagious. He doesn’t do it much and she feels the need to make him laugh more. “That’s true. You can’t ever be upset about not finding a Fire Lady Zuko. Someone just ran out of the room at the prospect of marrying me.” Their laughter is joined by Uncle Iroh’s.  

This just gets Zuko to laugh louder tears forming in his eyes. He smiles over at her. “I’m sure it didn’t have anything to do with you personally.” He wipes his eyes as his laugh dies off into giggles and maybe that is enough for Azula to be happy.

Later that night Zuko quietly slips out of his room. His guards nod at him. He takes the long way around silently making his way to Azula’s room. Once he is outside of her wing he slips outside to sneak to her window. He has to duck past a couple of guards, but he makes it there soon enough. He knocks twice and the window opens for him. He climbs in and finds his sister pacing. She is in her night clothes and her long hair trails behind her like an afterthought with how fast she is walking. Sometimes he really worries about her mental state. She almost always seems on edge. He doesn’t mention this to her though. The only time he did she accused him of calling her crazy and didn’t talk to him for weeks.

“Azula. Are you okay?” he asks walking to sit on the chair across from her bed.

“No. Father wants me to marry the avatar. He wants me to get him to like me and then sign my life away to marry him. It isn’t fair. I was supposed to have a choice. I already have a boyfriend. Or I guess I don’t anymore since the avatar, and I are engaged.” She growls out. She keeps her voice low, so she does not alert the guards outside. Zuko sighs.

“I’m sorry Azula.” He holds his arms open and Azula’s eyes flash angrily. “It’s not for you. I need a hug.” With that excuse she reluctantly comes over and leans into his arms. He looks down and sees the crescent shaped scars in her palms. The most recent set are still red.

“This just isn’t fair Zuko.” She sighs again. Then she seems to pull herself together and sits up fixing her hair. “Why wouldn’t you meet the avatar’s eyes at dinner? You can’t already dislike him you barely know each other.”

He feels himself tense up. “It’s not that. He just smiles too much. Why do I have to look at him anyways?”

Azula gives him a knowing look that makes his stomach clinch. Mercifully she moves on. “What happened with OnJi? You are going to have to find a fire lady soon Zuko. You know Father is a lot less lenient with your punishments.”

Zuko feels his scar tingle and looks down. He peeks over at Azula and sees her grip her fists tightly. He doesn’t remember the details from that day too well. He does remember the pain, the smell, Azula’s screaming or was it his own? He remembers Azula lying in his bed and not talking for weeks after. He puts his arm around Azula. “He said he wouldn’t do that again. It was a mistake.” Zuko recites. He can tell that Azula doesn’t quite believe him either, but she relaxes minutely anyways. He needs to get her to stop digging her nails into her fists before she starts bleeding again. “Anyways OnJi was nice. She wouldn’t stop with the prince this or prince that. She didn’t run screaming out of the room or anything though, so you still have me beat.”

She laughs and relaxes her hands making Zuko relax in turn. “He wasn’t screaming dum dum.” She pushes him with an eye roll.

“Oh, then we remember it very differently.” He says getting her to gently whack him on the arm. “It’s getting late. I should get back.” He says. Azula eyes show a flash of anxiety. Maybe she is more affected by thinking of that night than he thought. He fakes a nonchalant stretch. “I am really tired though. I am not sure I want to walk all the way back to my room.”

She smiles, relaxing. “Fine you can stay but you better be out of here before I wake up.” She says with fake annoyance. Zuko grabs the extra blankets she keeps around just for this and gets settled on the plush window seat. Azula blows all of the candles out by one. He knows his sister is strong and capable, but if he watches and waits for her breathing to even out before falling asleep, well nobody needs to know.

Chapter Text

Aang sits up slowly. It is his first day of training with his new Sifu. He sighs and stretches getting up. This sun isn’t quite up yet but he wants to do his tai chi. All of the monks would do it together every morning and he never got out of the habit. In fact, he doesn’t feel quite right starting the day without it. He gets up and pulls on the training clothes he received when Soshon dropped him off last night. His ‘personal servant’ assigned by Fire lord Ozai left it. Her name is Meisun, and she was really nice.

His impending marriage has been running through his head over and over. The idea of arranged marriage isn’t something that has ever crossed his mind. The air nomads don’t practice it. You are supposed to love all life and there for you love who you love. Aang tries to push it from his mind as he grabs his staff. He doesn’t comment on the training outfit although he does find it strange that it has no shirt but has two golden cuffs that he wears on his biceps.

He opens the door to go find a place to do his tai chi. He is surprised to find two guards standing right outside of his door. One of them turns to face him. “Good morning, Avatar Aang. Where are you off to?”

He smiles easily. “I am looking for somewhere to practice my katas. Preferably outside.”

“I can show you to the training courtyard.” The guard suggests.

“That’s okay. If you point me in the direction, I am sure that I can find my way there.”

The two guards look at each other seemingly having a private conversation. Then the first guard looks at him and nods. “It is down the hall. At the end of the hall is Prince Zuko’s room. Turn left and just past that is the courtyard.”

Aang smiles and nods. “Thank you er… What’s your name?”

The guard blinks in surprise. He clears his throat. “My name is Zurik.”

Aang nods and looks at the other guard. She looks just as shocked as she clears her throat. “Oh uh… my name is Azan.”

“Nice to meet you, Azan. Thanks for the directions Zurik.” Aang leaves the guards to find the courtyard. As he walks, he finds his mind wandering to the marriage again. He sighs and tries to push it away again. He needs to meditate. He passes by Zuko’s door and sees four more guards. He soon finds the training grounds. It really is a small courtyard in the middle of the palace. It is a couple steps down from the palace floor level and seemingly outdoors with no roof or floors. It is full of trees, a large smooth earth clearing that is probably for firebending since the flammable things are further away. Just past that is a path that leads to a small seating area by a pond. On the sides along the length of the stairs are rows of rock benches. Hm. Weird.

Anyways time to get started. Aang stretches and sets his staff to the side. He settles to the ground in a lotus position and breathes. He closes his eyes and allows himself to feel all the things he tried to push away. He needs to keep his chakras open. It isn’t fair that they can tell him who to marry. He breathes the anger, frustration, and maybe a hint of sadness in and then breathes it out. He will have to chalk this up to another freedom he doesn’t have because he is the avatar. Another deep breath in and out. That one didn’t go out nearly as smooth, so he does another and another until it does.

He sighs and takes another breath in. Maybe he and Azula will be happy. She is very pretty. Aang has to say that her brother is prettier though. If Aang could choose to marry anyone it might be him. Or Katara. Okay getting off topic again. He lets the breath out. Okay case closed. He finishes his mediation and gets up to start his tai chi. He gets through his first kata before he feels someone approaching from behind him. He turns around and finds Zuko and Azula’s uncle.

“Sorry young avatar. I didn’t mean to startle you. I usually come out here to enjoy my morning tea with the sunrise.” It’s then that Aang notices that he has a tea set consisting of a tea pot and four cups.

“Oh, I’m sorry General Iroh. I was looking for a place to do my tai chi. I didn’t know this was your tea place and please, call me Aang.”

He smiles gently. “Well then you have to just call me Iroh. I don’t mind. I can do your tai chi with you and then we can share tea.”

Aang smiles feeling his heart soar at the offer. It has been four years since he has done his morning tai chi with others. “Are you sure Iroh?”

Iroh walks to the seating area and sets his tea down then he comes back. “Yes of course. I could always use the company. Wasn’t it common practice to do your morning katas with the other nomads? I bet it has been a while since you were able too.” Aang looks at him. He seems really kind. Aang nods and starts leading Iroh through the katas.

Once they are finished, Aang feels more energized than usual. He follows Iroh to the seating area by the pond. He was hoping to see the turtle ducks that Zuko mentioned but there are none in this pond. He can see some beautiful koi fish in the pond though. He sits next to Iroh and sighs softly.

“Thank you Aang. That was quite the relaxing way to spend the morning. How else do you usually start your morning?” Iroh asks lifting the tea pot. Aang tries not to stare in wonder when he warms it up in his hand. He watches as he pours two cups of tea.

“I usually start my morning by meditating, then I do tai chi, and work through a few bending moves before breakfast.” Aang says taking the steaming cup from Iroh. He takes a sip of the tea and relaxes a bit. He hasn’t had tea this good since the last time he had it with Gyatso.

“Sounds like quite the morning. Mind if I join you in the meditation and tai chi?”

“Of course!” Aang says entirely too enthusiastic as he sips at the tea. “Then we can have a cup of tea before I run through my bending.”

“Perfect. If it is okay, could I add a kata for us to do at the end of the tai chi?” Iroh asks, looking over at him.

Aang nods. “No problem. Maybe you could show it too me after the tea.”

Iroh smiles and then they sit drinking their tea. The fire nation sunrises are hot and beautiful. Watching the sun rise over the ridge of the volcano surrounding the town is mesmerizing. All too soon the tea is done. Iroh leads Aang over to the opening area and stands across from him.

“Okay so follow my moves.” Iroh says calmly. He gets in a stance with his legs wide apart and a slight bend to them. His arms are spread apart and out. Aang copies the stance. “Now you want to focus on your energy. You want to feel your chi following you in, down, up, and out.” He explains as he takes his far arm and touches his fingers together. Then he slides his far arm back, following the trail down his arm to his stomach, and up out the other side. Aang copies the move a few times really focusing his chi. He finds it familiar.

“This is almost feels like a waterbending move.” Aang comments.

After the fourth run through Iroh stops and nods. “It is a move I learned by watching the waterbenders. I like to copy it so that I can always know to draw power from other places.” He smiles then his eyes turn a bit more serious looking at Aang in the eyes. “You never know when you are going to need it.”

Aang feels a slight shiver at the unexpected intensity of his stare but as quickly as it was there it left. Aang nods.  “Thank you, Iroh.”

“No problem Aang. Mind if I hang around until my nephew gets here? I wouldn’t mind if you worked on your other bending.”

Aang smiles. “I don’t mind at all.” He waits for Iroh to grab his tea set and get settled on the far side of the courtyard. Then he takes a breather. He stretches and decides to start with water first. He settles into a relaxed stance, legs parted slightly. He gently pulls a stream from the pond the way Kat taught him. He gently moves his arms around while slowly pivoting on his foot to bring the water around his body and back into the pond.

He settles into his stance again and concentrates on the water around him. The fire nation air is so dry, but he still finds some moisture clinging to the air. He swipes his hand up with his palm and fingers in a straight line like a blade. He slides down and pulls the water from the air together so that he has a stream of water to work with. He cuts down sharply and cuts into the tree. It isn’t enough to cut through it, he doesn’t want to kill the tree. Then he pushes his hands out spreading his fingers to evaporate the water.

He smiles then settles into a horse stance keeping his legs far apart bent low to be sturdy. He grips his fists and pulls his arms sharply up to pull the earth up with him. A wall of early rises in front of him as easy as breathing. He smiles then flattens his palms and pushes down with his hands forcing the early back flat. He decides to challenge himself and practice his seismic sense that Toph taught him. He closes his eyes and stomps firmly on the ground. He can see the outline of Iroh against the vibrations of his earthbending. It is strange seeing like this. He tries to stretch it farther but finds that unlike the world almost everywhere else the fire nation palace must be made out of metal. Hm. He relaxes his stance just as he feels new vibrations. He turns around and finds himself looking at prince Zuko himself.

Even mid-yawn he is pretty. Aang smiles, probably goofily, and waves.

“Good morning Sifu Hotman.”

Zuko’s face twitches in annoyance. “What did you just call me?”

Aang pauses smiling fading a bit. The nice pirate he met on the outskirts of the fire nation told him that was what people called each other here. “Sifu hotman?”

He rolls his eyes and crosses his big arms across his big chest. Not that Aang was looking. “Don’t call me that.” Zuko looks away and seemingly just now notices his uncle. “Uncle Iroh what are you doing out here?”

Iroh smiles at Aang then at Zuko. “Young Aang and I were keeping each other company until you came out. I shall head inside then. Remember Zuko levelheadedness is a sign of a great leader.”

Zuko rolls his eyes but nods. “Okay uncle.”

Iroh grabs his tea set and turns to Aang. “Same time tomorrow young Aang.”
          “Of course Iroh.” Aang watches him leave and then turns his attention to Zuko. “So where do we start? Can you teach me to do crazy cool things? On the way here I saw this man that could turn his fire into a dragon attached to a leash! Could you show me how to do that? That would be so cool! Oh! Could you show me how to…”

“Okay, okay! Calm down!” Zuko closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose between his fingers. “Show me what you can do. How ever much you can do.”

