#its not like were at the tail end and have had everything for awhile. its not even been half a yr

[mochiswifey]

*POST-APOCALYPTIC WORLD* TAIJU SHIBA X SURVIVOR

CW: 18+ Semi Yandere Themes, con, abuse, extreme, violence, death, age gap, monsters, smut, manipulation.

This is inspired by Resident Evil & The last of us 'Cause why not.

Repost from another account.

10 years or was it more than that? You're not sure anymore. You were just a young girl when people started devouring each other. You hated it. You hated every part of it. And what you hated more is the fact that the company that promised a cure to an incurable disease caused all of the mayhem in the world. All for their greedy selves.

As we all know- knew, FDA was supposed to ran a thorough check to every drug pramaceutical companies tries to put out on the market to ensure that everything is safe and effective. But everything falls apart when the people who's responsible behind it are all compromised. Compromised to approve the manufactured drugs without going in depths of the researches and side effects. Every person involved was paid to turn a blind eye even though independent researchers took the single pill that was promised to cure every disease to the Supreme Court. All because of the eye catching wealth promised to be given to them. Wealth, funny word. It doesn't mean anything to the world they've destroyed.

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"Fuck." You cursed under the thick mattresses in the abandon hospital desperately hiding from the flesh eating creature that has been tailing you for almost half an hour. They're not brainless that is what scares you the most. If you hadn't saw its reflection from the glass shard laying around it sure would've already devoured you from behind. The sounds it made as it walks around the room trying to find you gave you a mind breaking fear. You've seen it. You've seen what fate people they caught faces. Limbs missing, faces unrecognizable, intestines out in the cold ground. Begging to die.

You ran out of bullets earlier the day killing mutated dogs and never have you regretted killing them so much in your life. If you just had one. You could've ended your life. In that way you could remain in one piece and go to the other life peacefully. But no. God has always been cruel but he went too far today.

You pray and prayed to the cruel gods to let you live. Just so you could go back to your hometown. Telling them that the blood of the mutated dogs are enough to cover your scent. You laid still and held your breath.

It's over.

You thought as the hisses and grunts came closer and closer. You lost all hope. You should've lost it awhile ago. You should've lost it the day you found your house in disaaray. But you didn't because as you were being taken by the military you promised to come back and say a proper goodbye to the home you grew up. You were only 6. Just as the creature was about to pull the mattresses gunshot was heard and you felt the body of the creature dropped dead on the mattresses.

You were instantly relief but it was soon washed away as you remembered the lurking cannibals. As food ran low people who are not infected turned into each other devouring everyone they could get their hands on throwing the last humanity they have. In this world, not only the creatures are to be afraid of. But also the living creatures who looks just like you.

You didn't dare to move. If they could just leave it would be better. You're thankful to them but...

"Hmm." You heard the voice and you were definitely sure it belongs to a man. A more comforting relief hugged you as you heard him go out of the room leaving you. You gripped on the mattresses and counted to 100 just to be sure he's gone.

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"Shit. That was close." You almost laughed emerging from the heavy stained mattresses pushing the dead creature off letting its body fall on the dirty floor.

"I would've never won a fight with you." You tell the dead creature as you hopped down the stack of 5 mattresses. You crouched down and slowly started to examine its large and grotesque body. White crumbly skin, with bones sticking out of it. You could tell from the mutation that the former person died atleast 5 years ago. As the years passes the mutation involves.

3 days to year 1, still recognizable but has completely lost human function. 5 years in, just a grotesque monster like the one beside you. 6 to 10 larger. Far larger than others, can't see or smell but has evolve hearings and moves at a rapid pace. You're fortunate enough to have never encountered one but you're not sure what you'll do if you ever meet one-

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"Hands behind your head and turn around." Fuck. He crept up to you without you noticing. It's enough to tell you he's a dangerous man and death will come soon to you if you didn't comply.

"I have no weapon-" "Stand up." You gave up and just complied slowly standing up as you put your hands behind your head.

"Turn around." He says. You're in no position to fight. And by his enormous shadown you know he's over 6ft. There's no way of winning this. You slowly turn around and was immediately faced by a gun. Your eyes focused on the muzzle and you knew death was in front of you.

"I-" You tried to speak as you crane your neck up but you were hushed by yourself as soon as you met his gorgeous yellow eyes. He's the most handsome man you've ever seen. Not that you've seen many men since the chaos started. He's a lot older than you but he's just so beautiful. Most people were dressed in ruined clothes but he was so neatly dressed you almost thought he's from a different reality.

He tilts his head to the side examing your bloodied state. You were almost embarassed because you're covered in dogs blood while he's just perfect, the embarrasing feeling soon faded when your survival instict told you not to be in such an awe for a stranger. But it's hard not to be at utter awe. He looked nothing like the raiders, bandits or cannibals you've encountered before. He looks so handsome and he took your breath away.

"Name?" He asked stepping back from you and lowering his gun down. You were surprised to see such action from a man like him. If you were him you would never have lowered your gun down. It meant one thing. He doesn't see you as a threat unlike you who sees him as the dictator of your life.

"I have no weapon with me. I barely have any supplies just let me go-"

"Did you go to school before all of this shit happened I was asking for your name." His bluntness stunned you and almost made you want to slap him but you knew better.

"Loui."

"Why don't you thank me for saving you earlier?" So, he knew. He knew that you were hiding under the mattresses but tricked you into thinking he's gone.

"Thank you sir." He almost laughed. Sir? He knows you fear for your life and he might just use it to his advantage.

"Thank you ain't 'bout cut it." He says making you look at him in utter disbelief.

"I just told you! I have no-"

"I need you to help me carry the supplies I've found. I've eliminated all of the disgusting creatures lurking around." He explains as he tucks his gun to his waistband. You have two choices. Comply or die. We all know what you choosed.

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"How long till we arrive-"

"Not long." He's been saying that for atleast two hours. He made you carry three boxes full of heavy medicines he found not lending you a hand. You were scared of getting chased by the creatures specially knowing that you won't be able to ran away from them whilst carrying the heavy boxes thankfully, the gigantic man in front of you found an underground tunnel that seems to have no creatures lurking at all.

"Oh god." You lost your balance due to the uneven ground and the boxes almost fell to the ground. It would’ve been a disaster. Unexpectedly, he instinctively caught the heavy boxes with ease. He let you regain your stance before stacking the two boxes he caught on the top of the box you were able to hold on.

"You're fucking clumbsy, surprised you made it this far." He says looking back to you his voice filled with amusement. You mentally rolled your eyes before continuing on following him. The tunnel is no wider than 5ft forcing you to tail behind him. He held his pistol that has a flashlight attached to it with his right hand ready to shoot any creatures that might jumped out.

"You need a shower you smell horrible." He says out of nowhere turning his gun towards you. The light from the flashlight made you squint your eyes shut and you internally cursed him from doing such thing. He lightly chuckle before turning forward resuming the journey.

"Yeah, l'd love to have some shower but may I remind you we're in a world where survival is more important that a shower." You sounded so offended he laughed.

"What the hell was funny about that!" You tried to kick him but your short legs didn't reach him. You huffed in dissapointment. It would've been funny if he tripped. But you doubt your kick would make a damage to a man like him.

"You souded so offended."

"I am sir. I am offended."

"Well, don't be. Since we are almost in my place."

"You've been saying that for more than an hour."

"2 hours and 40 minutes to be exact."

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The two of you emerge at the streets of Tokyo. Panic immeditely filled you knowing that the creatures are active in the central city more than anywhere else. Your heartbeat started to rise as you look around the ruined streets. Cars crashed around and stores destroyed. You know you've been in Tokyo when you were younger although not much memories comes to you. Surely though, a few years back Tokyo wasn't like this. Wasn't so destroyed and lifeless. Cars flipped around or on top of one another. Streetlights crashed to establishments, it's just depressing.

"The horde just passed those fuckers won't show up until two weeks from now." He snapped you out of your panic state. You nervously nodded and tried the breathing technique you've read from the worn out newspaper lying on the hospital before you noticed the creature he killed.

"Thanks" He says taking the boxes from you careful not to let it come close to his suit because of the blood from you. It's been years since you've had company. And despite his rude comments about your smell you were sad that the journey you two had came to an end. You turned around ready to head somewhere safe for the night.

"Where are you going?" You look back to him.

"I'm done. I've repayed you."

"I need these boxes settled." You tried to act irritated but deep inside you were happy because you're still able to spend some time with him.

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The two of you went behind an alley and he opened a back door to an establishment. You stepped in and he locks the door before switching the lights on. You thought he's living in a ruined place like the others but you were far wrong. His place was definitely a restaurant before all of this happened. The chairs and tables are still kept clean. A grand piano, chandelier, bottles of wines, the place was breathtaking. You've been into many places but it's the first time you've seen such a beautiful and well kept place like his.

Everything was so beautiful to you but the thing that caught your eyes was the enormous empty aquarium. You forgot the fact that he was with you and ran in front of it looking at it with amazement.

You closed your eyes as you try to imagine the fishes that used to live there. You've seen some pictures of famous aquariums in the past and since then you've always wanted to see one.

The man smirked as he placed the boxes down. He sat on one of the round sofa's in front of the aquarium and admire your innocents.

"You like it?" You turned to him and nodded. Despite of being almost an adult you couldn't help acting like a child whenever you're presented things you weren't able to experience or enjoy. Your eyes glimmer with joy as you went closer to the aqurium touching the glass leaving a bloodied handprint. Your eyes widen as you realized what you've done. You expected him to be angry to you for doing such thing but no. He didn't say anything. So you figured he didn't mind. You close your eyes once more and the rare fishes you've seen in the books appeared in front of you.

The man sat quietly with his legs crossed and arms in front of his chest. He was talking to god as he watches you. Thanking him for letting a man like himself find you in a world like this.

"How did you find this place?" You asked him with a smile. He was drawn to your peculiar acts. A normal person would never find any joy in seeing an empty aqurium.

"I own the place." He watches as your jaw dropped.

"That's freaking cool! So were you here when the aqurium had fishes?" You asked energecticly eager to know his answer.

"I was, I had nine sharks and hundreds of fishes back in the day." He answers you. His face didn't show it but he was reminiscing the old days where his restaurant was busy with high profile customers. It was quiet a memory for him.

"Nine sharks!?" You jumped in surprise making him laugh.

"Is it really that impressive?"

"Are you kidding me? I'd do anything to see a shark!" The man uncrossed his legs and leaned forward.

"I have pictures."

"Really? Can you please show me sir?" He smiles softly unfitting for a man like him.

"Sure, but you need to take a shower first." Your smile drops. Is he mocking you again? It's impossible to take a shower. You'll need to wait for rain just to take one and it being spring doesn't make it easier.

"Where would I take a shower! Just please! I won't touch the pictures just show me I beg you." He chuckles and went out of your sight climbing stairs that leads to the second floor. You sighed in disappointment you really wanted to see the pictures. You were about leave when he came down with towels and new clothes.

"Come, this place has running water." You almost laughed. No place has running water.

"Running water? Is that some slang used around here sir?" You asked him and he looked at you confused.

"I don't know what you mean."

"It's impossible to have running water is what I meant." He shakes his head before pinching the bridges of his tall nose.

"Come with me and I'll show you." You followed behind him and the two of went to the second floor where he has his own room. You were careful not to touch the furniture not wanting to ruin them. Mutated dog’s blood never dries and it pisses everyone.