Aang nods and then takes a breath. He concentrates really hard. At first nothing happens but then he opens his palm, and a huge rush of fire shoots out. It was a wild uncontrolled shot that almost took his eyebrows off, but it was so cool! Zuko jumps back but looks surprised.

“Okay impressive but you lack any control or discipline.” He says matter of factly. Now it is Aang’s turn to roll his eyes. He has discipline. He was taught by master Pakku the biggest stick in the mud in water nation history.

“So, then what do you suggest Sifu Hotman.” Aang asks sarcastically.

He sees the muscle in Zuko’s jaw tick. “We are going to practice breathing.” He sits on the ground in a lotus position.

Aang groans but follows suit anyways. He knows how to breathe but he knows he should listen to Zuko. A younger him might have fought more but he knows his teachers know how this goes. He follows Zuko’s breathing most of the morning. Finally, it is over.

Zuko stands up and stretches and Aang tries not to stare. “We are going to continue this tomorrow.”

All of Zuko’s attractiveness is crossed out by the annoyance Aang feels at that but he doesn’t comment. Zuko must catch his eye roll though because his eyes harden.

“Unless you know more firebending than me and can tell us what we should do next.” Zuko bites out.

Aang puts his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay. No need to bite my head off Sifu Hotman.”

“I told you not to call me that!” He growls.

Aang giggles. “Have you eaten?”

Zuko looks at the height of the sun and then back at Aang incredulously. “Yeah, before we started. Haven’t you?”

“No, I usually don’t eat until after my training is over. Bad habit I picked up from my guru Pathik when learning the Avatar state.” He says sticking his tongue out.

Zuko curious. “Hm. I have heard of the Avatar state but never seen it. Could you show me?”

Aang smiles at finally catching something that Zuko is interested in. “Yeah, I could. After I eat. I am really hungry. Where is the kitchen?”

Zuko leads him to the kitchen where a smaller elderly woman is cooking. Her topknot hangs low on her head, and she has smile lines around her eyes. Aang instantly likes her.

“Hello, your Highness and Avatar Aang. I have your food set to the side Avatar Aang.”

Aang smiles. “Just Aang is fine. What is your name?”

“Aikah.”

“Well thank you Aikah.” She smiles brightly at him and Aang sees Zuko looking at him strangely from the corner of his eye. He walks to get the bowl with his food. Apparently, someone has told her that he is a vegetarian because there is no meat.  It is a bowl of steamed tofu and vegetables with rice. It smells so good.

“Thanks again Aikah. I will bring the bowl back.” He smiles at her again and walks over to Zuko.

“Where are we going?” he asks, still looking at him quizzically.

Aang tries not to flush under that gaze. “Well, you said you wanted to see it. We should go outside. Plus, I like eating outside better anyway. Could you show me the pond with the turtle ducks?”

Zuko just looks at him for a second. Aang almost takes it back, but he just nods and leads him out of the kitchen. He follows him down a hall across from the kitchen. It is going to take some getting used to because all of the halls look the same. He grips his staff in one hand and his food in the other trying to focus on small differences so he can tell things apart. Soon they walk into another courtyard. It is smaller than the training one and there is no open area. It is covered in trees and has a couple fire lilies at the far edge of the grass. They smell sweet as they walk deeper along the path. There is a big tree with a pond underneath is. It is bigger than the other pond and it has four little turtle ducks on it. One mom and three babies.

“They are so cute!” Aang exclaims softly. He follows Zuko and sits down. Zuko slowly feeds the turtle ducks some bread Aang didn’t see him take as he eats his food. Once he is done, he sets the bowl to the side and stretches.

“Ready?” Aang asks. “It can be… a little unsettling.”

Zuko scoots back just a hair and nods. “Well, you know how to control it right?”

“Yeah of course.” Aang sighs and closes his eyes. He focuses on calling on the other avatars. Soon he feels the energy running across his body. Humming right under his skin like there is not enough space in his body to hold it all. He is suddenly so much more in touch with everything around him. He notices the turtle ducks retreat to the far side of the pond. He looks at Zuko and he sees Zuko slightly on edge. He re-closes his eyes and releases his hold on his past lives. He scratches at his arm to try to ground himself back in his body.

“W…Wow that was…intense.” Zuko breathes.

“Yes, it is…strange. I try not to do it much.” Aang shrugs.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Sometimes I feel a bit…other. Other times I can be a normal person but when I am in the avatar state there is no mistaking me for…something else.” He shrugs trying to keep his optimistic face on. He looks away from Zuko’s questioning eyes and towards the pond. He coaxes the turlteducks back over. He gently rubs his pointer finger on the mother turtleducks head, petting her.

“That’s…I guess I can understand that. Don’t get me wrong, I like being the crown prince, I care about my country. Sometimes it is weird. I don’t like the fawning over me that the women in town do and the way some people treat me.” Zuko’s pensive voice causes Aang to look over at him. Zuko is looking up at the sky. His long hair falls down his back and it is getting lifted up by the soft breeze. Aang feels is face heating up, so he looks away.

“It’s a lot of responsibility.”

“That’s true.” He sighs.

Aang lays back on the grass. Zuko looks over at him. “What are you doing?”

“Looking at the clouds. Come on lay by me.” He pokes him. Zuko jumps like Aang shocked him. He grumbles about it, but he lays down anyways.

They spend the rest of the morning relaxing in the sun and talking about simple things. Aang finds himself relaxing more. He could get into a good routine here at the fire nation.

The past three weeks have gone by pretty fast for Aang. Every morning he wakes up to Meisun coming in to wake him. Ever since that first day she must have been told when he usually wakes up because she hasn’t missed a day since. She brings him a clean set of training clothes and a glass of water. It’s weird and new but truly nice to be around her although she doesn’t talk much. Then he goes to the courtyard with Iroh and meditates. They do tai chi and work on Iroh’s waterbending kata. Then they finish off the morning with tea. Iroh is nice to be around. He is smart, funny, and a little cryptic sometimes. Every so often he will bring is pai sho table out and it will be like playing with Monk Gyatso again.

Then it’s time for training with Zuko. They have been working on breathing and the katas without the fire for the whole three weeks! Aang really likes hanging out with Zuko but if they don’t start some real fire soon, he is going to lose his mind. It didn’t even take him this long to start moving earth with Toph. They run through that then they will go get their first meal of the day. It might be his imagination, but it feels like they are getting closer.

Around the middle of the second week Zuko stopped eating before their training so that they could eat together afterwards. Then they talk in the turtle duck courtyard. Talking to Zuko is a weird but great experience. Zuko is a slight over sharer while also being super secretive. It is wild. He also asks a lot of questions.

On their third day of talking Zuko told him about a time he and Azula snuck some extra fire flakes from the kitchen and tried to blame it on a squirrel toad. Aang laughed being reminded of Sokka.

On their seventh day together, Zuko called him annoying for constantly smiling and calling him Sifu Hotman. He wasn’t sure if he meant it as an insult or not but still it probably wasn’t the best choice to smile and call him it again. Zuko growled in frustration and left their talk early that day.

On their tenth day hanging out he asked about when Aang found out he was the avatar. Aang told him about the day he found out when he accidentally bent water and how he soon left the air temple at twelve to start his training. He left out the sadness and the anger because that just didn’t sound as cool.

On their fourteenth day training Zuko put his big, warm, hand on Aang’s bare stomach to correct his form. Or something. Aang will be honest it got a little fuzzy after he felt Zuko’s fingertips brush along his abs. Zuko’s hand seemed to linger for a second too long as he looked at Aang but then Iroh came to remind them of the upcoming welcoming party for Aang and Zuko jumped back as if burned. He hasn’t touched Aang since. Not that Aang has noticed or anything.

On the eighteenth day his curiosity got the better of him and he asked how Zuko got his scar. Zuko froze and his fingertips came up to meet his scarred face as if moving of their own accord. He mumbled something about a training accident in a clipped tone that warded off other questions about it. The talk ended early that day as well. It made Aang all the more curious, but he doesn’t want to bring back that distant look in Zuko’s usually intense eyes when he asked.

Yesterday Aang tried to rein in his slight jealousy as Zuko told him about how he had to go on a date with this girl named Zeyara and how it was awful. He explained how he had tried to not be awkward and ended up tripping and knocking his headpiece off of his head. Aang laughed and laughed while Zuko yelled at him to shut up with slightly red cheeks.

He hasn’t seen Princess Azula since their first meeting three weeks ago. Apparently, Ozai wanted to give him a little time to settle in and start training. Aang can only pray to the spirits that they will get along the way him and Zuko do.

Zuko cracks his neck as he prepares to go meet with his father. Today is the welcoming party for the avatar with the fire nation nobles and his past mentors. It is also time for Zuko to update his father on the progress of training Aang. He walks into the throne room and once he gets a respectable distance, he gets down on the ground in the proper bowing position with his hands flat on the ground and his head on the back of his hands.

“You may rise Zuko.”

Zuko sits back up onto his knees. He watches his father lower the fire a bit so he can see his face better. “Thank you, father.”

“So, how is the avatars progress going?” He asks leaning forward his long hair sliding forward a bit.

“It has been great, father. He is on track to finish his training when we planned. He finished up the basics today. After the couple of days, we have off he will begin the actual katas.” Zuko reports. Ozai decided to give Aang and Zuko three days off for the party and so that Aang could go on his first date with Azula. Zuko very pointedly doesn’t think about that.

“That’s good Zuko. What about the avatar himself? Is he as impressive as everyone has said?”

Zuko nods diplomatically. “He is a very quick learner and has a lot of raw power. As impulsive as he is at times, he is quite levelheaded and good at listening.”

His father hums thoughtfully and leans back against the throne he is sitting on. “That’s good Zuko. The party later is going to be a big event. There will be all the important people in our nation but there will also be all the Sifu’s from his other nations. We need to be unified and prepared in the face of the other nations, understand.”

Zuko nods. “I am prepared father.”

“Good. Now I suppose we should get this meeting over with. Come up here, your sister should be here any minute.” Ozai lets out half a smile and Zuko almost sees a hint of his father before his mother died. He doesn’t let his hopes get up though. He gets up and climbs the few stairs to his father’s throne. He settles down on his knees on the right side of his father. He hears the door open and Azula rushes over, settling on his left side. He notices her lip stain is very slightly smudged and he has to hold back a laugh knowing who she was just with. If they are already kissing, he is going to have to have a talk with Zion. Azula is a strong capable person, but she is still his little sister.

“You were almost late Azula.” Their father chastises. Zuko flinches but Azula has always been more composed than him.

Azula sits a little straighter and nods. “I apologize Father. I was having a talk with the kitchen staff to make sure that everything is in order for my date with Avatar Aang later. I want to make sure it all goes perfectly.”

“That’s great Azula.” He half smiles again. Once they are all settled Ozai motions for the others to come in. The door opens and incomes the fire sages, their uncle, two other important figures. They consist of Admiral Dalja Ro. They are the head of the fire nations military. Then there is Nerqui. He is one of fathers most trusted advisors. As the others get down on their knees, Uncle Iroh comes and stands closer to the throne space and nods to his brother.

“Fire sages, how are all of the arrangements going?” Ozai asks.

The sages look at each other and then the leader Fire sage Kaja speaks up. “It is all going well Fire Lord Ozai. The other nobles have all agreed to their attendance and the foreign guests all arrived yesterday or the day before. We set them up in the guest wing and nobody knows they are here yet so it will be a surprise as planned. The sun is high in the sky showing great promise for today’s events.”

“Perfect.” His father smiles his colder smile. “Nerqui, how is the party looking?”

Nerqui smiles a bit too wide they whole thing taking up his face. “It is amazing your Highness. I have spoken to the different servants. The party is going to be all set up with food and everything else for tonight.”

“Thank you. Admiral Dalja?”

They sit up rigidly. “We have set aside security for the party tonight. We have also been monitoring the foreigners to make sure nothing suspicious is going on.”

Ozai nods pleased. “Good. You are all dismissed until later this evening. Leave us, I need to have a talk with my daughter alone.”

Zuko looks over at Azula, but she is looking straight ahead probably preparing for their talk. Zuko waits for them to exit then rises to leave as well. He spares one last glance at Azula and inwardly wishes her luck. He sighs as he leaves the room.

“Hey Sifu Hotman.” Aang appears out of nowhere almost scaring Zuko half to death.

“We need to put a bell on you and stop calling me that!” Zuko rolls his eyes and is annoyed to realize that he is still really fond.

Aang laughs softly and grabs his arm. “Come with me! I want to show you something before the party tonight. Especially since it will probably be pretty boring.”

Zuko nods, trying to hide the fact that Aang is going to love the party. At least he will be really excited about who is all going to be at the party.

Zuko lets Aang lead him outside. He leads him to the stables and to Appa. Zuko has seen Appa a lot over the past few weeks. Aang is almost attached to the hip of the bison. Zuko was a bit uncomfortable around the huge animal at first, but he is better now. Although Zuko is almost certain that Appa can understand human speech.

“Hey buddy.” Aang smiles at him. Appa grumbles out a greeting.

“Hey Appa.” Zuko smiles petting the bison’s head. Appa grumbles happily at him.

“Okay come on Zuko.” Aang smiles and steps closer. Zuko is about to question him, but he shuts up quickly when Aang wraps an arm around his waist. Aang says something to him, but he can only really focus on Aang’s strong arm around him. He grips Aang’s robes tightly as they are suddenly thrusted into the air. For a split second they are weightless before they land gently on Appa.

“Warn me!” Zuko grumbles hitting Aang’s arm.

He laughs. “I did. I said hold on.” He smiles releasing Zuko (Unfortunately). He sits down and Zuko does the same, rolling his eyes. “Appa, yip yip.”

Zuko grips his pantlegs as Appa ascends into the air. He is finally getting used to riding on Appa. He looks over the edge as the palace gets smaller and smaller. He looks over at Aang and sees him close his eyes. He looks really good like this. Relaxed, and happy in his natural environment. Aang has mentioned in their talks that he misses flying as much as he used too. He could see that in the way Aang acts. He airbends as naturally as breathing. When he is just standing up or other mundane things like that. Aang leans his head back exposing the soft skin of his neck and that’s when Zuko looks away.

He clears his throat. “So, uh…Where are we going?”

“I was flying around yesterday, and I saw this meadow. It is full of fire lilies!”

“Really?” Zuko hums. He doesn’t get out of the palace city much. “I love fire lilies. My mother used to take Azula and I to fire lily meadows every beginning of summer when they bloomed.” He feels his chest get a bit tight as it always does when he thinks of his mom.

“That’s really cool. You mother sounds really nice.”

Zuko sighs. “She was.” He clears his throat and tries to take some of the focus off of him. “Did you ever meet your parents?”

Aang’s face looks…pensive? “Well, no I haven’t. When air nomads are born after a certain age, they are sent to the temple that houses their gender. Then they are placed with an elder that is not related to them. Most parents do visit their children. I was taken from my parents a few years early. I didn’t know why at the time but apparently it was because they found out I was the avatar. My parents never visited.” He shrugs. “I’m not sure why. Anyways it was okay. I never met them really and I have Gyatso.”

Zuko looks at his face the whole time. He seems…not disappointed, almost accepting. “That’s weird.” He remarks before thinking that might have been rude. Aang just laughs.

“I suppose it would sound weird to you. All the other nations raise their kids with them. We are sent to live with the monks and nuns. That’s why our people are so spiritual.”

Zuko thinks a bit. “Spiritual? Is that why almost all air nomads are benders?”

“Yeah! That’s exactly why.” Aang’s face lights up and Zuko looks away so that he doesn’t do something stupid like blush.

It is comfortably quiet until they land in the fire lilies. Zuko looks over Appa’s saddle and it is filled with the familiar smell of the fire lilies. The soft almost spicy scent of them. He sees the miles of fire lilies and thinks about his mother chasing him and Azula through them. He clears his throat and climbs over Appa’s saddle sliding down the side of the bison. He looks over in time to see Aang float down beside him. Aang pats Appa and the bison grumbles heading more to the side of the meadow before laying down. Zuko laughs as the big bison rolls over onto his back rolling in the flowers.

“Wow this is amazing. Thanks, Aang. I needed a bit of a break after meeting with my father this morning.”

Aang’s eyes show that he probably guessed that but luckily, he doesn’t comment on it. “No problem Zuko.” He sits in the flowers.

Zuko sits by him feeling a bit stuffy in his meeting robes but happy none the less. They talk about this and that. It seems like this comes so easy with Aang. He listens and doesn’t judge, and he makes Zuko laugh. It is honestly great, so great that Zuko can convince himself that this is enough. He doesn’t need anything other than this friendship from Aang. The airbender is probably the best friend Zuko has ever had, the only true friend really.

Suddenly Aang gets quiet, so Zuko looks at him. Aang looks lost in thought. Zuko feels a little unnerved because it isn’t often that Aang looks so…downtrodden.

“Everything okay?” Zuko asks.

Aang seems to snap out of his thoughts shooting Zuko a small fake smile. “I am fine. I am just thinking about my date later.”

Zuko hums not really wanting to talk about it. He wants to ask but doesn’t want to know. Of course, Aang is going to fall head over heels for Azula because she is perfect and doesn’t have a huge scar covering half of her face. Of course, they are going to be happy once she realizes how great Aang is. He has already set himself up for that outcome. Yet he still finds himself asking, “How do you feel about the date?”

Aang sighs laying back in the flowers. “I am not sure. I haven’t met her really. I also never thought I would be in an arranged marriage. The monks don’t do that. I’m not sure how this is all going to go. Honestly, I wish I had more of a ch… well it doesn’t matter anyways.”

Zuko knows how that feels. He sighs, not wanting to talk more about it. He almost doesn’t know if knowing that Aang is dreading this as bad as Azula is better than hearing that he was looking forward to it. He can’t help either one of them in this case. He wants to see Aang smile again, and he knows he loves talking about home. “The air nomads don’t ever practice arranged marriages?”

“Never.”

“Really never?” Zuko asks, pushing for more words.

“Nope. We are taught that all life is sacred. You are supposed to love all things, so all kinds of love are accepted.”

All kinds? Could that mean? He clears his throat to appear disinterested. “Really? All kinds?”

“Yeah. A lot of the nomads have different preferences in terms of who they love. Monk Gyatso loves women. His wife is a very nice lady. His oldest daughter also loved women. Many of the airbenders are open about their love for others. The same sex couples are just lucky to be able to see their partners more due to being able to reside in the same temples.”

Zuko feels his heart beating faster. Imagine. No wonder Aang is so open and understanding if he was raised in this environment. He will be honest he doesn’t know much about the air nomads except what Aang tells him. His curiosity is pushed down by one question though. The question won’t stop blaring at him in his head. He clears his throat again. “What about you?” He tries not to hold his breath.

“I don’t have a preference to gender. I love whoever I love. Man, woman, whoever.” Aang says nonchalantly.

At this point Zuko can’t hold back anymore, he has to look at him. He looks over at Aang laying in the fire lilies. He feels his breath catch in his throat. Usually, he tries not to stare but he can’t help it. Aang is still in his training clothes, so his strong chest is on display. He is laying with his arms behind his head. The red fire lilies contrast amazingly off of his fair skin and bright blue tattoos. His biceps are flexed slightly as they stretch behind his head. He lowers his gaze and there is a long scar along the side of his stomach. He almost wants to trace it. He feels himself heating up and looks to Aang’s face. Aang meets his gaze with those soft grey eyes. Zuko leans a little closer, but the tug of his bulky meeting robes pulls him out of his trance.

He clears his throat again looking away. “We uh… should get going. We have to get you back in time for your date with Azula so that you guys can be done before the party.”

“Y… Yeah right. The date.” Aang coughs out the air suddenly a little thick between them. “I guess we should go.”

Azula brushes her palms on her robes trying to relax. She is very nervous about this ‘date’. She is standing in the grass by the stables. After everything that Zuko has told her about the avatar she knows he really likes his bison. He apparently is also a vegetarian so half of the picnic is vegetarian food. She will definitely have to thank the cook.

“Hello Princess Azula.” A deep but soft voice says from behind her. She turns around and finds herself face to face with the avatar. He looks both more and less intimidating up close. He has soft kind eyes and looks mostly human, but there is this underlying power radiating off of him that is a little unnerving. Azula isn’t used to being the least powerful one in a dynamic. The only other times she feels that way is with her uncle or her Father.

“Since we are on a date maybe just Azula is fine ava… Aang.” She says diplomatically.

His mouth twitches up at the corner in amusement. “Okay Azula. What do you want to do first?”

“I was thinking we er could well…” She clears her throat annoyed. Why is she stammering. If TyLee of all people can talk to boys without tripping all over her words, the fire nation princess definitely can. “I brought stuff for a picnic.”

“Sounds good to me.” Aang smiles a kind smile that helps ease her nerves a bit. He settles down on the blanket she set out. She sits by him and nods. After they both get their food and start to eat Aang thankfully breaks the longest awkward silence ever. “This is a bit weird.” He laughs.

A surprised laugh is pulled out of Azula as well. She didn’t expect him to just come out and say it. “I suppose it is.”

“How about for now we just call these “not dates”. We could just be two people eating lunch together.”

Azula looks at him. The avatar is obviously trying to help her feel more comfortable, but he phrases it in a way that doesn’t sound like pitying or condescending, so she nods. “That works for me.”

The lunch after that goes surprisingly well. Aang is a lot of fun to talk to and be around, but Azula knows he isn’t really her type. Either way at least she isn’t annoyed or anything by him. They talk about small trivial things and relax more and more as the time goes on.

“So.” Aang starts while playing with a blade of grass. “How long have you and that one boy been dating?”

Azula almost chokes on her spiced tea. For the first time she feels a bit of annoyance seep in. She doesn’t like to be caught off guard. “I don’t know what you mean.” He looks at her with a look that can only say ‘yeah, okay, sure.’ She rolls her eyes. “Fine Zion and I have been together for almost a year. How did you know anyways?”

“I was visiting Aikah and saw you guys sneaking out of the kitchen a week ago.” He shrugs, still looking amused.

“So, what you just haven’t told anyone? And who is Aikah?”

Again, Aang looks at her incredulously and again Azula feels her temper flare a bit. “She is the cook. Also, why would I tell anyone? It doesn’t concern me. Plus, I imagine you were just as blindsided with this as I was.” He gestured between them when he said this.

She sighs. Of course, he already knows the cook’s name. “Okay what do you want to not tell?”

He blinks in surprise at her. “Nothing?”

“Liar everybody wants something. Nobody is that nice.” She looks at him up and down. Aang may seem sincere, but Azula knows better. Nobody is that nice without having an ulterior motive.

“I really don’t want anything.” Aang says exasperatedly, throwing his hands in the air. “I was just trying to make conversation.”

She looks him down a bit longer but sees no signs of deceit. She sighs and looks away. “Okay fine. Thank you anyways for not saying anything.”

“No problem! I do have a deal for you though.”

She feels her walls start to go back up. “What is it?”

“Let’s be friends. You obviously have a boyfriend, and this is kind of a messed-up situation anyways. We can be friends no pressure and our not dates can be just us hanging out.” He proposes smiling as he holds his hand out.

Azula hesitates to shake his hand. “What about when the day comes that we need to actually marry?”

“We will deal with that when we get there.” He shrugs, smiling as if it is that simple. Maybe it is because Azula is used to over thinking everything or maybe it is the offer of a friend, a true friend, but she reaches out and shakes his hand.

Aang gets out of the warm bath that was drawn for him and gets dressed. He hurries to dress before Meisun realizes that he is out of the bath. She has been trying to dress Aang. He was raised to not feel modest about his body. It is just a body, but he isn’t used to the dressing. It’s weird. He finishes up and looks in the mirror. He is excited for the party. Although it will probably be boring, he is ready to have a break and to go see Zuko. He heads to the door and opens it to find Meisun.

“Avatar Aang.” She admonishes. “I could have assisted you.”

“I am okay Meisun. I am just ready to head to the grand ballroom.”

Azan steps into the view of the door and smiles kindly at him. Ever since the first day when Aang learned her name the guard has been so kind to him. “I will be walking you there Aang.”

“Perfect. Thank you, Azan.” He smiles and follows her down the hall. He is finally starting to recognize his way around the palace even with all of the identical halls. At the end of the hall, he sees Zuko standing next to a huge door. He is in his big royal robes, and he looks great. Aang shakes that thought loose and walks over to him. “Hello Sifu Hotman.”

Zuko turns to him mid eyeroll. “Don’t call me that!”

Aang hears Azan’s amused laugh behind them, probably used to seeing this between them after three weeks. “Have a good night, Prince Zuko, Aang.” She nods at them and leaves.

“Were you waiting for me?” Aang asks flirting just a little. Just a little he swears.

Zuko flushes clearing his throat and looking away. “My father thought we should enter the party together since I am your new Sifu.”

Aang smiles. “Okay well let’s go then.”

They enter the big doors together and Aang takes a breath in. The room is decorated from top to bottom with paper lanterns and fire lilies. The room is as big as it least the whole outdoor courtyard at the air temple. It is also full of so many people. He thought this was a small get-together. He waves feeling a bit nervous as everybody turns to him and erupts into cheering. Everyone watches them as Zuko leads him inside and a little off towards the side. Aang tries to not let his nervousness show as he smiles and waves. Slowly people start to go back to their conversations, probably thinking of the best time to approach him but he is thankful for the break anyways. He turns to Zuko who is looking at him almost worriedly.