He opens the door to his room like the whole place it's kept clean.

"I have no girls clothes so you'll have to wear one of my shirt and about the underwear I uh... briefs or boxer?" He asked you awkwardly as he opens the door to his bathroom.

"I don't mind, either will work good sir." He nods. The two of you entered the bathroom and again your mouth dropped. Marble floor, bathtub, sink, a wide shower room. He's living like a normal person and you couldn't believe it. And the best part? Running water.

"How?" You asked in amazement.

"I'm smart, I built a system which collect rain waters purifies them into drinking water or bath water." You bit your lip. If only you're smart like him then maybe you'll have an easier life.

"Are you okay with me using water? It's spring and rain doesn't come very often."

"I got enough supply for 3 months." He simply answers as he takes out a boxer from the drawer. Placing his shirt and the boxer on top of the sink. He points at the shower and you nodded.

"Thank you sir."

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He was waiting downstairs with the photo album on his lap. He's never flipped through it after the chaos erupted scared that it might trigger something in his mind. He wasn't thinking when he agreed on showing you but having it on his lap now certainly gives him a different type of anxiety.

"Sir." You snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Thank you for the bath, I've never had such a comfortable time doing that." His shirt was far too big for you. Your long light brown hair drapes over your back and your legs are on display for him. It's been years since he'd been with a woman- no. He knows you're not a woman yet. Not from the way you act in front of him. Every woman he knew would fall down on their knees for him.

Now that the blood was out of your face he could truly see your beauty. Light pink colored plump lips, bushy eyebrows that makes your face stuck out more and a cute button nose. He could tell you're not past 20 because of your round face and small body that will still surely grow. When he didn't respond you simply walked over to him and sat down beside him.

"Is that the photos?" Your voice was filled with excitement. He didn't know if he could control himself around. You're just so innocent.

"Y-yes." He covered his hardening cock with the album.

"Thank you so much!" You inch closer to him your eyes glued to the album. He gulped before opening it.

"THAT'S SO BEAUTIFUL!"

September 9th 2016. He was standing in front of the aquarium behind him are exactly 9 sharks and like he said hundreds of fishes.

"You're so lucky..." You leaned forward tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. His eyes went to your face and he imagined kissing you. But he held himself back not wanting to scare you away.

He continued to show you photos telling you the stories behind them and you were so absorb you forgot that there's a thing called time. You two went on hours and hours talking about his restaurant before all of this. You were immeditely thrown in despair when you realized it's night time.

"I've really had fun sir thank you so much." You thanked him standing up.

"It's already dark, stay here." It was an offer you didn't think you'll hear from anyone. You look at him puzzled. Is he a cannibal? Did he just do all of that just so he could butcher you?

"I would love too but... you're not doing this for free are you?"

"I'm not."

"But you already know I have nothing-"

"You could repay me in other ways."

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"Oh, yeah I forgot about the boxes!" You turned around ready to take care of the boxes earlier but was stopped when he grabed your wrist pulling you down to his lap. You instantly felt something hard on the crack of your ass. You read many books and news paper about how the world came to an end but not once have you read about sex or masturbation. You never had someone touch you. Let alone touch yourself. Leaving you confused of what's really happening. Getting your period was even worse. You thought you were infected and just waited for your death. Only that it didn't came. You only found out about mensuration after seeing pads and you being the eager learner you went to a ruined book store to read about women's body.

"Fuck, doll. I've been so hard for hours." He groaned on your ear as he slightly rubbed himself against you.

"S-sir, I don't know what we are doing." He stopped. For the short period of time he has been talking to you, you didn't seem to be the one to tell lies.

"Tell me, have you ever touched yourself?" He asked you. You didn't respond. Touch yourself? You didn't understand.

"I don't know sir. I don't know how you define that." He chuckles before pulling you closer to him making you gasped. His large hand found its way inside the boxers he lent you.

"Have you even touched yourself like this?" His fingers slowly rubbed on your clit making you feel things you've never felt before. You leaned your head to his shoulder closing your eyes.

"I- no no sir. I've never." You manage to say while your hands gripped on his arms.

"You like it doll? You like being touched by me?" He whispers on your ear before giving it a gentle bite making you moan for the first time.

"Is it something people used to do?"

"All the time." He answers you as he turns your head to the side kissing you. Your eyes opens wide as you realized what's really happening. His tongue enters your warm mouth and you try to pull away but he didn't let you. He kept tasting you. You tasted so sweet and so fullfilling. Maybe it's because he hasn't got laid for awhile or maybe it's because you're just the one for him. You frantically tap on his arm stopping his assault on your mouth and your cunt.

"Don't fight me doll, don't you want to feel good? For once in your life before you get mauled by those creatures?" His words made you submit yourself to him.

"I... I want to feel good." You shyly says turning your face away from him. He smiled in triumph before kissing your neck.

"Good girl, now. Listen to me and I'll make you feel good okay?" You nodded. He instructed you to lay down on the table and you did. He stood between your legs and towered over you. Liking how easily you submitted yourself to him.

"It will hurt a little but after that short amount of time you'll feel good, can you endure pain?" You nodded. You've broken bones before this sure will be not as bad right? He took off the little clothing covering your lower body and bent down as he spreads your legs wide open for him. His mouth instantly salivated at the sight of your perfect cunt.

"Fuck, you're so fucking beautiful." He compliments you making you feel special. No one has ever told you that. He didn't waste any second and dived into your pink soft folds. You expected pain but there was none. It was all body shaking pleasure.

"F-fuck! Sir-"

"Taiju, My name is Taiju." He says in between licking and sucking you. You tried to pull yourself away from his mouth overwhelmed resulting into him holding you down. He's experienced and it makes you wonder what else could he do.

That question was soon answered after he made you cum 3 times before moving on your boobs. His face was wet with your orgasm and it was a mystery to you. Did you pee on him? Or was that salt water?

"Shit!" You groaned when he bit on your nipple before twirling his tongue on it. He unbelts his pants pulling them down and stroking himself with his right hand while his left played with your nipple giving it the same attention as the other one which he has his mouth on. You had your eyes close totally consumed by the pleasure and he used this as an opportunity to slam his big fat cock inside you. You felt like you were hit by something. Like a metal or a baseball bat. He was far bigger than two fingers and even with being prep it's an unavoidable pain. Your eyes teared up and he immediately placed a kiss all over your face.

"You're doing good." He wanted to move so bad. To violate you and fuck you until you’re passed out. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He let you adjust and only moved when you nodded.

"F-fuck, so tight." He groan on your shoulder placing a bite hard enough to leave a mark. You never thought you'll like doing these kinds of things. You're grateful to have experienced it before dying. The first few thrust was painful but as time passes by you quickly became a moaning mess.

You were afraid that the table will fall apart because of his rough thrust but it served its purporse.

Taiju had your legs on his shoulder relentless fucking you and occationally shoving his cum covered fingers on your mouth instructing you to suck on it. He loves it. He loves how obedient you are.

"T-Tai! I'm"

"I know wait for me okay?" You nodded. His movements became faster and faster. The smell of sex and the sound the two of you are making will surely attract a creature thankfully there's none on the perimeter that night.

"Shit!" He says as he pulls out cumming on your stomach while you squirt your juices on him. His heavy body fell on you as you two struggles to catch your breath.

"That was amazing Taiju thank you." You said underneat him before kissing his chest. He prompt himself up with his elbows and kissed you passionately.

"You were amazing doll." A bright smiled appeared on your face pleased to be praised by him.

He carried you to his bed and the two of you fell asleep instantly. Taiju felt different. You being wrapped around his arms and yours wrapped around his waist awaken a demon within him.

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The next morning you woke up earlier than him and changed into your old stained clothes. You smiled at him. He looks so beautiful and all you want to do is spend more time with him but in this world that doesn't happen. The fairytales in the books you've read from the ruined shops aren't real. There's no prince charming or Mr, Darcy. You quiety went out of the room and headed towards the back door. The boxes from the day before still remained on their place.

You wanted to stay. To be with him for a little longer but enough is enough. You have a place to return to. And he doesn't need a burden like you. Everyone in this world is only looking out for themselves and there's no doubt he'll abandon you when it comes to push and shove. You sighed looking at the aqurium one last time before turning the door knob and pushing the door open.

"Eh?" It didn't open.

"Is it stuck?" You try again but nothing.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" You turn around. Unlike yesterday he was furious.

"Taiju-" He harshly grabbed you throwing you to the round sofa. You were startled by his sudden actions. You wanted to retaliate but he's far more stronger than you and the only thing you could do is back away to the couch as he comes closer to you.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?"

"H-home-" Slap. He slapped you. The couch felt so different now. Yesterday the two of you are just casually talking about the past and now-

"You're not going anywhere. You're mine." He grabbed your chin and pulled your face closer to his. Your eyes are filled with horrors as you realized. He's not normal.

"Do you understand me doll? You belong to me now."

He's not mutated or infected but you know there's a far worst future waiting ahead of you all because of him.

Thank you for reading!!!

Don't copy.

[mochizukimichan]

AFTER THE WORLD FELL APART

*POST-APOCALYPTIC WORLD* TAIJU SHIBA X SURVIVOR

CW: 18+ Semi Yandere Themes, con, abuse, extreme, violence, death, age gap, monsters, smut, manipulation.

This is inspired by Resident Evil & The last of us 'Cause why not.

<Masterlist>

{This is my first ever story on my new account 'cause Tumblr won't help me fix my original account thank you so much to those who followed me all the way here! Really appreciate it!"}

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10 years or was it more than that? You're not sure anymore. You were just a young girl when people started devouring each other. You hated it. You hated every part of it. And what you hated more is the fact that the company that promised a cure to an incurable disease caused all of the mayhem in the world. All for their greedy selves.

As we all know- knew, FDA was supposed to ran a thorough check to every drug pramaceutical companies tries to put out on the market to ensure that everything is safe and effective. But everything falls apart when the people who's responsible behind it are all compromised. Compromised to approve the manufactured drugs without going in depths of the researches and side effects. Every person involved was paid to turn a blind eye even though independent researchers took the single pill that was promised to cure every disease to the Supreme Court. All because of the eye catching wealth promised to be given to them. Wealth, funny word. It doesn't mean anything to the world they've destroyed.

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"Fuck." You cursed under the thick mattresses in the abandon hospital desperately hiding from the flesh eating creature that has been tailing you for almost half an hour. They're not brainless that is what scares you the most. If you hadn't saw its reflection from the glass shard laying around it sure would've already devoured you from behind. The sounds it made as it walks around the room trying to find you gave you a mind breaking fear. You've seen it. You've seen what fate people they caught faces. Limbs missing, faces unrecognizable, intestines out in the cold ground. Begging to die.

You ran out of bullets earlier the day killing mutated dogs and never have you regretted killing them so much in your life. If you just had one. You could've ended your life. In that way you could remain in one piece and go to the other life peacefully. But no. God has always been cruel but he went too far today.

You pray and prayed to the cruel gods to let you live. Just so you could go back to your hometown. Telling them that the blood of the mutated dogs are enough to cover your scent. You laid still and held your breath.

It's over.

You thought as the hisses and grunts came closer and closer. You lost all hope. You should've lost it awhile ago. You should've lost it the day you found your house in disaaray. But you didn't because as you were being taken by the military you promised to come back and say a proper goodbye to the home you grew up. You were only 6. Just as the creature was about to pull the mattresses gunshot was heard and you felt the body of the creature dropped dead on the mattresses.

You were instantly relief but it was soon washed away as you remembered the lurking cannibals. As food ran low people who are not infected turned into each other devouring everyone they could get their hands on throwing the last humanity they have. In this world, not only the creatures are to be afraid of. But also the living creatures who looks just like you.

You didn't dare to move. If they could just leave it would be better. You're thankful to them but...

"Hmm." You heard the voice and you were definitely sure it belongs to a man. A more comforting relief hugged you as you heard him go out of the room leaving you. You gripped on the mattresses and counted to 100 just to be sure he's gone.

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"Shit. That was close." You almost laughed emerging from the heavy stained mattresses pushing the dead creature off letting its body fall on the dirty floor.

"I would've never won a fight with you." You tell the dead creature as you hopped down the stack of 5 mattresses. You crouched down and slowly started to examine its large and grotesque body. White crumbly skin, with bones sticking out of it. You could tell from the mutation that the former person died atleast 5 years ago. As the years passes the mutation involves.

3 days to year 1, still recognizable but has completely lost human function. 5 years in, just a grotesque monster like the one beside you. 6 to 10 larger. Far larger than others, can't see or smell but has evolve hearings and moves at a rapid pace. You're fortunate enough to have never encountered one but you're not sure what you'll do if you ever meet one-

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"Hands behind your head and turn around." Fuck. He crept up to you without you noticing. It's enough to tell you he's a dangerous man and death will come soon to you if you didn't comply.

"I have no weapon-" "Stand up." You gave up and just complied slowly standing up as you put your hands behind your head.

"Turn around." He says. You're in no position to fight. And by his enormous shadown you know he's over 6ft. There's no way of winning this. You slowly turn around and was immediately faced by a gun. Your eyes focused on the muzzle and you knew death was in front of you.

"I-" You tried to speak as you crane your neck up but you were hushed by yourself as soon as you met his gorgeous yellow eyes. He's the most handsome man you've ever seen. Not that you've seen many men since the chaos started. He's a lot older than you but he's just so beautiful. Most people were dressed in ruined clothes but he was so neatly dressed you almost thought he's from a different reality.

He tilts his head to the side examing your bloodied state. You were almost embarassed because you're covered in dogs blood while he's just perfect, the embarrasing feeling soon faded when your survival instict told you not to be in such an awe for a stranger. But it's hard not to be at utter awe. He looked nothing like the raiders, bandits or cannibals you've encountered before. He looks so handsome and he took your breath away.

"Name?" He asked stepping back from you and lowering his gun down. You were surprised to see such action from a man like him. If you were him you would never have lowered your gun down. It meant one thing. He doesn't see you as a threat unlike you who sees him as the dictator of your life.

"I have no weapon with me. I barely have any supplies just let me go-"

"Did you go to school before all of this shit happened I was asking for your name." His bluntness stunned you and almost made you want to slap him but you knew better.

"Loui."

"Why don't you thank me for saving you earlier?" So, he knew. He knew that you were hiding under the mattresses but tricked you into thinking he's gone.

"Thank you sir." He almost laughed. Sir? He knows you fear for your life and he might just use it to his advantage.

"Thank you ain't 'bout cut it." He says making you look at him in utter disbelief.

"I just told you! I have no-"

"I need you to help me carry the supplies I've found. I've eliminated all of the disgusting creatures lurking around." He explains as he tucks his gun to his waistband. You have two choices. Comply or die. We all know what you choosed.

〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰

"How long till we arrive-"

"Not long." He's been saying that for atleast two hours. He made you carry three boxes full of heavy medicines he found not lending you a hand. You were scared of getting chased by the creatures specially knowing that you won't be able to ran away from them whilst carrying the heavy boxes thankfully, the gigantic man in front of you found an underground tunnel that seems to have no creatures lurking at all.

"Oh god." You lost your balance due to the uneven ground and the boxes almost fell to the ground. It would’ve been a disaster. Unexpectedly, he instinctively caught the heavy boxes with ease. He let you regain your stance before stacking the two boxes he caught on the top of the box you were able to hold on.

"You're fucking clumbsy, surprised you made it this far." He says looking back to you his voice filled with amusement. You mentally rolled your eyes before continuing on following him. The tunnel is no wider than 5ft forcing you to tail behind him. He held his pistol that has a flashlight attached to it with his right hand ready to shoot any creatures that might jumped out.

"You need a shower you smell horrible." He says out of nowhere turning his gun towards you. The light from the flashlight made you squint your eyes shut and you internally cursed him from doing such thing. He lightly chuckle before turning forward resuming the journey.

"Yeah, l'd love to have some shower but may I remind you we're in a world where survival is more important that a shower." You sounded so offended he laughed.

"What the hell was funny about that!" You tried to kick him but your short legs didn't reach him. You huffed in dissapointment. It would've been funny if he tripped. But you doubt your kick would make a damage to a man like him.

"You souded so offended."

"I am sir. I am offended."

"Well, don't be. Since we are almost in my place."

"You've been saying that for more than an hour."

"2 hours and 40 minutes to be exact."

〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰

The two of you emerge at the streets of Tokyo. Panic immeditely filled you knowing that the creatures are active in the central city more than anywhere else. Your heartbeat started to rise as you look around the ruined streets. Cars crashed around and stores destroyed. You know you've been in Tokyo when you were younger although not much memories comes to you. Surely though, a few years back Tokyo wasn't like this. Wasn't so destroyed and lifeless. Cars flipped around or on top of one another. Streetlights crashed to establishments, it's just depressing.

"The horde just passed those fuckers won't show up until two weeks from now." He snapped you out of your panic state. You nervously nodded and tried the breathing technique you've read from the worn out newspaper lying on the hospital before you noticed the creature he killed.

"Thanks" He says taking the boxes from you careful not to let it come close to his suit because of the blood from you. It's been years since you've had company. And despite his rude comments about your smell you were sad that the journey you two had came to an end. You turned around ready to head somewhere safe for the night.

"Where are you going?" You look back to him.

"I'm done. I've repayed you."

"I need these boxes settled." You tried to act irritated but deep inside you were happy because you're still able to spend some time with him.

〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰

The two of you went behind an alley and he opened a back door to an establishment. You stepped in and he locks the door before switching the lights on. You thought he's living in a ruined place like the others but you were far wrong. His place was definitely a restaurant before all of this happened. The chairs and tables are still kept clean. A grand piano, chandelier, bottles of wines, the place was breathtaking. You've been into many places but it's the first time you've seen such a beautiful and well kept place like his.

Everything was so beautiful to you but the thing that caught your eyes was the enormous empty aquarium. You forgot the fact that he was with you and ran in front of it looking at it with amazement.

You closed your eyes as you try to imagine the fishes that used to live there. You've seen some pictures of famous aquariums in the past and since then you've always wanted to see one.

The man smirked as he placed the boxes down. He sat on one of the round sofa's in front of the aquarium and admire your innocents.

"You like it?" You turned to him and nodded. Despite of being almost an adult you couldn't help acting like a child whenever you're presented things you weren't able to experience or enjoy. Your eyes glimmer with joy as you went closer to the aqurium touching the glass leaving a bloodied handprint. Your eyes widen as you realized what you've done. You expected him to be angry to you for doing such thing but no. He didn't say anything. So you figured he didn't mind. You close your eyes once more and the rare fishes you've seen in the books appeared in front of you.

The man sat quietly with his legs crossed and arms in front of his chest. He was talking to god as he watches you. Thanking him for letting a man like himself find you in a world like this.

"How did you find this place?" You asked him with a smile. He was drawn to your peculiar acts. A normal person would never find any joy in seeing an empty aqurium.

"I own the place." He watches as your jaw dropped.

"That's freaking cool! So were you here when the aqurium had fishes?" You asked energecticly eager to know his answer.

"I was, I had nine sharks and hundreds of fishes back in the day." He answers you. His face didn't show it but he was reminiscing the old days where his restaurant was busy with high profile customers. It was quiet a memory for him.

"Nine sharks!?" You jumped in surprise making him laugh.

"Is it really that impressive?"

"Are you kidding me? I'd do anything to see a shark!" The man uncrossed his legs and leaned forward.

"I have pictures."

"Really? Can you please show me sir?" He smiles softly unfitting for a man like him.

"Sure, but you need to take a shower first." Your smile drops. Is he mocking you again? It's impossible to take a shower. You'll need to wait for rain just to take one and it being spring doesn't make it easier.

"Where would I take a shower! Just please! I won't touch the pictures just show me I beg you." He chuckles and went out of your sight climbing stairs that leads to the second floor. You sighed in disappointment you really wanted to see the pictures. You were about leave when he came down with towels and new clothes.

"Come, this place has running water." You almost laughed. No place has running water.

"Running water? Is that some slang used around here sir?" You asked him and he looked at you confused.

"I don't know what you mean."

"It's impossible to have running water is what I meant." He shakes his head before pinching the bridges of his tall nose.

"Come with me and I'll show you." You followed behind him and the two of went to the second floor where he has his own room. You were careful not to touch the furniture not wanting to ruin them. Mutated dog’s blood never dries and it pisses everyone.

He opens the door to his room like the whole place it's kept clean.

"I have no girls clothes so you'll have to wear one of my shirt and about the underwear I uh... briefs or boxer?" He asked you awkwardly as he opens the door to his bathroom.

"I don't mind, either will work good sir." He nods. The two of you entered the bathroom and again your mouth dropped. Marble floor, bathtub, sink, a wide shower room. He's living like a normal person and you couldn't believe it. And the best part? Running water.

"How?" You asked in amazement.

"I'm smart, I built a system which collect rain waters purifies them into drinking water or bath water." You bit your lip. If only you're smart like him then maybe you'll have an easier life.

"Are you okay with me using water? It's spring and rain doesn't come very often."

"I got enough supply for 3 months." He simply answers as he takes out a boxer from the drawer. Placing his shirt and the boxer on top of the sink. He points at the shower and you nodded.

"Thank you sir."

〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰

He was waiting downstairs with the photo album on his lap. He's never flipped through it after the chaos erupted scared that it might trigger something in his mind. He wasn't thinking when he agreed on showing you but having it on his lap now certainly gives him a different type of anxiety.

"Sir." You snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Thank you for the bath, I've never had such a comfortable time doing that." His shirt was far too big for you. Your long light brown hair drapes over your back and your legs are on display for him. It's been years since he'd been with a woman- no. He knows you're not a woman yet. Not from the way you act in front of him. Every woman he knew would fall down on their knees for him.

Now that the blood was out of your face he could truly see your beauty. Light pink colored plump lips, bushy eyebrows that makes your face stuck out more and a cute button nose. He could tell you're not past 20 because of your round face and small body that will still surely grow. When he didn't respond you simply walked over to him and sat down beside him.

"Is that the photos?" Your voice was filled with excitement. He didn't know if he could control himself around. You're just so innocent.

"Y-yes." He covered his hardening cock with the album.

"Thank you so much!" You inch closer to him your eyes glued to the album. He gulped before opening it.

"THAT'S SO BEAUTIFUL!"

September 9th 2016. He was standing in front of the aquarium behind him are exactly 9 sharks and like he said hundreds of fishes.