“Wow that was a lot.” Aang laughs nervously.

“Are you okay?” Zuko asks softly.

“Me? Yeah, I am fine. I am used to this. The palace is just so quiet I have gotten used to it.” He laughs softly. “Are you okay?”

Zuko nods, smiling at him. Then he scratches the back of his head. “About earlier…”

He is interrupted by a voice he defiantly wasn’t expecting. “Twinkle toes that’s gotta be you.”

He spins around fast smiling at his old earth bending teacher. “Toph! It’s so good to see you.” He is about to hug her, but she swiftly gives him a semi-hard punch to the arm.

“Yeah, yeah it’s good to see you too twinkle toes.” She laughs. “You are taller.” She smiles.

He rolls his eyes. “Thanks, Toph. It has only been five months since we saw each other last.” After the two and a half long years it took to master earth bending, he was sent to guru Pathik to master his avatar state and was there for four months. Then he began training with Zuko a month ago.

“Who is this?” Toph asks.

Aang grabs Zuko’s arm and pulls him a bit closer from where he was awkwardly standing and watching. “This is my new Sifu Prince Zuko. Zuko this is my earthbending master Toph.”

He notices Toph stomp softly on the ground, probably to get a better look at him.

“Nice to meet you sparky.” Toph says.

Aang laughs a little as Zuko’s eye twitches. “Nice to meet you too.”

Zuko and Toph surprisingly hit it off pretty well. Aang finds himself laughing and joking with them.

“Aang?” He hears a beautiful melodic voice ask. He turns excitedly to see Katara but isn’t able to see much more than a flash of blue as she crashes into him with a hug. He laughs catching her easily and hugging her back.

“Hey Kat.” He holds her a little longer wanting to see how much she has changed since he saw her last. There is something pressed against his chest that she definitely didn’t have when they were thirteen. He blushes a bit at the thought and pulls her away smiling.

She has definitely changed in the past three years. She is taller for one. She has…filled out in areas that Aang is distinctly not looking at. She is wearing a sleeveless robe probably due to the hotter weather. The basics are the same though, same pretty skin, blue eyes, and smile.

“Wow you have gotten taller.” She says looking up at him instead of down like before.

“Since I was thirteen? Yeah, probably Kat.” He jokes and Katara gently smacks his arm.

“Kat this is Prince Zuko my fire bending Sifu.” he says, turning to face Zuko. He is looking at her with a frown marring his face. It takes Aang off guard but before he can comment he feels a big hand playfully rub his head.

“I should have known that when Katara ran off she saw you.”

Aang laughs turning around to face Sokka. Whoa both of the water siblings aged really well. Sokka is tall, about as tall as Zuko. His arms are huge. He looks just like Aang remembered their father Hakoda looking. “Hey Sokka! Wow you look different.”

“Me? Have you looked in the mirror Aang?” Sokka laughs.

Aang introduces him to Zuko and Toph as well. They spend a lot of time joking and talking. He is having a great time with all of his favorite people here, minus Gyatso. He does notice that Zuko doesn’t speak much to Katara neither does she to him but other than that everyone is getting along great.

“Avatar Aang.” He sighs and turns to face Soshon. “You have to greet all of the guests.”

He nods. “I will find you guys later?”

“Of course. I will be in town for a couple of days twinkle toes. I want my rematch.” Toph says punching her fist into her hand.

Aang rolls his eyes. “Deal. What about you guys?”

Katara smiles at him. “We will be in town a few days also. We can catch up.”

Aang nods and follows Soshon into the crowd. Soshon leads him to a group of fire nation nobles. He awkwardly waves.

“Wow it is great to meet you Avatar Aang!” One of the women speaks up. She is taller with intense eyes. “Could you show us a waterbending move?”

Aang feels his smile tense a bit. “Well, I…” Soshon nudges him. “I would love to, but I don’t actually have any water around.”

“I have a glass of water!” The man next to her offers up very unhelpfully in Aang’s opinion.

“Great.” He keeps his smile firmly in place as he pulls the water out of the cup. He smoothly moves his arms around to guide the water in a couple of loops before letting it fall back into the glass.

They all start cheering and Aang sees they gain more attention from the people around them. Great.

“That was amazing! Is it true you mastered the Avatar state?” Someone asks coming over from another group.

He internally sighs. “Yes, I have.”

“Ooh could you show us?” Another woman asks coming over. He sees everyone looking at him, but he takes a deep breath prepared to pull the avatar card.

“I would love to, but it isn’t supposed to...”

“Of course, he would love to.” He is interrupted by that deep, strict voice he has grown a little wary of. He turns to see fire lord Ozai making his way through the crowd. He stops by Aang. “I have been curious about this also.”

He thinks about how much these people would freak out if he turned down the fire lord’s request, but Soshon’s face tells him he doesn’t have a choice.

He rubs the back of his head. “Well, I guess I could really quickly.”

“That’s great.” Ozai claps drawing everyone’s attention. “The avatar is about to show us the avatar state.”

He barley holds back his eye roll. He sighs and closes his eyes. Better get this over with. He takes a breath and pulls onto the knowledge and energy of his past lives. He feels the energy shove its way into his body. He opens his eyes and looks around the room much more aware of everything. Everyone gasps and most of them take a small step back. He does roll his eyes then, but nobody noticed with the glowing and all. He closes his eyes again and breaths out releasing the energy. He scratches at his arm a bit feeling the excess energy still vibrating under his skin a bit. When he opens his eyes again everyone starts cheering. Then everybody rushes over to meet him.

He spends the next thirty minutes being introduced to person after person. He stays smiling and talking diplomatically but he just thinks about keeping calm.

Zuko rubs his eyes. It has been such a long party. He is currently trying to sneak outside for some air. He finally passes by one of the more secluded balconies. He steps out on it and is surprised to find Aang. He is sitting on the railing of the balcony balanced on the entirely too small space.

“Hey. What are you doing out here?” Zuko asks coming up to lean on the balcony by Aang.

Aang looks at him and shrugs. “It was really loud. I also was trying to get out of meeting any other nobles.” Aang laughs sheepishly.

Zuko laughs also. “I feel you. I just needed some air.”

They sit in companionable silence for a little while.

“Are you okay?

Aang looks up at the sky. “Yeah, I am. I really am.” There is a soft look on his face.

Zuko isn’t so sure he believes him but what can he say? Aang seemed so happy to see his old teachers. Maybe it was that show his father made him put on earlier. He remembers what Aang said about how it made him feel even more different than usual. He can’t imagine he liked doing it in front of all of those like nothing more than a party trick.

“You seem jumpy.”

“It’s just… when I go into the avatar state, I feel like I…” Aang’s face becomes thoughtful but stays a bit distant. “I feel like all the power in my body can’t fit and it is going to burst out of my skin. I try not to do it often. Afterwards it just takes a little bit of time for me to feel…myself again.”

Zuko hums to show that he is listening and thinking. He imagines it would be. He shivers a bit thinking about the energy that was buzzing in the air when he did it. “I am sorry my father made you do it for no reason.”

Aang steps off of the ledge and stands by him. He leans against the rail still looking at the sky. “It’s okay. You get used to it. It’s surprising just how much of being the avatar is just performing for people.”

Zuko nods. “I get that.” He really does. Being the fire prince is taxing. He always has to behave in a certain way and isn’t allowed to say certain things. It’s exhausting and that is only here in the fire nation. He can’t imagine having to do it for the entire world.

They sit for a bit just looking at the sky. Zuko clears his throat. “I am sorry for asking you to show me the avatar state the first day of training.”

Aang laughs and his eyes get a bit less distant, but he still doesn’t meet Zuko’s eyes. “It’s okay I was excited to show you.”

Zuko feels his face heat up and he finds himself glad Aang isn’t looking at him. “Why?”

Aang shrugs. “I like you.”

Zuko almost coughs as he tries really hard not to look too into that sentence. He must have been quiet for too long because Aang speaks up again.

“You okay?”

He tries not to think about the hope that sentence gave him. He definitely tries not to think about that pretty WaterTribe girl and the way Aang caught her around her waist. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just kind of ready to head to sleep.”

“Me too.” Aang laughs. “We should probably get back to the party.”

Zuko nods, wishing they didn’t have to. “Yeah, we probably should.”

At first neither of them moves to head in. Then Aang sighs and pushes off of the rail. He turns and finally meets Zuko’s eyes. Zuko’s breath catches as he notices how close they are. Aang is looking up at him with those soft grey eyes.

“Would you want to dance when we get inside.” Aang asks softly like he didn’t want anyone to hear.

He would really like that actually. “Well, I… yes but no. I mean I can’t… we…you…”

Aang just laughs at his fumbling. “Maybe next time.” He smiles again and not for the first time Zuko looks at those soft lips. Then Aang turns to head inside. “You coming?”

“Y…Yeah I’ll catch up.”

Aang smiles and then goes inside. Zuko sighs and rubs his eyes. Aang is going to be the death of him.

Chapter Text

The day after the party Zuko honestly just wanted to stay in bed. Alas being a firebender he is up with the sunrise. He jumps out of bed at the thought of training with Aang then he remembers that they have no training for the next five days. He sighs and starts getting ready for the morning. He wonders if Aang will be out in the courtyard with his uncle like he is every morning. He finds himself walking down the hall to the training grounds. Aang and his uncle are out there finishing their tea. He smiles and heads over to them.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning.” His uncle says pouring him a cup of tea.

“Good morning, Zuko.” Aang smiles brightly at him. It’s good to see him rested after how drained he was last night. Zuko rolls his eyes at him.

“No training and you still get up before the sun rises.”

Aang laughs. “I always do.”

“Young Aang is great company.” His uncle says smiling.

“Thank you.” Aang smiles at his uncle. He then stretches and gets up. “I should get started soon.”

“Get started doing what?”

“After tea every morning I practice my bending a bit.”

Zuko nods. That makes sense.

“You need that extra training to be able to even keep up with me.” Zuko hears the cocky tone of Aang’s old teacher Toph. He turns around and smiles as Toph walks into the courtyard.

“Please Toph. I could beat you.” He hears Aang goad.

Zuko’s smile falls as Katara and Sokka follow Toph. Of course, Katara looks nice today. She is wearing short robes that expose her stomach and light blue pants. He doesn’t look at Aang. He doesn’t want to see his reaction.

“Well, I bet you can arrow boy. It isn’t fair because you are the avatar. You should try to take on Katara and Toph at the same time.” Sokka says, crossing his arm over his chest, smiling.

Aang smiles. “Fine let’s do it. I’ll count this as my bending training for today.

“I would like to see this.” Zuko says laughing. He hasn’t seen Katara in action, but Toph seems tough. Honestly, he hasn’t seen Aang in action either.

“Mind if I stay to watch as well.” He hears his uncle ask.

“Not at all.” Aang smiles kindly. Zuko and Iroh head over to the rock benches. Sokka comes and sits by Zuko.

“Hello again Prince Zuko.”

“Hey.” Zuko says awkwardly.

Aang stretches again and sets his staff to the side. He then strips off his top robes leaving him in just his pants. Zuko tries to distract himself from that particular sight by getting excited for the spar.

“Okay I am ready.” Aang says.

Katara gets into her stance, but Toph just shakes her head.

“Nope that’s not how we do spars twinkle toes.” Toph says.

Aang rolls his eyes and holds his hand out. To Zuko’s surprise Toph hands him a blindfold.

“Are you sure Aang?” Katara asks.

“Yeah. I have improved a lot since we last seen each other Kat.” He ties the blindfold around his head covering his eyes.

Zuko sits up more. At first everything is quiet then suddenly Aang moves just as a boulder comes up from where he was standing. This happens again and instead of moving Aang allows the boulder to lift him and he flips off of it landing behind Katara. He pulls some water from the pond and bends it at her. Katara catches the water and sends it back. Aang dodges the water and in the same step lifts a rock to shoot at Toph.

He is amazing!

Toph catches the boulder and sends it back to Aang. He turns quickly drilling into the ground and disappears. He appears again, popping out of the ground and sending a wave of air pushing Katara and Toph back. The spar continues for a little while. Toph and Katara both land some hits on Aang and he does the same. Aang is everywhere. If there was ever any doubt that he was an airbender it is dispelled after this. He moves so fluidly, barely touching the floor or staying in one place for long.

Zuko watches as he redirects a rock from Toph to Katara. Right before it hits her it transforms and traps her hands into some rock cuffs. He then encases her feet in rock. While his focus is on Katara Toph sends another boulder that he barley dodges. He then moves his arms in a circular motion and steps on…something. Zuko can’t see what must be made of air, but he can see Aang almost floating around the stadium. He notices Toph’s face scrunch in frustration as she listens for his feet to touch the floor. Aang rides behind Toph and flips off so he lands right behind her. Right when his feet hit the floor Aang grabs Tophs hands behind her back encasing them in ice.