"You're so lucky..." You leaned forward tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. His eyes went to your face and he imagined kissing you. But he held himself back not wanting to scare you away.

He continued to show you photos telling you the stories behind them and you were so absorb you forgot that there's a thing called time. You two went on hours and hours talking about his restaurant before all of this. You were immeditely thrown in despair when you realized it's night time.

"I've really had fun sir thank you so much." You thanked him standing up.

"It's already dark, stay here." It was an offer you didn't think you'll hear from anyone. You look at him puzzled. Is he a cannibal? Did he just do all of that just so he could butcher you?

"I would love too but... you're not doing this for free are you?"

"I'm not."

"But you already know I have nothing-"

"You could repay me in other ways."

〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰

"Oh, yeah I forgot about the boxes!" You turned around ready to take care of the boxes earlier but was stopped when he grabed your wrist pulling you down to his lap. You instantly felt something hard on the crack of your ass. You read many books and news paper about how the world came to an end but not once have you read about sex or masturbation. You never had someone touch you. Let alone touch yourself. Leaving you confused of what's really happening. Getting your period was even worse. You thought you were infected and just waited for your death. Only that it didn't came. You only found out about mensuration after seeing pads and you being the eager learner you went to a ruined book store to read about women's body.

"Fuck, doll. I've been so hard for hours." He groaned on your ear as he slightly rubbed himself against you.

"S-sir, I don't know what we are doing." He stopped. For the short period of time he has been talking to you, you didn't seem to be the one to tell lies.

"Tell me, have you ever touched yourself?" He asked you. You didn't respond. Touch yourself? You didn't understand.

"I don't know sir. I don't know how you define that." He chuckles before pulling you closer to him making you gasped. His large hand found its way inside the boxers he lent you.

"Have you even touched yourself like this?" His fingers slowly rubbed on your clit making you feel things you've never felt before. You leaned your head to his shoulder closing your eyes.

"I- no no sir. I've never." You manage to say while your hands gripped on his arms.

"You like it doll? You like being touched by me?" He whispers on your ear before giving it a gentle bite making you moan for the first time.

"Is it something people used to do?"

"All the time." He answers you as he turns your head to the side kissing you. Your eyes opens wide as you realized what's really happening. His tongue enters your warm mouth and you try to pull away but he didn't let you. He kept tasting you. You tasted so sweet and so fullfilling. Maybe it's because he hasn't got laid for awhile or maybe it's because you're just the one for him. You frantically tap on his arm stopping his assault on your mouth and your cunt.

"Don't fight me doll, don't you want to feel good? For once in your life before you get mauled by those creatures?" His words made you submit yourself to him.

"I... I want to feel good." You shyly says turning your face away from him. He smiled in triumph before kissing your neck.

"Good girl, now. Listen to me and I'll make you feel good okay?" You nodded. He instructed you to lay down on the table and you did. He stood between your legs and towered over you. Liking how easily you submitted yourself to him.

"It will hurt a little but after that short amount of time you'll feel good, can you endure pain?" You nodded. You've broken bones before this sure will be not as bad right? He took off the little clothing covering your lower body and bent down as he spreads your legs wide open for him. His mouth instantly salivated at the sight of your perfect cunt.

"Fuck, you're so fucking beautiful." He compliments you making you feel special. No one has ever told you that. He didn't waste any second and dived into your pink soft folds. You expected pain but there was none. It was all body shaking pleasure.

"F-fuck! Sir-"

"Taiju, My name is Taiju." He says in between licking and sucking you. You tried to pull yourself away from his mouth overwhelmed resulting into him holding you down. He's experienced and it makes you wonder what else could he do.

That question was soon answered after he made you cum 3 times before moving on your boobs. His face was wet with your orgasm and it was a mystery to you. Did you pee on him? Or was that salt water?

"Shit!" You groaned when he bit on your nipple before twirling his tongue on it. He unbelts his pants pulling them down and stroking himself with his right hand while his left played with your nipple giving it the same attention as the other one which he has his mouth on. You had your eyes close totally consumed by the pleasure and he used this as an opportunity to slam his big fat cock inside you. You felt like you were hit by something. Like a metal or a baseball bat. He was far bigger than two fingers and even with being prep it's an unavoidable pain. Your eyes teared up and he immediately placed a kiss all over your face.

"You're doing good." He wanted to move so bad. To violate you and fuck you until you’re passed out. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He let you adjust and only moved when you nodded.

"F-fuck, so tight." He groan on your shoulder placing a bite hard enough to leave a mark. You never thought you'll like doing these kinds of things. You're grateful to have experienced it before dying. The first few thrust was painful but as time passes by you quickly became a moaning mess.

You were afraid that the table will fall apart because of his rough thrust but it served its purporse.

Taiju had your legs on his shoulder relentless fucking you and occationally shoving his cum covered fingers on your mouth instructing you to suck on it. He loves it. He loves how obedient you are.

"T-Tai! I'm"

"I know wait for me okay?" You nodded. His movements became faster and faster. The smell of sex and the sound the two of you are making will surely attract a creature thankfully there's none on the perimeter that night.

"Shit!" He says as he pulls out cumming on your stomach while you squirt your juices on him. His heavy body fell on you as you two struggles to catch your breath.

"That was amazing Taiju thank you." You said underneat him before kissing his chest. He prompt himself up with his elbows and kissed you passionately.

"You were amazing doll." A bright smiled appeared on your face pleased to be praised by him.

He carried you to his bed and the two of you fell asleep instantly. Taiju felt different. You being wrapped around his arms and yours wrapped around his waist awaken a demon within him.

〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰

The next morning you woke up earlier than him and changed into your old stained clothes. You smiled at him. He looks so beautiful and all you want to do is spend more time with him but in this world that doesn't happen. The fairytales in the books you've read from the ruined shops aren't real. There's no prince charming or Mr, Darcy. You quiety went out of the room and headed towards the back door. The boxes from the day before still remained on their place.

You wanted to stay. To be with him for a little longer but enough is enough. You have a place to return to. And he doesn't need a burden like you. Everyone in this world is only looking out for themselves and there's no doubt he'll abandon you when it comes to push and shove. You sighed looking at the aqurium one last time before turning the door knob and pushing the door open.

"Eh?" It didn't open.

"Is it stuck?" You try again but nothing.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" You turn around. Unlike yesterday he was furious.

"Taiju-" He harshly grabbed you throwing you to the round sofa. You were startled by his sudden actions. You wanted to retaliate but he's far more stronger than you and the only thing you could do is back away to the couch as he comes closer to you.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?"

"H-home-" Slap. He slapped you. The couch felt so different now. Yesterday the two of you are just casually talking about the past and now-

"You're not going anywhere. You're mine." He grabbed your chin and pulled your face closer to his. Your eyes are filled with horrors as you realized. He's not normal.

"Do you understand me doll? You belong to me now."

He's not mutated or infected but you know there's a far worst future waiting ahead of you all because of him.

Thank you for reading!!!

Don't copy.

[barikinbear]

A Visitor

Splinter shifted in his sleep, slowly becoming aware of another presence in his room.

Whoever it was had pressed themselves against his back, their warmth not unwelcome but certainly a surprise. His sons hadn’t climbed in with him since they were little.

Even after the invasion was over, they crawled in bed with each other rather then trying to squeeze into his tiny bed. He was convinced it had been a child’s mattress before April brought it home for him. She claimed it was twin size, but he called baloney on that.

So who on earth had chosen his bed to crawl into? Even Mikey had a hard time fitting in with him.

Not that whoever this was fit exactly. Splinter could feel himself sliding closer and closer to the edge. He was gonna kiss the floor if they didn’t move over soon.

A strange smell filled his nose. Almost like how Mayhem smelled when he hadn’t gotten a bath in awhile.

Then whoever it was let out a small bark.

Splinter’s eyes flew open. He switched on his bedside lamp and looked over his shoulder at the strangest surprise of his life.

A dog lay on his bed. A German shepherd, maybe four or five months old, with big ears and a round, twitching nose.

“What on earth?” His startled words woke the pup, who sat straight up and tilted its head at him. One of its ears flopped over.

“Aww!” He reached over and scratched the dog behind its cute ears. It leaned its head into his hand, closing its eyes in delight.

“You poor thing. You’re lost, aren’t you?”

He took a quick peek and saw that it was a girl.

“You’re a cutie. Yes you are, yes you are!”

The dog’s tail smacked a thumping rhythm on the bed, her bright eyes fixed on Splinter’s every move.

Where had she come from? Her fur felt gritty, and he wasn’t even sure it was its proper color.

“You need a bath. You smell like a dirt patch, and that’s coming from me!”

She barked in response. He shushed her, gently squeezing her face between his palms.

Another layer of dirt was smeared on his hands.

“You’re so grimy! If you’re going to stay with me tonight, you need a bath, young lady.”

He slid off the bed, the puppy bouncing after him.

He shushed her again and led her out into the living room.

So many things caught her attention, he ended up carrying her to the bathroom.

And he thought his sons had trouble staying focused! This dog’s nose caught the scent of everything in the whole house, and she just had to investigate it all.

He plopped her into the tub. She put her paws up on the edge, watching him rummage through the cupboard under the sink.

“Found it!”

Raphael kept a bottle of extra gentle body wash under the sink, claiming it was the only soap he’d use in the shower. He always said that Purple’s soap didn’t have enough of a smell, and Blue’s smelled too strong, and Splinter was pretty sure Orange just used hand soap.

“Red won’t mind sharing when he sees how cute you are.”

She barked again, her tail smacking the wall.

“Shhh! You’re going to wake the whole house!”

She tilted her head at him, her one crooked ear nearly covering her eye.

“Maybe you aren’t fully shepherd. Maybe Purple would know what you are,” he said, scratching her behind her bent ear.

“All right, are you ready for a bath? You want to be nice and clean?”

Half an hour later, the entire bathroom was soaked, he had soap on his pajamas and in his eyes, and dirty water swirled down the drain.

But the crazy dog was clean. Her dusty, dull colored fur had changed to a deep sable mixed with big golden spots.

“That didn’t need to be so hard. We could’ve been done in fifteen minutes, but you had to jump out of the tub a million times!” Splinter stood with his fists on his sides, glaring at a puppy who felt no remorse.

“Even my sons did better when they were your age. Shame on you, young lady!”

She was not shamed. Not even a little. She leapt out of the tub and shook off, flinging water everywhere.

“Ahh!” Splinter grabbed a towel and threw it over her.

He rubbed vigorously, fluffing her fur up. She shook three more times, her way of helping, he supposed.

He dropped the towel and looked around the bathroom.

Everything was wet and covered in dog fur. The puppy was still damp. He wanted to use his blow dryer on her, but he wasn’t sure she’d let him. And he didn’t have the energy to try.

All he wanted was to go back to sleep. He could take care of this mess in the morning.

“Come on, doggy. Bed time.”

Maybe she was tired too, because she followed him to his room without trouble.

He turned on his space heater and pointed it at the bed, hoping it would dry her fur out some.

He climbed under the covers, the puppy snuggling in next to him. He didn’t care what anyone said, he was sleeping until noon tomorrow! He had earned it.

“My sons are going to love you. They’ll forgive us for wrecking the bathroom eventually, right?”

The puppy snored softly in response. Splinter chuckled and rubbed her side.

“Yeah, they will.”

[honey-milk-depresso]

request:

( you don't need to answer btw)

but.... I'm feeling evil and angsty.

So.

Can u do one w/ floyd and jade where like they get separated like lumine and aether in genshin and like yuu is unknown god and one of them starts to like her but she's like "if you let me take ur brother "

pls and ty

I really love this request. YES- THIS IS GENIUS-

But I had to really put some thought on how this might play out. Also I'm making this gender neutral, so I hope you don't mind! ^^

It's taking place in the sea, not really in NRC anymore since I can't picture that happening in that setting.

****Warnings: Angst, The Leeches cry big time-

================================================

"Give my brother back!" (TWST Tweels x Reader)

Jade Leech

He expected nothing. Nothing to do with his brother about this. The Vice Dorm Leader of Octavinelle had fell in love with you like a regular guy who had fallen for a friend. No harm right?

It took quite awhile to capture the eel's attention, but he ended up getting dazed by how you seem to make him wonder what your next move will be, what you're thinking off, so many things from you that are unexpected.

And now, the truly unexpected will happen.

Through a simple, lighthearted confession, he was prepared for rejection or acceptance. But the look on your face had something he finds off, unreadable.

You told him with a solemn face, "If you give me your brother.

"Yes.":

"..What?" Jade was surprised, but... not quite a pleasant one. He was baffled. "What do you mean..?"

"If you want to be with me, let me take your brother."

"Why?"

"That reason I will not say."

Jade swallowed the lump in his throat. What do you mean 'take his brother?' Floyd? What could you possibly want Floyd for?

"Well, would you?"

Jade paused, his blue lips slightly pursed. Well... perhaps it just means.... no. He doesn't even know what it means. But...

"..Yes.." The last minute hesitation from him made your eyes glint mysteriously under the reflection of the rippling waters, light reflection of the waves danced across your face, the enigma of you sparking, his eyes locked with you.

"Okay."

Everything seemed normal once you left. The next day, Jade had his dear brother's company safely in his hand. Safely for the last time.

Deserted and alone, just the two of them in the deep blue sea. You appeared again to Jade, as he sees you again.

You looked towards Floyd with an ominous stare, which made him awkward.

"Huh?~ Hey Y/N-" a whirl of a current flashed in swift and sudden motion, Floyd's body was dragged into the whirlpool, such forced that clawed his body like a beast dragging its hopeless and pitiful prey.

"FLOYD!" Jade cried. Forgetting about you, the poor eel tried to pull his brother out of the monstrous current, his tail fighting to swim out of it. He grunted in frustration, as Floyd hollered and tried to swim his way out as well. They fought with such strength, such determination... the power of the siblings was truly commendable.

But alas, to no avail, the current forces were too strong for one eel to take, and his hands have lost his grip, releasing his brother's hand as he watched helplessly as Floyd succumbed to the whirlpool, his mismatched olive green and golden eyes that stared at Jade with an unwavering look was the last thing Jade saw of his own brother.

The now stand alone Leech, fell back down in slow motion on the sea bed, he huffed, and looked at his own hands in disbelief.

Let me take your brother.

"Why... why..." Jade whispered in a hush tone, you stood before him with an emotionless figure and expression.

"You have given me your word, so I'll take your brother," you simply stated, as if you are giving him a simple explanation.

"Give... GIVE ME BACK MY BROTHER!" He shouted, but he choked on his own tongue, the sea had carried his tears, it felt unfair that he couldn't even feel the warmth of his own, watery pearls to feel a little comforted.

But the bitterness of his tears, was not as bitter as the epiphany made that he had lost his brother.

All because he said "yes".

Floyd Leech

He didn't think of much, you were pretty "normal" in a sense that you never had done something weird to him.

Not saying that you didn't have some weird quirks, which made him fall for you in the first place, but you've never really shocked him to the extent of him being very confused.

Something about you always brings about new things that never leaves him bored!

And truly, now he wishes that from that day onwards, he wished you didn't change.

A simple, goofy confession from him, though unlike his brother, he never really thought of preparing himself for a rejection or acceptance.

But then the spark came, with that suddenly serious look on your face. "Then let me take your brother."

"Sure.":

"Eh??" Floyd raised an eyebrow with a pout. Take his brother? Jade?

"What do ya wanna do with Jade??" Floyd asked, his baffled expression didn't waver you at all.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you that."

Floyd frowned. "Come on~ Pleeeeease?~" Floyd whined.

"I seriously can't Floyd."

The eel frowned, but he decided he wouldn't pry further.

"So, what's your answer."

Floyd had no idea what is going on, or what your question even mean. But... if you "take his brother", he'll be with you, right? Is this like accepting him in the relationship platonically? Or...

He trusted you, but he hesitated.

"Well?"

"..Sure..." Floyd muttered, but it sounded as if he was still in moments of deciding in what he should say.

Your eyes glinted mysteriously under the reflection of the rippling waters, light reflection of the waves danced across your face, the enigma of you sparking, his eyes locked with you. Floyd still wondering what on earth is up with you.

"Okay."

Everything seemed normal once you left. The next day, Floyd was with his brother again, laughing about how Azul was being super funny. The last time he'll share a laugh with Jade.

All alone, the two eels were swimming merrily in the deep blue sea with no one else watching them. You appeared out of the blue, eyes locking onto Floyd's.

"Hm? Y/N? Is there something you-" Jade's voice was cut off, a whirl of a current flashed across Floyd's eyes which consumed half of Jade's body, dragging him into it's mouth. Jade twist and turned, trying to pull himself out of the storm in the sea.

"JADE!" Floyd cried for his brother, swimming over to try and pull him out. He had completely forgotten you were there, only focusing on saving his brother from the sudden whirlpool that had violently tugged his brother. With all his might, Floyd fought with the currents, tail pushing and swimming against it, trying to pull his brother out. Jade struggled, but tried helping his brother reduce his strength while trying to swim out himself. The unbreakable force of the brothers was something not to be reckoned with.

But not anymore when Floyd and Jade had lost each other's grip, Jade being the one to let go of him first, as the forceful currents yanked him way from Floyd, the mismatched eyes of olive green and gold, the sad smile of his dear brother, all lost when the currents have engulfed him, Jade disappearing as if he was just a bubble that just popped out of existence, unseen and never to be seen again.

The now stand alone Leech, fell back down in slow motion on the sea bed, he huffed, and looked at his own hands in disbelief, whimpering and gasping for air. For his brother.

Let me take your brother. "This can't be real....." Floyd whimpered quietly, lips quivering as you stood before him with an emotionless figure and expression.

"You have given me your word, so I'll take your brother," you simply stated, as if you are giving him a simple explanation.

"GIVE ME BACK MY BROTHER!" He shouted, but he choked on his tongue, Floyd could feel the million beads of pearly tears cascade down from his eyes, but were swept away by the water.

Oh how he wished he could taste those tears of his. It would have been sweeter than the guilt Floyd now has to live.

The guilt of knowing he had lost his brother.

Because of him.

[bohica160]

Omegaverse - Night out with Hound Wolf Squad (pt. 2)

(Sorry this took awhile. Work was crazy this week >< I ended up making this part fem reader.)

ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗMinors gtfo, this isn't for youᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

As you clutched the front of his shirt, he rubbed slow smoothing circles in the middle of your back. You felt his chest begin to vibrate lightly. It took you a second to realize that Chris was purring as well. No one has ever heard this alpha purr. Thankfully for him the music in the building prevented anyone else from hearing it.

While Chris continued to rub his scent on you, Night Howl looked over at the two of you, almost choking on his beer. Tundra slapped him in the back, "Shut up! Don't ruin this!" She hissed at him. Once your scent returned to its normal sweet airy scent, his hands rested at the small of your back. He turned his head down towards your neck, taking a long inhale of your scent. 

It was the best thing he's ever smelled. He could never get enough. Always unconsciously trying to be near you. When he released a long breath of war. air against your bare skin, you didn't realize you placed a soft kiss on his neck.. barely missing his scent gland. A small deep grunt brought you to your senses. You froze in embarrassment. Your cheeks flaring up as you squeezed your eyes shut. Chris noticed your body tense up. 

"You okay?" He asked softly into your head. You slowly nodded your head, still refusing to move. "Use your words little omega", he teased, causing you to release a small whimper. It's fair to say you are the smallest in the group. But just something about how he said that made you rub your legs together. He kneaded your hips, smirking at your reaction. 

While you were both lost in your own little world, your ex made his way from across the room and was walking towards you all. His eyes locked with Chris's dark blues ones. You could feel Chris growl rumbling through his chest. You looked up at him to ask what was wrong, but he hugged you closer to him. 

Before you could look over your shoulder to see, Chris stood up from his seat without breaking eye contact, with one arm wrapped around your waist. Umber Eyes and Tundra noticed this unfamiliar Alpha approach you and Chris, the smell of wet dog emanating from him. "Need something?" Chris sounded completely unphased by the other alpha. The other man sneered, "I'm here to talk to my omega", he raised his chin and tilted it toward you.

Tundra appeared next to along with Night Howl and Umber Eyes. "Excuse you?" You frowned, glaring at the man. “Watch your tongue Omega,” he commanded, continuing to stare down Chris. A deep growl erupted from Chris, his scent started to smell of smoke and gasoline. He released you, and moved towards you ex, towering over him. “The only person who should watch their tongue is you. This is my omega, and if you know what is good for you, you will leave", he taunted as he bared his canines. 

Your ex's scent faded quickly, if he had a tail it would be tucked between his legs. The man just stood there trying to hold his ground against Chris. However once he let out a growl in warning the man gritted his teeth as he walked away. Chris shook his head, before looking over at you. "Well that's enough excitement for one night. Did you want to head out?”. You looked over at the others. “You guys go ahead, someone needs to watch those fools,” Tundra said as she motioned over at Canine and Lobo, who were still ‘using their charm’ on the dance floor, “We will be okay.” She gave you a wink before you turned back to Chris. He placed a hand on the small of your back, guiding you both out of the club. As you passed some of the alphas who were eyeing you, Chris continued to pump out his scent, parting the sea of people.

Once you both made it outside, Chris continued to keep his hand on you, while you guys headed back in the direction you all came from. His scent slowly went back to its spicy musk scent. You both were soon coming up to his car. He cleared his throat, “did you want a ride home?” ��No you don’t have t-”, when you looked up at Chris, he gave you a stern look. “I-.... yes please”, your voice soft as you looked down in submission. Chris walked you over to the passengers side and opened the door for you. 

Right when Chris got into the car, he could smell the slight change in your scent, “Sorry about everything. I panicked and it was the first thing that came to mind. I didn’t think it would have escalated to that point. I didn’t mean for you to say I was your omega”, you looked down at your lap, too nervous to look at Chris. A blush krept up his neck, heating up his cheeks and ears. He scratched the back of his neck, letting out a breath he didn't realize he was holding in. “No, it's my fault for saying that. It was a step out of line”. Your inner omega was screaming at you. You wanted for him to claim you as his. A battle was happening within you.

“I-I wouldn’t mind being your omega”, you said barely above a whisper as you looked at him in the corner of your eye. The man next to you choked on air, causing him to cough up a storm. He looked over at you, his dark blue eyes glancing between your sparkling eyes and plush lips. You leaned over the center console, pressing your breasts together, giving him a nice view into your shirt. “Do you want that Alpha?” you purred, biting your bottom lip. Chris’s alpha was growling at him, telling him to mark you, to finally claim you. He leaned in just barely brushing his nose against yours, “Is that what you want little omega?”, finally giving into his inner alpha, releasing a low growl, trailing his nose down your jaw and to your neck, lightly scraping his canines against your scent glands. 