“Ha! Gotcha.” He laughs, breathing hard. Zuko tries not to notice how attractive all of that was let alone how good Aang looks now. He is breathing hard and there is a fine line of sweat covering his body.

“You cheated twinkle toes.” Toph growls out kicking a small pebble at Aang’s head. He just laughs again.

“Don’t be a sore loser.” Aang moves his hands in a waving motion releasing Toph’s hands. He then releases Katara from her confines.

“Wow Aang. You really have improved a lot.” Katara says appreciatively and Zuko rolls his eyes.

Zuko tries. He really does. He tries to not dwell on the fact that Aang blushed a little when she said it and that they look nice together. They all head to get some food. Zuko is only a little annoyed that they are all coming along to him and Aang’s breakfast.

After they get their food, it is kind of an unspoken agreement between Aang and Zuko that they wouldn’t lead them all to their normal breakfast spot. Not that it was their spot or anything. That’s not it at all. They settle down back in the training area with their food.

They joke a lot and talk about everything. Zuko mainly watches but it is nice to see Aang interact with so many people he is close to. He tries to find a good point to step in, but Zuko hasn’t always been the best at that.

“Yeah, so then Zuko said that I wasn’t ready to start real firebending yet.” Aang says laughing.

Toph looks at Zuko. “Really? Is twinkle toes holding back on you? He is a really fast learner.”

Zuko finds himself laughing a bit. “Oh, he is a really fast learner that is the problem. He almost burned his face off the first session.”

They all laugh as Aang playfully pushes him. “You told me to show you what I could do!”

Katara wipes her eyes while laughing. “That sounds like Aang. When Master Pakku was teaching us waterbending he almost flooded the water tribe because he got excited!”

Toph laughs loudly. “When I was teaching him, he wanted me to teach him how to make a whirlpool out of land and he couldn’t even move a rock.”

At this point Zuko feels his eyes watering from how hard he is laughing.

“So, you are all going to gang up on me.” Aang says with mock offense.

At that everyone laughs again.

After that Zuko feels a bit more confident at joining the conversation. It is actually a lot of fun.

Aang stretches. “Okay guys I have to go.” Zuko knows Aang has another date with Azula, but he must not want to tell them that. “We have to do this again tomorrow.”

Everyone gets a bit quiet.

“So apparently, we got a message from the Fire Lord last night. We will actually be heading out this evening.” Sokka mentions this as he eats his third bowl of food. Zuko watches Aang visibly deflate.

“What? I thought you guys were staying a few days. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Well…” Katara starts looking deflated as well. “We thought we were until last night. We didn’t want to ruin our last morning together, so we decided to wait until it was over to mention it.”

Aang sighs. “I am going to miss you guys.”

Zuko smiles a bit as Aang hugs Sokka and Katara. Toph gives him what looks like a painful punch in the arm. The goodbyes are sad and Zuko feels as though he is sitting in on something he shouldn’t be.

“It’s okay Aang it’s not like we won’t see each other ever again.” Sokka says.

Aang nods still looking bummed. Zuko tries to think of a way to cheer him up.

“I’ll walk you to your room Aang.” Katara says. Zuko feels himself bristle.

“Okay.” He nods, getting up. “I’ll see you guys later.”

Zuko waits until everyone starts heading their own way before following Aang and Katara. It is annoying how well they fit together. It is probably just from familiarity but even the way they walk in time together just fits. Then again Zuko has never seen any close friends like this. Azula used to have Ty Lee and Mai all the time but after the girls moved away the fire siblings have been terribly isolated. Due to spending a chunk of their childhood practically living together her and Aang are probably just comfortable around each other. Yeah. That it. He stops right at the corner and peeks at Aang’s door. Aang is standing there and so is Katara. She is playing with her hair.

“It really was good to see you.” She says. “You have changed so much yet you are still the same in so many ways.”

“It was good to see you too Kat. I missed you.”

“Really?” Zuko rolls his eyes at the clear flirtation in her voice.

“Of course. You were my first crush after all.” Aang laughs rubbing the back of his head. Of course she was. Zuko doesn’t have to like women to see that Katara was gorgeous and Aang was around her at thirteen. That’s like prime puberty starting age.

Katara steps closer and Zuko has to hold himself back from interrupting when she leans her head back looking up at Aang.

“You were mine too.” She grips his arms and rocks onto her tip toes leaning in. Zuko is about to look away, not wanting to see this, when Aang’s voice interrupts them both.

“I’m sorry Kat. I can’t.”

Zuko looks back to find Katara’s face flush as she settles back on her feet. “N…No your right. I should have…”  She clears her throat. “We aren’t even going to be seeing each other anytime soon.”

Aang rubs the back of his head again. “It’s not just that either. You see I kind of…” Zuko can’t hear him as his voice drops to a whisper. You kind of what Aang?!

Katara gets a weird look on her face. “Really?”

“Yeah, it just kind of happened… I am not even fully sure myself how it would work or if…” He sighs. “Well, it doesn’t matter but yeah.”

Katara smiles a bittersweet smile. “Well, I hope it goes well. I guess we just missed our moment.”

Aang pulls her into a hug. “Yeah. I guess so. You are still one of my best friends Kat.”

“And your one of mine.” She hugs him back then leans back and kisses Aang’s cheek. Before she pulls her hands away, she fixes his collar, straightening it out. “Well, I should let you go get ready. We will see each other soon, right?”

“Of course! Plus, once I am done learning firebending I’ll be a fully realized avatar. I’ll be able to visit all the time.”

She rolls her eyes playfully. “Don’t get too carried away.” They both laugh. “Well, bye Aang.”

Finally, she leaves and Aang heads into his room. Zuko sighs. He feels bad for spying, but he is also happy nothing happened. Why is he happy though? It’s not like him and Aang are going to date or anything. It’s probably just because of his sister. Yeah, his sister is going to be with Aang so obviously Zuko would make sure that Aang is not looking to date anyone else. He is also insanely curious about what Aang said. Annoyingly enough Zuko also has a date planned today so he turns his attention to preparing for that.

Aang stretches and sighs. It is almost time for his second not date with Azula. Today they are supposed to be going on a ride through the palace city. Aang wishes they could ride Appa plus between his own exploring and a couple trips with Zuko he has seen most of the fire capital city. He would like to explore more of the fire nation outside of the city. Meisun helps him pull on the last of his robes and nods at him.

“Thank you Meisun.” He says smiling. She nods at him again, a soft smile gracing her lips, before she leaves. He takes one more grounding breath before grabbing his staff and leaving the room. A new guard comes to lead him to the front door of the palace. Azula is waiting there for him. He has to admit she looks pretty and put together as always. She is wearing casual robes and has her hair half up and half down. She sees him and smiles.

“Ready?” She asks brushing her palms against her thighs.

He nods and they follow the guards out to an open carriage waiting outside of the doors. He resists the urge to hold a hand out to help her into the carriage because he very quickly learned she hates that sort of thing. He climbs in after her.

They relax in companiable silence as the carriage is pulled by the horses and driver out of the palace gates. Nobody knows they are leaving the castle so luckily there isn’t too big of a crowd around.

The summer fire nation sun is bearing down on them. It is so hot. Aang cools the air around him down a bit to make it more bearable. Then he extends it to Azula, and he sees her release a breath. There are a lot of small shops open and people milling about. The kids stay close to their parents, but they all look out at Aang and Azula in curiosity. Aang gives the children slight waves when he can.

“I didn’t see much of you at the party last night.” Aang says to break the silence a bit.

Azula laughs a bit nervously. “I was around.” she says vaguely.

Aang looks at the driver making sure they are not close enough to hear but lowers his voice anyway. “Around with Zion?” He jokes.

Her eyes flash the line between joking and annoyed that she always seems to have with him. “Ha. Ha.”

“What? You make is so obvious.”

“Okay enough of my secrets. How about some of yours.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Aang shrugs. “I am an open book.”

“You are a good liar.” She jokes and well… Aang couldn’t argue much there. “Plus, I meant what is going on with you and my brother.”

Aang feels his face instantly heat up. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Apparently, she finds this funny because she laughs causing Aang to roll his eyes. “Yeah, sure you don’t. I am not dumb nor blind Aang.”

Aang rolls his eyes again feeling his face heat up more. Is he that obvious? “I do not like Zuko. Even if I did, which I don’t, I don’t think he would even think of me that way.” This sends Azula off. It’s like she cannot stop laughing. Aang feels himself bristling more. “It’s not that funny, Azula.”

“Oh yes, it is.” She says between laughs that feel just on the wrong side of mocking. “You two are unbelievable.”

Aang is about to ask what she means but a guard waves over their carriage.

“Princess Azula. Avatar Aang. Sorry to interrupt your date but there is an emergency. There was a huge rockslide in Shu Jing right outside of the fire nation capital. There are people still stuck in their homes. We need an earth bender.”

Aang nods feeling himself slip fully into Avatar mode. “Of course, which way is Shu Jing?”

“East of the capital city.” Aang nods, standing up grabbing his staff from where he left it on the bottom of the carriage.

“I want to come.” Azula says standing up suddenly.

“Okay. Hold on.” Aang says grabbing Azula around the waist and opening his glider.

“A…Aang wait…”

Before she can finish Aang gathers the air around them and takes off. Azula yelps and grips his tighter. Aang tries to not notice her nails digging into his arm as he heads east. He just passes the edge of the city when he sees an entire section of houses covered in rocks and dirt. The town is located right at the edge of the open volcano that makes up the capital city, which is where the landslide came from. There are people everywhere. Aang find a place closest to the rubble without actually being in it.

He lands more gently than he normally would so that Azula doesn’t get jolted. He sets her down gently. Everyone is running around and screaming. Aang lifts a small wall of earth between him and the crowd and slowly starts pushing it back.

“It’s Avatar Aang.” Someone yells out of the crowd, but people are still running around.

“Please help keep people back.” He says as he gets into his horse stance.

Azula starts ushering people back, but it doesn’t take much more than a couple of people seeing her before everyone realizes the Princess is there and that she wants everyone behind the wall. Everyone rushes to comply with that and Aang lets go of a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

He takes a deep breath, closing his eyes, then stomps his foot on the ground getting a more detailed view of the area. Many of the houses were smashed but oddly enough there were not many people trapped under the rubble. Well thanks for small miracles. He does feel five people. Two kids to his left and a kid with two adults to his right. He stops again to focus on the people. The two kids to his left are trapped under a fallen beam in their home. The others are trapped in a room, but they are safe under a table. Okay so the two kids first.

He turns to his left to pull on the rocks and dirt on top of the two kids. The rock doesn’t budge. Weird it is almost like it is fighting him. It almost feels like when he and Toph are pulling at the same piece of earth in different directions. That’s not possible because there are no other earth benders though. It doesn’t matter, he doesn’t have time to dwell on that.

Aang gets into his horse stance to concentrate. He holds his hands up focusing on all of the dirt and rocks he feels on the house he needs to get into. Then he gives it a sharp, hard tug. The earth fights a little but there isn’t much that can stop the avatar from pulling things he wants pulled. The earth comes up and Aang deposits it to the back of the houses onto the volcano. He then rushes over to the house. There are the two kids, they are the two boys that Aang ran into when he first arrived at the fire nation. The one he gifted the bison too is holding onto the other one for dear life. The other one’s eyes are closed, and he is bleeding from his head. Aang desperately sends a small wave through his feet, and he can feel the steady thump of both boys' hearts.

Able to breathe again, Aang clears the earth around the boys then lifts the beam so that they can get out. The conscious boy gently pulls his unconscious brother out from under the beam. Aang drops the beam then gently lifts both kids rushing them to where he was originally standing. Azula looks him over a slight panic in her eyes. He looks towards the crowd.

“Are there any healers in the crowd?” Aang asks, knowing he has to attend to the other trapped people. Everybody in the crowd looks around with wide eyes like they wish they could do something. Monkeyfeathers where is everybody from the palace?! He knows they had a head start but they should have known about the landslide since the guard was sent to inform him. They should have brought their healers by now. He will stress about that later.

“Azula,” He lowers to his knees gently setting the boy down. She kneels next to him nodding. He rips some of the fabric from the bottom of his pant leg and holds it to the boy's head wound. He grabs Azula’s hands and pushes it to his head firmly. “I need you to hold this to his head until I get back okay. Don’t move and hold it tight.”

Azula nods something firm in her eyes. “Okay, just get the others.”