An ache between your thighs began to grow, your panties wet with your slick, your hands wandering over to his muscular thighs, squeezing them as they got closer to the bulge growing in his pants. “Please Alpha”, he started to nip and suck at the flesh, “please make me yours”. A moan escaping between your lips as he began to swirl his tongue over gland, before pulling back and pressing his lips to yours. One of his hands caressed up your neck, before grabbing a handful of your hair, giving it a slight tug. You gasped against his lips, allowing him to slip his warm tongue into your mouth. The taste of alcohol lingering on him as your tongues pressed hungirly against each other. 

You needed to feel more, you needed to be closer to your alpha. Your swollen lips trailed down to his jaw. Loving the prickly feeling of his scruff as your trailed open mouth kisses down one side of his neck, then doing the same to the other side. So lost in the feeling of your lips all over his skin, you maneuvered over the center console, placing both hands on his shoulders lowering yourself onto his lap. The moment you got closer the scent of your slick filled the car, the grip he held on you tightened, as well as his pants. 

The kisses became more needy and sloppy, teeth clashing against each other moans being swallowed by each other. You began to rock your hips against him, you clit rubbing just right against the tented pants. You pulled back, eyes glazed over chest heaving, gulping air. You leaned back against the steering wheel, you motioned with your eyes to look down. Once his eyes went to where you rested on him, you lifted up your skirt slowly. His cock twitches in his pants the moment he saw your flimsy panties soaked with your slick. 

His head fell back against the headrest, "fuck", he groaned out. He reached out, hooking his finger around the wet fabric, running his finger up and down, rubbing his knuckle against your folds, barely catching on your bundle of nerves. "All of this because of me little omega", his gravelly voice going straight to your core, clenching around nothing. "Please Alpha. I need you to fill me", you sobbed.

"Shit," he hissed against gritted teeth. You lifted yourself up just enough for him to work fast on unbuttoning his pants and pulling them down just enough for his thick cock to spring out, slapping against his abdomen. You wiggled your hips in anticipation, mouth watering needing to finally taste his seed. But you felt like you'd go insane if he didn't fill up your cunt with his member. 

"Come here", he purred as he cupped one of your cheeks while the other fisted his shaft. The heat radiating from your sex was making his cock throb and leak pre down the tip. You rubbed the head up and down your folds wetting it with your slick before sinking down onto his fat cock. The burn of him splitting you open was making a heat pool in your lower back, your mouth slightly open with your jaw slack. 

Chris was doing everything in his power not to thrust up into you. He moved his hands onto your hips, squeezing with bruising strength. You whimpered as you lifted yourself up just an inch before forcing yourself down the rest of his member, letting out a cry. You sat there for a second, adjusting to his girth. Small tears pricked at the corners of your eyes and you squeezed them shut. Chris took this time to coo against your skin as he littered your face with light sweet kisses. Whispering words of praise, "So fucking perfect for me. My sweet omega taking me so well."

You unconsciously clenched around him causing him to thrust up. Punching The air out of your lungs the moment he hit against your cervix. "Alpha", you sobbed against his lips. He brushed away your tears with his calloused thumbs. "I got you" he shuddered underneath you, "your alpha has you". He slammed his lips against yours. He gave you a couple shallow thrusts up into you. Your walls refusing to let him go. He swallowed each of your moans, cock massaging your gummy walls. Making sure you feel every inch and vein.

The windows in the car fogged up, the sound of his heavy balls slapping against your ass filled the small pace. Your walls soon fluttering around him, you release your lips. "A-alpha." "I know. M-me to", he rested his forehead against yours, half lidded eyes gazing into your glossed over one's. The pressure building inside of you was too much. Your hips instinctively rocked against his meeting him with each thrust. He could feel his high coming up on him faster than he wanted, but he was determined to feel you spasm around him before he filled that sweet cunt.

"Cum for me. Cum for your alpha", he rasped. That being the final thing to make the coil of pressure snap. Head falling back as you arched into him, letting out a silent scream. Your walls sucking him in, milking everything he had to offer. "Shit shit shit!", he choked out before closing his jaw around your shoulder. Not enough to break skin, but enough to make your eyes roll into the back of your head as you road out your climax. With every pump he emptied into you, jerking up into you, made you convuls more around him. You fell forward onto him, head tucked right into his neck. He gave you a couple more thrusts before resting his head back against the headrest. 

He rubbed slow smoothing circles into your lower back, feeling the heat from his palms sink into your body. You let out a small whimper as you tried to sit up, but that only caused him to twitch inside you, giving you small shockwaves. He placed one of his hands on the back of your head, guiding you to rest back against him. He turned his head to kiss your cheek. "No need to rush." He whispered against your head. 

[luimagines]

the boys with a merperson s/o (or crushing on them) scenarios or headcannons?

 Masterlist

MERMAIDS!! OCTMERS!! Crustacean mers? Shark mers?

...It's not mermay... It’s belated mermay since I’m sure I actually got this request by the end of it.

BUT I can do this regardless!

The possibilities are endless.

These are when they’re in their own Hyrule. Without the group, so to speak.

Headcanon time! but also like half scenario?

Content under the cut!

Legend

You are a mermaid or merman

Just a typical mer

Obviously you meet when he’s exploring with his mermaid tail. 

You thought he was from far away because you’ve never seen him before nor was his accent similar with pods across the reef.

You ask your friends and neighbors if they knew him but no one could say where he was from.

And he wasn’t exactly forthcoming with any answers, always telling you something else to change the subject.

But regardless of his secrecy you enjoyed his company and his stories.

Sometimes you would find things from the surface and give them to him

You noticed he liked to collect things from above and thought it would make him happy

You were always trying to find things that would make him happy

He seemed to be full of hurt and bitterness

But you knew him to be a kind and sincere soul so you didn’t want him to hurt anymore than he already has.

But you get curious one day.

“Link, where do you live?”

“In land.”

“But if you’re a fresh water mer, how can be out here in the ocean?”

He stalls and blinks at you. 

“I’m not a mer.”

That’s throws you for a loop.

“But... you’re tail....???”

You ask more questions

And Legend complies because he totally thought you knew he was Hylian.

That would explain why no one knew where he was from.

He was one of the dry dwellers.

You’re quick to ask him about his travels and he tells you

He finds comfort in someone else knowing what he’s been through and being able to talk everything out.

He also finds more comfort in the water and finds himself thinking about you even when he’s by rivers and lakes

But you wouldn’t survive in fresh water

He begins to bring over some of his more water worthy items to show you

And impress you

But he’s not being honest with himself

So he tries to keep you as close as he can and visit you as often as he can when his blacksmithing apprenticeship lets him get away from time to time

His feelings are slow going

But they’re there.

But he’s pretending they’re not there

Your feelings are also slow going

You confuse them with admiration and curiosity

So of course nothing is actually happening

You’re both being idiots

But your feelings are requited.

Everyone who’s witnessing this is in agony.

Hyrule

You are a fresh water mer!

Hyrule can’t swim so he’s got inclined to go out into the ocean any time soon.

Or into any lakes for that matter.

But he does spend a lot of time near rivers when he has to chance to relax for a change.

It’s where you see him first actually

You were swimming up river from your home to check out what may have been left behind.

You were intrigued by him 

But he saw you and ran, not wanting to interact with you incase you were about to attack him

It hurt to see that but you were determined to get to know him

It took months

Mostly because he didn’t go back to that spot for a long time

Next time he appeared you were farther back and raised your hand, waving to him slowly

He stared at you like a deer in headlights

But you stayed your distance

It a reoccurring process.

Each time you’d get a little closer but try to be as non-confrontational as possible

When Hyrule felt at ease enough with your pretense that you could be right next to him, you finally told him your name

He told you his.

Your friendship was grow at a quicker rate than before and you thought he was incredibly interesting

With even more time, you manage to get him into the water and try to teach him how to swim.

You have to take a while to get around how his limbs work verses how you typically swim but somehow you both make it work

Hyrule is a little less afraid of the water now that you’ve been by his side but he still avoids it when you’re not with him

One day you get a little bold and take him to your lake 

He’s quick to join you but he won’t go to where the water goes above his head.

It’s a little frustrating to you because you weren’t going to hurt him

You want to show him your home

Even if it was under water

You tell him such

And you can see him consider the option and the possibilities.

“You’ll lead the way?”

You grin and take his hand.

“It’s not like you’d know the way.”

“I can’t breath under water though.”

“I can help with that.”

There’s a magical ability your people possess that when gifted willingly will grant to recipient the ability to breath underwater.

You tell him such with a small blush on your face

It’s something you’ve been wanting to give him for awhile but...

You could see how long it took for Link to warm up to you

And you’d hate to ruin what you have

But your boldness speaks ahead of you.

“What is it?”

“We call it the Stolen Breath.”

“But what is it?”

“...”

You gulp and float on your back to avoid eye contact. 

“A kiss.”

You can feel him stare at you in silence for a hot second before he takes a breath.

“Ok.”

Four

You were a river dolphin mer!

Because of Four’s job he’s mostly landlocked so he’s not exactly going to be going to the ocean any time soon.

But there’s plenty of rivers nearby for him to visit in whatever free time he can buy for himself.

When he first meets you it’s not because of those times though.

He actually heard about you through the minish first.

They talked about how you helped them and what you do to keep the place safe, and occasionally you let them ride on your back for a small fee.

The fee is stories of the land beyond.

Intrigued, Four visited your river in hopes of finding you

And he did.

As a minish.

He kept visiting you both out of curiosity and because well...

He thought you were cool.

That being said, you thought he was just another minish and had adored your new found little friend who always seemed so happy to see you.

When Four heard about your fee, he gladly told you about all his adventures, his friends and how he saved the world time and time again

You didn’t believe him at first but loved a good story when you could hear one so you let him talk

Some of the details seemed familiar, when the minish would talk about their savior and friend- The Hero of the Four Sword or The Hero of Men

You asked him about it- why he knew some details that the other minish left out

He stalls and hesitates to let you know the truth

With a small breath, he promises you that when he comes back, he’ll let you know why

You expect him to come back in a week or two like usual but he comes back the next day and leads you to one of the minish doors.

Before your eyes you see him hop through it and come back as a hylian

“Oh.”

“Oh?” Four winces and begins to nervously wring his hands together.

“Does that mean you’re the hero?” You grin and jump out of your river.

“Yes.”

That means all of his stories are true!

You stare at him and begin to feel a little giddy.

“Tell me everything!”

Four smiles a little to himself as he relaxes.

“What else haven’t I told you yet?”

“Well... What do you do when you’re not the hero?”

Four grins wider and sits down on the wet rock next to you.

“Not a whole lot.”

“Tell me anyway.”

Time

You were a hermit crab mer!

Time, similar to Four, is mostly landlocked and as such doesn’t get a lot of opportunities to go to the ocean

But Lake Hylia is definitely within his reach

And considering that you had your shell to keep you from drying out completely on dry land, you had the ability to travel on land for a day or two before you had to return

You were still chained to the water but so much as the others you knew to exist

Time had met you when he was younger, exploring the lake in its entirety with his Zora mask 

That being said, he thought he was initially a zora

Your relationship was a little shaky at first.

He had attacked you at first, not knowing what you were or whether you proposed a threat or not

And you had attacked him in turn because the zora were never really welcome near your home- they looked down on you for claiming to be a superior species and they could keep that attitude away from you, thank you very much

When you disengaged, you yelled at him for being a prick and attacking you when you did nothing wrong- even throwing in some less than welcome zora stereotypes of the era toward his face

Later on you grow to really hate that moment- and it embarrasses you every time you think about it but Link laughs

Mostly because in his mind and how he remembers it- he deserved it 100%

It was weeks after when Link had enough of the guessing games and faced you head on to explain himself and apologize.

However you were in the water this time around and he was once again wearing the mask

It took nearly three years of your friendship for you to even learn that he was actually hylian

Which complicated your feelings somewhat

Because as a zora, he was quick to put down your inner prejudice against them by just being himself

Enough so that you thought that maybe there was something happening between you two

But knowing that he was hylian- and could not actually breath under water or spend any more time with you than his life expectancy would allow- hurt you a lot

You had distanced yourself from him for a while as you digested this

Link obviously took it wrong way entirely

He thought you had cut him off from your life and had nothing else to do with him

He wasn’t entirely sure of his feelings at the time

But thought of you cutting him off was painful

He wasn’t sure how to fix it- or even if he could

In the time you were stewing and trying to figure out if this actually changes anything in your relationship, Link was trying to find anything little thing he could get to impress you and express how much he cares for you

Coincidentally, you both look for each to make up on the same day

Link with something shiny and obnoxious for you to add to your steadily growing collection of nick nacks

And you with a confession on your tongue and your heart on your sleeve

Naturally, nothing goes to plan and you don’t confess

Link for his part feels infinitely better about you not shunning him in disgust or heartbreak

You’re glad that he still wants to spend time with you, even if you will eventually out live him

But you’re both young and tenderly feeling this out

There’s still a chance for you two, you think.

There’s still time to let him think about it and for you to try again

Keep going.

Warrior

You were a squid mer

The bioluminescent kind

Warrior actually thought that you were a weird type of zora

From an area that he had yet to see or experience

He was shocked at first when you made your appearance at the surface and screamed

A very manly scream

You shot back down into the water and kept only your eyes above the water

He stared with child like interest after the initial scare when you stared to glow

You stared at each other for a really long time

He was the first Hylian that you’ve seen

You thought that he was cute

Like newly hatched guppies or a jellyfish

You pulled yourself up onto the dock, your extra limbs carrying you with easy strength until you were face to face with him

He was smaller than you thought he would be and you thought that he was missing a few necessary limbs

Your arms caress him with piqued curiosity

He’s tense and panicked but you’ve shown no sign of hostility so he’s refraining from reaching for his weapon.

You pull back after a few tense minutes and plop yourself back into the water.

It’s warmer than you’re accustomed to so you’re uncomfortable and the sun is beginning to rise on the horizon, making it a little brighter than your eyes can handle

You have to leave

But you hope that you can see him again

And you do

He’s a on ship during a storm

And he falls into the water

You’re quick to push through the warmer waters and grab him before the current can

You swim as fast as you can to the surface and hold his head above the water

He’s a coughing mess and tries to swim away from you in his efforts

You hold him close, not trusting his personal strength to fight the ocean

After a brief moment, he notices you and calms down

You’re quick to try and find some land

But you’re too far out into the water and it would take a while

You frown, holding him securely and pick a direction to go.

You force this smaller creature onto your back as you swim

It takes all night and you’re sure would have blinded yourself if you had to stay out any longer than you did

Warrior lets go when land comes, and begins to swim the rest of the way

He says something in his native tongue that you don’t understand but he salutes you

You copy the move and duck under the waves once more

Over multiple weeks afterwards you try to find him again. Continuously resurfacing to try and find him but you’re low on luck.

Until one day

He finds you

You were caught up by some deep sea fisherman, the zora working hard to keep you from destroying their net.

He’s on the docks where they bring you.

The light is killer and blinding and the heat starts to dry your skin.

He saves you in your vulnerability and says, “You save me. I save you. My name is Link. What’s yours?”

It’s your language

You reply before you can question how he speaks it

It’s a special necklace that he had Lana make

You’re back in the water before you know it

Relief comes over you like a tidal wave and you say your thanks to your new friend

Warrior then finds you after that again

And again

And again

You think you like him

He’s not so sure why he likes being around just yet

But he’ll get there

Twilight

You were a crayfish mer!

Here’s the thing, Twilight is also pretty landlocked himself

He’s not exactly going to be by the ocean any time soon and he’s more inclined to relax by a lake than on a riverbank.

That being said, you meet at Lake Hylia.

Since you had a shell, it protected you from the sun and from drying out too fast on land.

Twilight’s first inclination is to freeze up on the spot because he thought you were an aquatic version of the Oocca.

And he wasn’t happy about it.

But you seemed friendly and he wasn’t raised by wolves, so he makes polite conversation with you

He thought it would stop there but nope

You somehow found him no matter where by the lake he was sitting

After awhile he got used to you and even welcomed your presence.

You were none the wiser about his discomfort and just thought he was a nice guy you could talk to to get the news from the land beyond.

You crushed on him first

Your home was buried by a strong storm one day and he wasted no time in helping you dig it out and get it back in working order

That was a love arrow straight through your heart and you were smitten ever since

Twilight had just begun his process wanting to be by your side

At this point he would visit Lake Hylia- not to see you (he wasn’t there yet)- but he would hope you would come and spend some time with him

You knew that you two were from very different words so you tried your hardest to keep your feelings to yourself

Your friendship actually lasted years before Twilight had to come to terms with himself and the thought he might like you

He doesn’t like the idea of falling in love only to have it ripped away from him again

But you can wait for him just as long as he needs to

With time he brings you little gifts

Small things made of glass and stone- things that would survive underwater that he thought you would like

You keep them in a special place inside your burrow

Another storm struck

Late at night when everyone was still asleep, and your burrow collapsed with you inside of it

It was hard for you to move and dig yourself out

You could reach your little treasures that Link would give you 

But that was about it.

Link, for his part, was coming to visit you

Not the lake

You

But what he found sunk his heart

A mudslide covered at least half of the shore line and went into the lake

He ran all the way to where he knew your burrow was but he couldn’t find the opening 

He didn’t even think that calling your name would have worked

Link swallowed hard, concern and worry latching onto his whole being.

He ran all the way back to his house, getting his shovel and zora armor to go underwater.

Knowing that he was running low on time and you were running out of oxygen, he hitched up Epona and rode all the way back to the lake.

He jumped right into the thick of it and began to dig

Epona wasn’t sure what got Link all up in a tizzy but she pounded the ground by the shoreline nervously 

It was hard work

All that would be moved away was replaced by by more mud that would slide over it.

Link was determined though

And terrified

He kept digging until he was able to make some progress with it and eventually he found you huddled where you would normally sleep, clutching your little nick nacks that he gave you.

The fresh water seemed heaven sent and you gulped down what you could, reaching for him to pull you out.

Link grabbed your hand swam with you to the surface, pulling you to the shoreline and washing off all the mud from your shell and your hair

His feelings had to take a step on the backburner for a moment

He had to see that you were ok first.

It may have been the first moment that you could see how much he cared about you

You were starting to suspect where his feelings were before he did

But you’d wait for him. 

Sky

You were an Octomer! 

But since it’s Hyrule, I’m saying that your have the immortality of a jellyfish. Like how Zora’s can live hundreds of years compared to hylians but longer.

The first time you meet, it’s when he’s exploring more of what the surface has to offer.

Now Sky isn’t like the others.

He doesn’t have the same perception of the others

So while the others would have perceived you as a threat- Sky is mostly confused by your lack of action toward him and the fact that he’s never seen something like you before

So if your species is new to him- and you’re not attacking him-

Then maybe you’re friendly?

You grin and he’s a little taken aback by your teeth.

Slowly you crawl to where he is, each arm pulling you toward him.

You greet him in an ancient language

It has been a while since you’ve seen his kind and you want to know where they’ve gone and what kind of lives they live now.

Unfortunately he doesn’t understand you

You frown and try again, reaching out your hand for him to take

He does take it and replies in a language you’re unfamiliar with

Maybe in the time they’ve been gone the language has evolved.

This can be a problem

While you’re contemplating this, you dip back into the water somewhat and fish out (no pun intended) a stick and begin to draw on the supple sand beneath the both of you

He’s quick to catch on to what you’re doing and uses the tip of his sword to draw in the sand next to you

Slowly but surely, you both come up with some degree of communication.

You learn that the literary aspect of their language has changed somewhat as well but it’s still comprehensible to your mind

He comes back

Time and time again

He begins to slowly teach you his language as it is now

And you answer his question of the world long past

Link is actually the first to fall between the two of you

You can’t seem to take whatever hint he gives you

When he finally gives up with gift giving and subtle sweet nothings, he tells you directly

Now before this, you hadn’t considered him in such a way

You didn’t think it was even an option

Link is quick to tell you what he’ll do if you give him a chance.

He’ll live out in the ocean.

He’ll learn how to man a boat

He can find an underwater cave to be there instead if you’d prefer

He’ll leave his people behind

You think this one in particular goes a little too far and you’re quick to tell him so

You turn him down

At first

Link comes back again and again because he still enjoys your company and he can get past his emotions to not make it awkward between you two

But now that you know it’s an option

You don’t stop thinking about him

Link is on your mind day and night with all sorts of possibilities and struggles you two would have together and how to get around them

Weeks go by

And the somehow, you talk away your sensible side- the idea of what you could be becoming more and appealing each day

You confess randomly on a sunny afternoon and it takes the both of you by surprise

It’s not what you wanted to say at all.

Link is ecstatic!

He had pretty much given up hope that you two could be an item but his feelings were giving him more trouble than he thought they would

But you liked him back!

So maybe this time things can go a little smoother.

Wild

You are a shark mer!

Because Wild has a type.

Now, you live just beyond Lurelin’s borders

Wild meets you when he’s pushing the limits of a deku leaf before it breaks on him and he’s forced to turn around with his second one because he doesn’t want to be stranded in the middle of the ocean with his dinky little raft.

You’re closer to the surface than you’re usually willing to be.

Seeing the raft was a new thing for you and you swim closer to it to inspect it.

Wild actually managed, somehow to throw himself over board and into the ocean

Coming face to face

with you!

Both of you shoot away from each other in shock and he scrambles to get back onboard the wood planks

For your part, you stall for a moment not used to seeing his king so far out into the deep waters.

Intrigued at this anomaly you break the surface and place your hands on the side of the raft, watching him as he catches his breath. 

He begins speaking in a rapid fire language that you don’t understand and tell him as much

He jumps and spins over to you, pointing a finger in your direction and even growling

You tilt your head- not at all feeling intimidated by this smaller creature

You tell him your name and ask him for his

But he doesn’t understand you

He then makes a few hand gestures and you brighten

You know that!

Some sailors use that to communicate between each other when the storms get really bad

You recognize some of them but you don’t know the rest of it

You try to sign back to the best of your ability trying to tell him you don’t know that much and once again introducing yourself

He smiles and tells you his name is Link

It starts from there.