Aang gets up rushing to his right where he felt the other people. He steps carefully over to the rubble and skips the first step just automatically getting into his horse stance. He starts to feel the earth fighting against him, but he is so frustrated at the lack of response from the palace that he can’t be bothered with it. He gives it a sharp tug pulling all of the rubble off the house in one go. He then drops it off to the back along with the other rocks. He rubs the sweat off his brow, really feeling the heat now, and steps towards the family crouched under the table. It is a mother, father, and a little girl that is three at most. The parents look okay aside from some cuts and bruises, but the little girl is in bad shape.

“Come with me.” Aang says calmly. He takes the mother and the daughter first to the safety zone. Then he takes the father. Once they are all over there Aang looks the little girl over quickly. Not seeing any immediate blood, he rushes over to the boy with the head wound. Sweat runs down his back. He isn’t sure what time it is, but he feels the fire nation summer sun beating down on him.

He looks up and spots a small pond. He sighs and closes his eyes focusing on pulling out just the water. He hopes this will separate anything too bad from the water. It isn’t exact but it is the best that he can do considering. He gestures for Azula to move her hands and then puts his own water-covered hands on the boy's head. As Aang concentrates he notices the water running red, but he must try to keep his focus. Slowly the water starts to glow. He hears gasps and murmurs from the bystanders. Katara taught him how to heal but he hasn’t done it in forever. Slowly, much slower than Aang wants, he feels the skin in the boy's head mending together. After the boy’s head is fully closed, he almost feels drained. Damn if healing just a small wound on a boy’s head takes so much out of him then he needs to practice healing more. The head wound seems to be the worst of it and his heartbeat is still strong, so he needs to move on.

He moves over to the mother holding her daughter. She slowly pushes her arms out, holding her daughter out to Aang, looking as though she trusts him to fix anything wrong with her precious daughter. Aang feels nauseous and hopes, not for the first time, that he is worth that trust.

He gently takes the little girl from her mom and looks her over. She definitely has a broken arm, but he will come to that later. He pulls some more water from the pond and lays his hands on the girl's head. How did Kat say to do this again? Right…. He can do this. He has too. He slowly focuses his energy into her small body. He focuses on finding any abnormalities to find out why she isn’t waking up. At first everything seems normal but then he notices that there is bleeding in her head. How can he fix this?!

Spirits he wishes Katara was here! He takes a deep breath and focuses his healing energy into her head. With the boy he pictured the wound closing but there is no wound to close here. He is hoping the power alone will work. He focuses harder. It slowly appears to be working, why can’t he do this any faster?! A spike in the girl's heartbeat breaks his concentration for a second. He must hurry. Not letting go of the healing, he calls upon some wisdom. Wisdom that isn’t his own. He begs his past lives to give him some wisdom or at least some power to help with this.

Just when he thinks it might not work, he feels the tell-tale sign of the avatar state. He feels the raw energy buzzing behind his eyes, right under his skin, like it is too much for his body to hold. He feels the people in the vicinity flinch back a little. He then pours all his power into his healing waterbending. He drops the Avatar state as quickly as he called upon it, but it feels like a wave crashed into the little girl. Everything healed in those seconds that he channeled his energy into her. Was that safe?

He can’t bring himself to care about the safety of it when the little girl all of a sudden sits up opening her pretty bronze eyes. He gasps out in relief, removing his hands from her head as the parents rush forward to grab her. His hand automatically goes to his arm scratching it a bit to ground himself. It all feels slowed down, distant, but that is common after being in the Avatar state even for a second like he was. He almost flinched as the crowd behind them erupted.

“Avatar Aang healed that girl!”

“What a miracle!”

“Thank the spirits!”

Aang stood up slowly feeling way more exhausted than he should have. He really needs to practice healing more. With one breath of finality, he gets into his horse stance. He closes his eyes and focuses on all the remaining rocks and dirt on the houses. He calls on the Avatar state one more time wanting to get this over with. Spirits this was so much harder than it should have been.

He then lifts his arms, and with them he lifts all the earth from the landslide. He hears the shock and awe behind him but instead of doing anything flashy like normal he just pushes the earth back to the wilderness behind the volcano.

He stumbles just a bit, but Azula comes over grabbing his arm. He can tell she is trying to be discreet about it, but she knows that he is exhausted. He resists the urge to scratch his arm again.

He then drops the small wall he created to keep the crowd away. Thank the spirits that that is over. People rush up to him cheering and congratulating him. He nods at them and smiles his Avatar smile. Really, he wants to eat some steamed tofu with sweet buns and then relax for the rest of the day. Especially after that weirdness. Was it because of the workout he did earlier? It really felt like the earth was fighting him. Maybe it is a spirit?

He sees the crowd parting but can’t quite see what is causing it. Soon it comes into focus the crowd is being pushed by the royal guards. Once they get to him, they step aside to reveal Fire Lord Ozai. Aang has to repress the urge to roll his eyes. Aang is usually a pretty amiable person, but the Fire Lord just rubs him the wrong way. He bows with his hands in the fire position. Azula bows with him, not releasing his arm. Ozai’s eyes goes to Azula’s hand on his arm and his smile widens. Creepy.

“Fire Lord Ozai.” He says as a greeting.

“Avatar Aang. Azula. I see that there was a bit of trouble down here.”

“Yes, there was a landslide. I hope you don’t mind me not helping with the rebuilding of the homes.” He airbends his glider into his hand. “I am just a bit tired after everything.”

Aang sees his eyes widen with interest. “Oh really? What tired you out? Was it the earthbending?”

Aang finds himself put off by it. He gets the urge to lie. Maybe he is overthinking things. He scratches the back of his head sheepishly. “Not really. I just did quite a bit of training earlier.”

Ozai nods at him thoughtfully. “Well, I apologize that your date had to be interrupted for this sort of thing.”

Aang is about to respond when Azula speaks up. “It’s okay Father. It is a part of dating the avatar after all. Could we get back to our date?”

Ozai nods at her like a dismissal and Aang feels himself bristle. Ozai is irritatingly dismissal towards his kids, Aang has noticed. Especially Zuko. Azula wraps her arms around Aang’s shoulders, and he takes the hint. He wraps his arm around her waist and opens the glider with his other hand. Then he takes off into the air. She does hold him tighter again but doesn’t yelp. He flies them back to the palace and lands right outside of the palace doors.

“Is it alright if we finish this another time?” He asks wearily. She nods, looking a little worried. He gives a small smile and heads to his room. Once he gets there he drops on the bed and falls asleep almost instantly.

Zuko asks the palanquin carriers to hurry on the way back to the palace. He was on his date with…oh spirits what was her name. Well anyways he was in the middle of it when out of nowhere the group of houses on the across the road from the diner he was in got covered in rubble. He didn’t even expect the landslide. He jumped up and rushed outside his guards not too far away. He wasn’t sure how to help when suddenly Aang flew in with Azula. It was amazing seeing him work and heal the children. Zuko watched in awe like everyone else there. He felt his chest pang in worry when he stumbled a bit. He watched them talk to his father noticing the weariness in Aang’s eyes. Then they flew off. Zuko had muttered out a quick apology to his date and rushed back to the palanquin and that’s how he finds himself here. Being rushed back to the palace so he can check on Aang.

He breathes a little easier once they are inside the palace walls. Zuko rushes inside and tries to look nonchalant as he heads towards Aang’s room. He cannot stop thinking about it. Aang looked so tired and where were the earth benders? Due to the fire nation’s location, they have a lot of landslides. His father has a small section of earth benders in the fire nation capital city just for this occasion.

He gets to Aang’s room and nods at his guards. The guards know better than to ask anything and step aside to let him in. When he gets in the room, he finds Aang sleeping. He must have been tired because his calves are not on the bed. Zuko lets out a breath of relief at the sight and heads out of his room. On the way to his room, he finds himself thinking more.

It is weird the earthbenders didn’t come to help. When his dad showed up the earthbenders still weren’t there. The earthbenders or the healers. Zuko turns away from his room and heads to his uncle’s room. He has to ask him. Once he gets there he knocks on the door and then comes in. Azula is already sitting next to his uncle on his bench by the window.

She meets his eyes. “Did you see that?”

He shuts the door nodding and comes closer. “That was weird. Where were the earthbenders? Or the healers?”

They both look at their uncle. He looks troubled.

“I must admit I wasn’t with your father this morning. He said I needed to attend a meeting this morning with the other military officials.” Iroh looks deep in thought. “I am not sure where they were, but I suppose the most important thing is the avatar’s health.”

Zuko sighs. “He is okay I just checked on him. He is sleeping.”

“He seemed so tired afterwards which seems weird.” Azula says.

“Yeah, I have seen him train for longer without getting tired. I assumed he was a never-ending ball of energy.” Zuko says.

Iroh hums amused. “He is only human after all. We should just let the young avatar get his rest and not worry ourselves. I will go talk to your father. In the meantime, you two should relax. You need to know when to get your rest.”

Zuko rolls his eyes but nods. If his uncle is not panicked, then maybe there isn’t anything to panic about.

Chapter Text

Aang is running through the hallways of the Southern Air temple. The smoke is burning his throat. For once in his life, he feels like he can’t breathe. At first the hallways were empty. Flames lick at the edges of his vision, twisting in the air. Each breath scalds his throat. It claws at his lungs with fingers of heat. He ran, as best he could with his lungs betraying him. He screams for somebody, anybody. The fire itself screams the roaring, drowning out his thoughts.

Then he runs around the corner. There are bodies on fire. Children, monks, bison, everything is burning. Aang coughs, feeling tears springing to his eyes. Who did this? WHO DID THIS?! He needs to help them! He needs to do something! What can he do? He should bend but his body isn’t listening to his demands.

He coughs more, feeling the anger leave him as quickly as it came, replacing him with a sick feeling of calm. He begs to feel something as he gazes on the bodies of all of his friends, his brothers, his mentors, but he can’t. He sees a figure standing ahead. He is tall, he has huge muscular shoulders, and long black hair that is hanging down his back. Aang can’t see his face since he is facing away from him, but he still feels that the man is familiar. He knows him from somewhere.

The anger returns full force because the man is firebending, he is burning everything. Aang feels the strange distortion that he usually feels when he is going to be pulled into the Avatar state. He tries to fight it; he hasn’t lost control like that since he was like twelve. The man stiffens as he realizes that Aang is there. Just as the man is turning around so Aang can see his face, Aang hates fighting, but he almost is craving to fight the man before him. It is scary.

Aang is jolted awake. Aang shoots up his feet tangled in the blankets on the bed adding to his panic. He almost falls to the floor from all the flailing before his feet get free. He finally takes a breath now feeling not restrained. He feels a whimper rise in his throat as he tries to calm down. He can’t stop seeing the bodies, smelling the smoke. He jumps up lighting the candles with a flick of his hand not realizing what he just did. He runs to the table with the paper and writes out a desperate message to Gyatso.

Dear Gyatso,

It’s Aang. Is everyone okay? I had this weird dream.

It was so scary because

There was so much

I just wanted to make sure that everyone was okay.

Aang sighs. He struck out a couple of the things he was going to write. He just doesn’t want to repeat it. He calls over the messenger hawk he was assigned to send a message home if he needed. He puts the message in and sends the message off. He can breathe a little better watching the hawk fly away. Thank Spirits.

He sits on the floor by the open window and tries to breathe more. He knows that to calm down he just needs to meditate but his mind won’t slow enough for that. He needs to move. He needs to get out of here. He just needs to fly a little. He grabs his glider and jumps right out of the window.

---------------------------------------------

Zuko and Aang are in their courtyard by the turtle ducks. Aang is laid on the grass, his strong chest on display like usual. As if Zuko notices. He feels his cheeks heat up and he looks away annoyed.

“I am so glad that we got to start training again, Sifu Hotman.”

Zuko growls. “Don’t call me that.” He lets himself smile though. “I am glad too. Don’t get me wrong, the break was nice but I like to keep busy.”

Aang laughs softly. “Me too.” He sits up. “Hey Zuko, you asked me in the meadow who I was attracted to.”

Zuko feels his heart clinch already knowing what was coming. How does he get out of this? “Yeah…”

“And I told you. What about you Zuko?” Aang asks scooting closer.

“Uh well… I um…” Shit why is he stuttering like this? He sounds like a teenage schoolgirl.

Aang suddenly is closer. When Zuko looks at him he is on his hands and knees inching closer to him. His breath stops. Literally. He looks so hot like this. His face determined and locked on Zuko’s. His toned arms flexing slightly as he holds himself up. Zuko feels his mouth go dry.

“Why didn’t you say if you wanted to dance with me at the party Zuko?” He asks, his voice getting deeper. Zuko coughs but can’t look away.

“I wanted…”

Aang is so close now that all Zuko can see is the muscular scope of his back. He can feel his breath on his neck, and it is completely not helping with the breathing issue. “Do you find me attractive, Zuko?” Aang whispers with that sexy voice. The breath ghosts over his ear.

Zuko whimpers. Yes. Whimpers. He leans back to see Aang’s face. He wants to kiss him. Needs to kiss him. He leans in desperately, needing to finally feel his lips.

Right before their lips meet he jolts awake. Zuko groans out as he sits up. What the hell was that?! As if his life needs any more complications without dreaming about the biggest one. He groans and tries to sit up but that’s when he feels it. He lets out an embarrassed groan as he realizes he is hard. He rushes to the bathroom to bathe before Zion can come and make this anymore mortifying.

Zuko allows the cold water to run into the tub. Then he rushes to undress and sinks in with a hiss. Aang is annoying. He is annoying and funny and kind to a fault and… damn it. Zuko can’t handle this. He is supposed to be repressing these thoughts, but his mind has been solely occupied with him. How irritatingly happy and unserious he is. How kind he is to everybody, especially Azula, who isn’t easy. How cute he looks when he is petting the turtle ducks in the pond. How sexy he looks when he is focused. How his muscles flex when he bends the power rippling under his skin. Ugh this train of thought isn’t helping. Zuko rushes to wash off, pushing the thoughts away. Zuko is just a nineteen-year-old virgin man. Obviously, he is a bit pent up. That’s all this is. He hasn’t exactly felt this desire towards anybody before though… Late puberty or something. That’s all. The dream got one thing right, he is excited to get back to training, so he focuses on that.

Once he is clean and a lot more relaxed, he feels his excitement for the day coming back. Aang has been slightly off for the past few days after the landslide. Between the dates that his father keeps sending Aang and Azula on and the fact that they aren’t training every day means that they haven’t been able to spend much time together. Not that it is a big deal or anything Zuko can just appreciate a good routine, and it has been a while. He knows that Aang is going to be excited to hear that they are going to be starting with actual fire today. Zuko can just picture the smile he will have. The giddy one that reaches his eyes. He snaps out of those thoughts quickly and allows Zion inside to help him dress.

“Good morning, Prince Zuko.” He smiles easily waltzing in. He is glad that Zion has been keeping his sister happy, but he worries about the heartbreak she is setting herself up for the longer they allow the relationship to continue considering she will have to actually marry Aang soon. They think it will be around the time he finished firebending. He will be a fully realized avatar.

“Good morning, Zion. Did you have a chance to see Azula yesterday?” He asks. Ever since the landslide Azula has seemed more on edge. Zuko does find it suspicious how it all played out but it makes him worry about her.

Zion gets that annoyingly dopey look on his face whenever Azula comes up. “Yeah, I did. She has been so stressed lately so we did something fun to get her mind off of it.”

“Ew. That’s enough.”

Zion throws his head back laughing, pausing in helping Zuko dress. “Not like that perv. Spirits we just hung out in a field not too far from here and she practiced. I told her how amazing she was as she did.”

Zuko can’t help but laugh because of course that is Azula’s fun. “Well, that’s good.” He looks down at his training clothes. “Okay I should get going.”

Zuko heads out to the courtyard really excited to start training again. He finds Aang sitting in the courtyard with his uncle. It seems a little quieter than when he usually finds them out here.

“Ready to get started?” Zuko asks, smiling despite himself.

At first Aang doesn’t answer. He is looking off towards the far end of the training courtyard. Zuko sends a small, worried look to his uncle and Iroh smiles back sympathetically. He gently nudges Aang. Aang looks towards Iroh, clearly snapping just a little out of his thoughts, so Zuko repeats his question.

Aang looks at him distantly for a moment before smiling a big smile. “I am so excited, Sifu Hotman.”

Fondness and annoyance simultaneously slide into him. “Don’t call me that.”

His uncle laughs. “Well, I will leave you to it. I hope you get some rest tonight Aang.”

“Thank you, Iroh.” Aang smiles.

“Are you okay?” Zuko asks a bit worriedly.

“Fine just couldn’t sleep much. Ready?”

Zuko nods and leads Aang through the warmup katas.

“Okay today we are going to start with fire. We are going to add fire into the first beginner kata we learned.” Zuko instructs. He expects a lot more excitement than Aang gives, but he pushes on anyways. “Watch me.”

Zuko pulls his arms in and breathes then he thrusts his open palm out allowing a small punch of fire. He notices Aang jump a little out of the side of his eye.

“Try that.”

Aang nods and stands up. He mimics Zuko’s move perfectly but nothing happens.

“What was that?” Zuko asks incredulously. “I know that you can do better than that.”

“I’m sorry Zuko.” Aang says rubbing the back of his head.

“It’s fine just try again.”

Zuko tries to control his frustration as they go through practice with no progression at all. Aang does the move over and over perfectly but creates no fire. It’s like he is too timid now where he was way too eager before. Finally at the end of practice he lets out one perfect kata shooting a small punch of fire from his hand. Zuko sighs standing up and stretching.

“Okay that’s it for today.” He crosses his arms. “What has gotten into you? Without any training you were able to produce more fire than that Aang.”

Aang lowers his head looking frustrated, ashamed, and tired all at once. “I don’t know.”

Zuko sighs softening a bit. “Maybe it was the break. It will be better tomorrow.”

Aang nods slowly. They both head to the kitchen to grab their food then to the turtle duck pond to eat. Zuko sees that Aang is laughing along and talking but he can’t help but feel as though something is off. He should talk to Azula. She has always been better at reading people than him and she should be able to read him by now. They have been on at least three “not dates” as they call them.

After finishing breakfast Zuko heads to his room so that he can shower off the frustration and heat of the day. Before he makes it to his chambers though he sees Azula slip into hers. He knocks on her door and then nods at the guards outside of her room as he slips in. Azula is pulling a bit roughly at the topknot in her hair, her crown piece already on the floor as if it was pulled out.

“Are you okay?” Zuko asks.

She sighs frustrated. “Yes, it has just been a long morning and now this stupid hair won’t...” She finally frees her topknot and visibly relaxes a bit. “Speaking of long, what’s with the face?”

He sighs and sits on the edge of her bed. He explains the training to her. “I wanted to ask you because you are good at reading people, and he is a very… composed person.”

“Yeah, he was incredibly frustrating to learn and sometimes I still don’t get it right. It is so interesting…” She trails off. “Anyways I can meet with him later and see if I can tell anything.”

“Thanks, Azula. I just need this to go well. Who knows how Father will react if it doesn’t.” His scar tingles a bit, but he resists the urge to touch it under Azula’s gaze.

She nods and looks away quickly.

---------------------------------------------

The next few days go the same for Aang’s progress. That is how Zuko finds himself rushing to his uncle’s chambers. He needs advice about this. He just can’t understand what might be causing the lack of progress with Aang. The air nomad hasn’t so much as let more than a burst of fire leave his hand in a week. A tiny burst a fire. It’s so frustrating because Zuko knows he can do more. The most annoying part though is that he doesn’t think Aang is doing it on purpose. He seems just as frustrated by his lack of progress as Zuko is. When Azula came to him a few days ago she said that he seems jumpy and dodgy just citing that he hasn’t slept well. He just hopes his uncle has some advice.

Right before he knocks on the door, he hears that velvet voice. The one that has been haunting him, yes haunting thank you very much, for the past three months.

“I am not sure Iroh. I don’t really want to talk about the dream. I just can’t sleep. I know I will feel better once I hear back from home.”

He hears a glass clink and can imagine his uncle putting down his teacup. “Maybe all you need is a day away from everything. A day away from the training, the dates, all of it. Afterall my boy, you are only a teenager.”

He sighs and Zuko hates how tired he sounds. “Yeah, I know. I just don’t want to ask Zuko. I know he is getting frustrated with me. Spirits I can’t blame him I am too.”

“Nothing is wrong with asking for help son. You know part of being a man is knowing when it is time to set pride aside. You may be sixteen, but you are very mature Aang. I am sure that you will work through this. Speaking of your age your birthday celebration is coming up, isn’t it?”

Zuko feels a smile come to his lips as Aang groans. “Yeah, another huge stuffy party.”

Iroh laughs as well. “Well maybe you kids can sneak away towards the end of it.”

Zuko takes this as his chance to knock on the door and enter once Iroh says to. Aang is in his air nomad robes sitting at the pai sho table with his uncle. They are finishing up tea. “Hey Aang. It has um… been a while since we uh went out on Appa. Would you like to?”

Zuko feels his annoying dumb heart flip when the other’s whole face lights up. “Yeah!”

---------------------------------------------

Aang feels himself a bit more able to breath after the flight on Appa. They didn’t go far. Just a nice trip around the royal capital. He heads back to his room to clean up a bit before his ‘not’ date with Azula. She wants to spar today. Honestly, Aang is looking forward to getting some residual tension out. He is never quite sure where he stands with Azula. He knows for certain that he annoys her A LOT more than he does Zuko. Their personalities both match and clash in some really big ways. It is weird. Once he reaches his room he sees a scroll on his bed. He rushes over and sees the air nation insignia on it. Oh, thank the spirits.

“Hi Aang,

Everything is great here. I am sorry to hear that you haven’t been dreaming well. Let yourself feel those fears and then let them flow down the river much as Guru Pathik taught you. If you don’t wish to speak of them that is fine. Just know that everybody is okay here and I miss you.

Love,

Gyatso

Aang feels himself breathe properly for the first time in days. They are all okay. He crashes onto the bed as all the stress he didn’t know he was feeling fades away. Okay last check just in case. He has a little bit of time before his date.

He sits on the window seat and crosses his legs into the lotus position before touching his fists together in front of his stomach. He breathes and then slowly calls on the avatar state focusing mainly on Roku.

When he opens his eyes, Roku is sitting in front of him smiling softly. “Hi Roku. I am sorry to bother you. I just. I had this dream.”

Rokus listens patiently as Aang tells his about the dream. Once he is done, he hums thoughtfully. “Now it might be just a dream. I would stay in touch with Gyatso. Just remember young Avatar we are connected to everything in many ways. The smallest things may be even more important than we realize.” Then he is gone. He comes out of the avatar state scratching his arm and rolling his eyes. What the hell was that supposed to mean? The past avatars are so cryptic sometimes. Why don’t they ever just say what they mean?

Walking towards the training grounds, both feeling better and worse, Aang is even more excited for the spar. When he gets there Azula is in her training robes. Aang must admit she looks pretty.

“Hey Azula. Sorry I am a touch late. I was speaking to avatar Roku.” He says, still scratching at his arm.

“You were what? How?” She asks incredulously.

“Avatar state.”

She shakes her head in the way she does when she chalks something up to his weirdness. “How are you doing? Rested after starting up training again?”

Aang feels the unwanted blush come to his face as the reminder of how irritating his lack of progress has been. “Yeah, I have had some time to relax a bit after training today.”

Luckily, she doesn’t mention the training or the fact that he is still scratching at his arm from earlier.

“Anyway,” she says softly. “I am ready for our spar.”

“Me too. I kind of need this tension out honestly.”

She nods in understanding. Here is another way they match each other. They both have a lot of dedication to their bending. Plus, how much they both work for it. Aang is a lot less focused on… perfection than Azula is though.

Azula heads to the other side of the arena and gets in her sparing stance. Aang shakes his limbs out a bit still feeling shaky but falls into his sparing stance. Aang hurries and spins out of the way of the first fire blast Azula sends. Her fire is blue. It must be hotter because Aang feels the heat even after evading. He feels drudges of his nightmare tug at him, but he shakes it off quickly.

Azula sends fire towards him again and he uses one hand to lift a rock wall between him and the flame then uses another to pull some water out of the air and sends it towards her. Instead of dodging she sends a blast of fire right at the water causing it to turn to steam.

Aang finds himself luckily falling into his fighting mind. Sparing Azula is a good distraction. Even this being the first time Aang can tell she is amazing. She is cunning, calculated, and extremely skilled. It takes his focus to a point where he doesn’t think about anything else. She is also taking this very seriously. Anytime Aang sends something that comes remotely close to hitting her she growls in frustration and seems to get angrier. The look in her eyes sharpens and her fire blasts get hotter if that is even possible. Honestly, it is fun. The spar goes on like this for a few minutes which is the longest people usually last against him. He definitely wouldn’t mind doing this again, but he is ready to end it. Maybe they can go get some food after this.

Aang stomps on the ground sending a rock of air at her. Right as Azula evades he uses his seismic sense to feel where she is going to land. He pulls his hands back causing the ground beneath her feet to shake. She finally stumbles; this is his shot.

Right as Aang is about to encase her feet she lets out a guttural scream. Her eyes don’t quite look like hers anymore and she moves her arm in a circle. She then juts her fingers out and something flies at him. It crackles and is brighter than any fire he has ever seen. Aang, only with the help of some airbending and the avatar state, makes it out of the way. Was that just?

He looks back at Azula. She looks even more shocked than he is. “I am so… I am sorry I didn’t mean… I just…” She stumbles.

“Was that just lightning? You can shoot lightning?” He asks breathlessly. He can’t believe she just shot lightning at him during a friendly spar. Or maybe he could. He just couldn’t believe she could do that.

It seems as though his questions snap something in her. Her skin goes deathly pale and her pupils dilate. Not in anger though, in fear. Her breathing comes out in sharp gasps and pants. “I… I am… Father I didn’t mean to…” She rambles on falling to her knees desperately gasping for breaths. Aang freezes for a second. He has never seen Azula anything less than put together. What has scared her… He snaps out of his shock when he hears a ragged sob squeeze out of her air deprived lungs. He rushes over to kneel by her.

“Azula?” She flinches at her name. The pieces of her hair that fell out of her ponytail frame her face making her look even more pale. She has thick tears rolling down her face, but the scariest part is her faraway eyes and the desperate gasps and sobs fighting for space in her lungs. He needs Zuko. He would know what to do, but he can’t leave her. This is a really stupid idea, but he puts his hand on her arm.

“Don’t touch me.” She shrieks, grabbing his wrist with record speed. He grimaces as he feels her palm heating up burning his skin where she holds him. He doesn’t falter though. He frees his burned wrist and grabs her around her waist. She fights him, her nails digging into his shoulders as her sobs turn to desperate whimpers. It reminds him of the sound of a scared and injured sloth bear cub. He bends his glider to them and takes off into the sky. It takes him two minutes to get to Zuko’s window, but it feels like years with Azula’s shrieks and cries in his ears. She has stopped fighting him, but her nails are firmly dug into his shoulders. The window is open, so he doesn’t knock, he just drops in.

Zuko startles on his bed as they land crouched on his carpet. Aang lets her go and looks at him with desperate eyes knowing that they have tears in them. “Please, please help her.”

Zuko is in action before he can even finish his sentence. He kneels in front of Azula grabbing his wrist and pressing her hand to his chest. “Breath with me Zula.” He says softly.

Her eyes whip to him at the sound of her voice and her cries get quieter but stay ragged. “Father will… I didn’t mean… Secret…”

“That’s okay, just breathe.” Aang watches frozen as Azula slowly matches Zuko’s breaths. How many times has this happened? Once she can breathe, she buries her face in his chest. Zuko wraps an arm around her and meets his eyes. He can see the plea there. Leave us alone please

Aang’s eyes snap to Azula then back to his. But Azula

Apparently Zuko is able to read his look too because he gives him another one. I’ll come by later

What else can Aang do but leave back out the window in pain, worried, and confused as ever.

---------------------------------------------

Zuko sighs, finally having been able to get Azula to sleep. He could only half get a story out of her. He can’t believe she lost it and lightning bent at him during the dual. He understands her panic though. If their father finds out that she accidentally let Aang know that it exists, who knows what he is going to do. He looks down at his sister. Her palms are covered in red and healing crescent shaped wounds and scars. Sometimes it seems as though she isn’t… He shakes his head. Azula is fine. She just got spooked about thinking of their father’s punishment.

He allows himself sometime to calm down before he heads to Aang’s room. He nods at the two guards before knocking. He doesn’t hear anything, but he heads in anyways. The room seems empty. He heads to the on-suite bathroom. The door is open and Aang has his hand in the water bucket seemingly concentrating.

“Are you okay?”

Aang looks up. “Sorry Zuko. I am trying to heal the burn on my arm, but I can’t seem to focus.”

Zuko frowns looking into the water basin. He sees Aang’s wrist has an Azula sized handprint burned into his wrist. “Why Aang? Let’s go to the healers.”

“No, I need to do it myself.” Aang snaps. Zuko pulls back a bit. He has never heard Aang sound so… cold. Maybe he is just worried about Azula or scared about the lightning. Zuko sits down by him and touches his arm. Aang looks at him with tired grey eyes.

“Azula is okay. She was just worried that she might have hurt you, plus our father…” He looks away not wanting to have his eyes on him when he lies. “Our father didn’t want you to know about the lightning bending yet. He had a nice plan for a demonstration, and she was worried about ruining the surprise.” Zuko meets Aang’s eyes again. The avatar studies him with those intense grey eyes. Zuko isn’t sure he believes him but whatever he sees in his eyes he just nods.

“I am glad that she is okay. She was really scared.”

“You know how important Azula’s perfection is to Azula. She will be okay, just probably embarrassed.”

At least at that Aang smiles. He looks back towards the water and closes his eyes. Zuko watches in awe as the water starts to glow white. The burn around his wrist slowly disappears. Aang pulls it out, sighing in relief.

“I am sorry for snapping. I just need to get better at healing. Especially since I couldn’t heal that little girl.” Aang sighs moving so that he is leaning against the wall next to Zuko.

Zuko remembers the landslide. “What do you mean? You healed everything about her.”

His eyes harden as he looks down at his hands. “I couldn’t do it on my own. I had to use the avatar state and even then, it took so much energy out of me.”

“You are being too hard on yourself Aang, but I get it.”

They fall into a small lapse of silence. Zuko thinks back to Aang’s conversation with his uncle earlier, geez was that today? It has been a long day.

“So, I heard your birthday celebration is approaching. Are you excited?” He knows his answer but doesn’t want to give away that he listened in earlier.

Aang sighs looking up from his hands. “I am not particularly looking forward to this huge stuffy celebration, especially since I don’t even know when my exact birthday is.”

Zuko feels his jaw drop a little. “You don’t know when your birthday is?”

“No, none of the air nomads really do.” He shrugs. “We don’t focus on frivolous things or earthly things like that. We hold a celebration for all the air nomads that are born in that season. Most air nomads are born in autumn as that is when we are most powerful. I was born in autumn. Towards the end of month, we would all get together to celebrate the autumn births.”

Zuko hums. “That seems interesting. What kind of things do you do for the celebrations?”

Aang lights up like he always does when talks about home. “Well, we would all make food to bring together, we would play music, dance, and practice flying on the bisons. We play airball and basically just enjoy the moment.”

Everything Aang has mentioned about his home feels comforting. It seems as though they have a strong sense of community. As weird as Aang is, every time he talks about home it makes sense that he is the way he is. Either he has been silent too long or he feels Zuko looking at him, but Aang slowly lifts his eyes to meet his.

Aang’s eyes soften but he doesn’t speak. This close Zuko can see the soft brown flakes in his grey eyes. He can see the sharp slope of his nose, the strong set of his jaw. Zuko feels his face heating up. Aang’s eyes slide down to his lips, and his breath catches as he suddenly thinks of his dream. He clears his throat and looks away.

“What else did you guys learn at your home that would surprise people.”

He hears Aang clear his throat also from beside him. “Well, we all learned how to sword fight.”

Zuko’s head snaps towards him. “What? Really? I thought you guys were pacifists.”

Aang laughs a bit at his response. “We are. The sword training wasn’t for fighting or anything. Obviously, those things are good to know but we mainly learned it to be well rounded in our skills. Plus, it helps with balance and that is a huge component of airbending. Although some airbenders did take to sword fighting a lot and would make air swords.”

Zuko takes a second to let all of this sink in. “I took sword training as well. I am more skilled in board swords, but I can wield any sword well.”

He sees a mischievous smile cross Aang’s face. “I bet I could beat you in a sword fight.”

Zuko rolls his eyes, “Oh please. I am not going to even waste my time entertaining that.”

“What are you scared Sifu Hotman?” Aang challenges, and that is how Zuko ends up in his training clothes standing across from Aang holding a sword.

It is way too late for this. He is sure that everybody is sleeping by now, but Zuko couldn’t turn the challenge down. Plus, it would be nice to finally be better than Aang in something, sue him. Aang isn’t annoying about his perfection the way Azula is but it is still incredibly frustrating sometimes how he seems to be amazing at everything.

Aang stretches his arms a bit above his head and then picks up his sword. He looks so beautiful in the moonlight. Zuko finds himself blushing. He has noticed Aang’s adorableness, his annoyingness, his sexiness, but this is the first time the word beautiful has struck his mind. He shakes the thoughts off and gets ready for the spar.

“Last chance to back out.” Aang goats.

Zuko rolls his eyes, “Please, you are the one who is going to be surrendering after all of this.”

Aang looks at him with a sudden intensity that causes Zuko to flush. “You gonna make me?”

As they start to circle each other it seems as though a hush has fallen over the courtyard. Small bits of dust are kicked up like smoke in the streams of the moonlight as they size each other up. The only sound is their footsteps and soft breathing. Zuko adjusts his grip on his sword, calculating. Aang mirrors his actions, his demeanor the same focused quiet that he has seen in Aang when he spars others. All of that attention focused directly on him makes Zuko’s head spin. The air could be cut by one of these swords. It is thick in the air, contained just to the courtyard around them. Like some force is holding it around them.

Aang swings his sword, Zuko matching the move immediately. Not an attack but a test. A brush of swords at most. Zuko pushes harder this time, and he notices Aang barely tapping the sword back. He feels a bit angry at this.

“You are holding back.” Zuko breathes out not wanting to break the spell that is placed over them.

Aang doesn’t respond but Zuko notices one side of his mouth tick up. Then he advances, closing the space between them easily and aims a swing towards Zuko’s shoulder. Zuko blocks it instantly as his breath hitches. Not from the force, he can handle that, but because of the proximity. He is closer than before. Almost as close as dream Aang.

They both move again-strike, block, shift. It continues, the world shrinking to the sound metal, their precise footsteps, their heavy breaths. Sweat beats at Zuko’s brow as his breath gets harder. Aang seems to be sweating as well, his jaw ticking every time he blocks one of Zuko’s hits.

Once when Aang advances again their hands brush. Not enough to mean anything. Not that it matters.

It matters.

Zuko pauses, his breath catching at the touch, but in seconds he recovers. Aang’s eyes show that he noticed though. He always notices.

Zuko gets frustrated by that knowing look, that cocky know-it-all look. He steps in fast, blade swinging at a reckless angle desperate to make him lose control just a little. He doesn’t. He reacts though. A parry, a pivot, and suddenly Aang’s sword crashes against his with hidden strength. Zuko almost stumbles from the force but he steps back with his dominant leg to steady himself again.

No.

Zuko is going to win this. He follows Aang’s lead, speeding up his attacks, until the sword seems to blur. Aang’s eyes widen, and he backs up from the sudden onslaught and that is all the opening Zuko needs. He pushes towards Aang’s chest with the tip of the sword. Being forced to rush moving back Aang falls, for once, losing his balance.

Aang doesn’t give up though, grabbing his sword again in record time, jumping to his knees about to retaliate but Zuko is ready for that. He catches Aang under his chin with the tip of his sword.

Zuko gently uses the tip of the sharp blade to lift Aang’s head up so their eyes meet. He slides the blade slowly just a bit farther so that it is just barely pressed to the vulnerable part of his throat. He knows he should stop but something about seeing the shining edge of the sword barely press into the soft skin of his throat. Zuko feels his blood warm and run south as Aang’s eyes dilate and darken. Zuko can’t quite tell what emotion is in those grey eyes, but it is strong, burning Zuko with its intensity. It also encourages him more. He pushes his head higher, stepping into his space casting his shadow down on the kneeling Avatar, causing Aang’s breath to catch.

Something hot and eager flickers to life in his stomach, something about having the most powerful bender on earth at his complete mercy, looking up at him with those wide, darkening eyes is intoxicating. Aang is breathing hard, his chest rising and falling in the moonlight. Zuko is surprised he can hear it above his own breathing, his heart beating in his ears. The usually composed, strong, above it all avatar is fully under Zuko’s control. It makes something electric run down his spine.

Aang looks beautiful like this. There is that word again, but it is true. His cheeks are flushed, his lips parted as he pants our breaths, those stormy grey eyes looking up at him through his eyelashes. Spirits Zuko needs a better look at him. He can feel the need thrum through his body. He steadies his hand and slowly uses the sword to lift his head slightly as he turns it to the right. The heavy feeling in his stomach intensifies when the avatar follows his unspoken command. He slowly moves his head to the right. Suddenly there is a break in Aang’s ivory skin. A small rivulet of blood slides down from where the tip of his sword presses into Aang’s neck and slides down his toned chest. He gulps as his eyes follow the red line marring Aang’s gorgeous skin. Then it seems to hit him what he did.

He drops the sword, it all hits him at once. He flirted, outright flirted, he held Aang at sword point, he made him bleed. He looks at Aang panicked then turns on his heel and runs. Zuko ignores Aang calling him as he runs to his chambers. He ignores the guards watching his door, just running in and slamming it. He falls on the bed groaning like the idiot he did.

He is so stupid.