You find yourself swimming and spending more time in the shallows than you used to do

He visits regularly

Link is quick to even bring some of his friends over

You are quickly introduced to the Prince of the Zora, named Sidon and he’s been more or less a translator between you two since you speak similar languages from birth.

He visits you as well and teaches you sign on the side to help you communicate with Link without his help.

Link does not know this is happening

You wanted to surprise your friend and Sidon had his full approval of the plan

Because of Sidon’s duties however, there wasn’t a definitive schedule and you were learning at a snails pace

But progress is progress

Link is having some kind of crisis while he’s at home

Because he wants to show it to you but it’s too far inland

He’d also like to know what your home looks like, if you have one, or if you have a family or a community like the zora

There’s so many things he wants to know about you and he thinks he’s beginning to crush

And crush hard

On someone he can’t even communicate properly with no less.

He then asks Sidon to give him lessons on the language you speak

As if that would help in anyway shape or form

Sidon agrees- fully supportive of this idea

So he begins to teach Link on the side as well in order for you two to be able to talk to each other with ease

You do not know this is happening

Sidon knows what’s happening is waiting for the day for this to blow up in both of your faces 

It’s a train wreck waiting to happen

Sidon is glad Link met you

This is the most excitement he’s had since Link showed up in the domain

He really hopes this ends well for the both of you

Wind

You were a stingray mer!

You meet when he goes flying overboard from a storm.

He goes deep

You find him unconscious and try your hardest to swim to the surface and to the nearest beach.

It’s hard for you to get a grip on him and swim at the same time but somehow- by someone’s grace and mercy, you manage

You have to get him away from the water without beaching yourself and that’s another challenge all together.

You think about leaving him there and hoping for the best but a strong waves comes through and nearly drags him out to sea again

You resolve to stay by his side until he wakes up

The sun feels nice and warm, but the problem is that you dry out incredibly fast compared to other mers and it’s very quickly an uncomfortable experience

Luckily- or unluckily if you ask Wind- there was a ship coming by and seemingly coming to whatever island this is.

You take your cue and push yourself backwards into the ocean, watching the ship and the boy you found and trying to see if they were actually going to come to his aid.

The ship does eventually come to the island and you think that the boy would be fine.

But out of curiosity, you do come up to the surface every now and then when you think there’s a ship going back- hoping to see him again- trying to see if he was actually ok.

You see him on what has to be a pirate ship.

You try to get close enough to see him but somehow get yourself caught up in a net and pulled up into the boat.

“Wait! Wait!” The boy calls out and runs over to help you out. “Put it back in the water!”

“What are you doing Link?” Someone from the crew yells. “This is the catch of the century!”

“This thing saved my life! It has to be in the water!”

“What if we don’t?”

“It’ll get sick!”

The boy begins to frantically cutting away the rope from you, throwing it to the side and lessening the pressure around you.

You sigh in relief and try to make your way to the side of the boat.

It’s not easy.

The boy lifts you up from one side but he can’t get a grip on you.

Someone else comes in and helps him, getting on your other side and together they throw you over board.

The relief is immeasurable.

The boy jumps over quickly and splashes next to you.

You grin and wave at him. 

He waves back and  swims up to the surface. 

“Hi! I’m Link!”

You tell him your name in reply and swim around him. 

“I’m glad you’re ok! I didn’t think you saw me when I saved you.”

“I woke up right as you got into the water. I saw you swim and dive away as I got back onto the boat.”

“Are you two friends or something?” Someone calls from the ship.

“I’d like to be.” You admit with a smile

“I’m Link.” He smiles. “I’d like to be your friend to.”

Your friendship skyrockets from there.

Wind was already on the ship to travel the great sea, so it was easy for you to spend time with him and get to know the rest of the crew and the pirate captain Tetra as well.

Everything about their stories of land excited you so much.

It was a world so different than yours.

In return you told them stories of everything under the water, of all the places you’ve seen and been to.

Every part of you wanted to impress Link and you cherished him.

You don’t have any one to tell you want your feelings but what you do know is that you like him. He’s a good friend and he cares deeply about his people.

You hope that maybe you can be someone he cares about too.

Link for his part wanted to find pretty things for you and show his home, his family, everything that is important to him.

Tetra figures out what’s going on before he does.

She waits a bit before telling Link to his face what’s up with him, wanting to see if you’ll make a move or if he’ll come to his senses.

Neither happens.

So she tells Link and he’s quick to talk to you and confess.

He cares about you more than you’d ever realize.

[falryllghts]

Wow😳

Now I want "You don't know a thing about me" feat. Zhongli and Diluc 🥺👉🏻👈🏻

Please and thank you!

you don't know a thing about me pt.2 // genshin impact x reader

gender neutral pronouns, angst, little to no comfort

characters included: diluc, zhongli

warning(s): reader being rejected, ooc zhongli?

part one w/ venti, kaeya and childe , part 3 w/ venti and diluc

a/n: I really wanted to do this but I've never written for zhongli before (bc I've skipped,, 90% of his dialogue) but I included him in here anyways so I hope this suffices !! also sorry if this took awhile to post </3

Diluc

you were friends with diluc through you visiting the tavern every so often and seeing him there whenever he would be working. you always felt particularly bad for him every time you’d walk into the tavern and see kaeya there. it was pretty common knowledge to everyone in mondstadt that the two didn’t get along for reasons unknown. you two had actually started to get along from your mutual hatred of the knights of favonius. you didn’t necessarily hate them as much as diluc did but you did agree that they could do a much better job protecting mondstadt.

soon enough, you found yourself falling for diluc. it had been nearly a year before you even mentioned the growing feelings for him. whatever hope you had beforehand was almost immediately thrown out the window.

“you like me? do you even know anything about me other than the fact that i despise the knights of favonius?”

you hesitated before slowly opening your mouth to speak again, carefully watching your next words. “well i just assumed you didn’t go around saying much else about yourself-”

he nodded though his face showed anything but joy. “exactly. its because i don’t want people to know much about me.”

you shut your mouth after that, struggling to understand what he wanted. was he just not looking for a relationship? you didn't want to aggravate him further so you ended up staying silent. he let out a sigh, seeing you unable to come up with a response. he turned his back to you as if trying to avoid your eyes. “just...leave me alone.” with that, he was walking away. maybe if you had apologized or even chased after him, things would’ve been different.

that day was the last time you really saw him. you started to avoid the tavern to give him space and eventually just started going to the cat’s tail instead. it was also rather awkward when a certain darknight hero had to save you once, the both of you just shaking off the event as if it had never happened at all. sometimes you wonder if you would still be friends if you hadn’t confessed.

Zhongli

you met zhongli during the lantern rite festival, shortly after the passing of the geo archon. you two had started up a conversation and you found yourself being intrigued by him. shortly after that, the two of you had become friends. whenever you’d see him passing by in liyue, you’d always wave at him and every so often he’d invite you to tea. he seemed to have so much knowledge even on the little things in liyue that every time you guys would hang out, he’d tell you something new that you’d never even heard before.

you also found it a little amusing how often he’d try to buy things despite not having the mora for it. you’d get him things every so often though you were unable to get everything, considering he kept trying to get things that were over a million mora. even so, you’d still find him paying you back or making it up to you. how? you didn’t have the slightest clue and whenever you asked, you never quite got a clear answer. regardless, over the year that you had known zhongli, you had gained a crush on him. 

you two were finishing up saying your goodbyes after having a meal when you had confessed. it had come out on accident and you could tell he knew you were embarrassed for saying something so suddenly, yet he made no comment on it. instead, he looked as thoughtful as ever. “so you’ve fallen for me despite not knowing much about me? interesting, that’s a new one.” 

the both of you remained friends after that and honestly you were just relieved zhongli didn't really tease you that much about it. he did bring it up once or twice to see your reaction but he always stayed calm as you would apologize for confessing though he honestly didn’t seem to mind. it was almost as if he had learned something through this ordeal and he was enjoying himself with it. he reassured you that he enjoyed this much more than his old occupation which you had tried to ask about but was just shrugged off. though even if you were just friends, you decided that it wasn’t so bad. 

[saijspellhart]

Little oneshot about Atem meeting Sphinx Yugi

Part of my Sphinx AU. Please enjoy.

Atem clutched his cloak around him, trying to settle back against the date palms again, only to sit up with a start at the rustle of leaves. The once vibrant and friendly oasis he’d happened upon in the day, had turned into an absolute nightmare as soon as the sun set.

He hadn’t managed to get a fire going, he couldn’t find anything to eat, and although the water in the massive pond looked clean and tasted good, he was convinced he’d be sick by morning.

The night was so dark, even with all the stars, he could barely make out his surroundings in the dense thickets of trees and brush surrounding the pond. He could swear something was out there. Could feel it staring at him, hunting him.

He snapped his head to the left at the sound of disturbed undergrowth, and swore he caught a glimpse of yellow eyes. Like the glowing pupils of some large animal. They disappeared almost immediately.

It wasn’t the first time he’d seen them. Could be a fox, or a crocodile, perhaps a leopard, or even a hyena. Although he really doubted it was a hyena. Too quiet for that noisy pack animal. Never the less, he was convinced he was being stalked by some silent predator.

Hours were passing, and he continued his restless watch.

The night wore on leaving him more and more exhausted, and the chill set in harder. He felt cold in his bones without a fire or proper insulation from the frigid desert night.

He would die of exposure before he was ever rescued by his priests.

Atem saw the flash of yellow eyes again in his peripheral and scowled at them sleepily.

Or I’ll simply get eaten alive. What an end for a mighty Pharaoh. He should have simply died earlier in the day during the skirmish with the brigands. At least then it would have been in the service of his people, and not alone, lost in the desert, and at the jaws of local wildlife.

Another hour passed, and he couldn’t hold his head up anymore to stay alert. He was so cold.

So tired.

His eyelids drooped. And each blink was a little longer, his mind a little hazier.

He searched for the eyes in the dark, but saw nothing. He heard nothing. He couldn’t hold his eyes open any longer and he drifted out of consciousness.

0000

Atem’s world was a lot brighter when his brain clicked back into consciousness the next morning.

And warmer.

So much warmer. He’d been so cold the night before and now he was wrapped in a blanket of warmth and fluffy comfort.

It felt like his head was pillowed against a cloud. A slightly dusty, musky scented cloud with an edge of sweetness, almost like grass. It was pleasant.

In fact everything was pleasant. Even the comforting weight settled over him. Atem didn’t want to move. Didn’t even want to wake up. Instead, he inhaled the pleasant scent again and tried to drift back to sleep.

His hand reached up to sink fingers into soft fur and snuggled deeper into his pillow.

Which gasped, and shifted beneath him.

Atem’s eyes shot open, getting an eyeful of white and tawny red-gold fur. Something like a tail swished just over the swell of golden fur he’d taken a handful of. He was up in an instant, flailing against feathers, and violently slapping a large wing off of himself as he stumbled to get away.

“Ouch!” a stranger’s voice yelped.

He ended up crawling backwards through sand and grasses. Drawing his knife—his khopesh having gotten lost when his horse threw him in the strange and sudden sand storm—he pointed the blade, putting as much distance as he could between himself and the strange creature he’d been cuddled up to only moments before.

“What in Ra’s name are you?” Atem demanded.

The creature blinked large and bewitching purple eyes at him. “What does it look like?” It asked, sounding almost offended. It shook out one of its large black-tipped white feathered wings, as if shaking off pain, before gingerly folding the appendage against its back. “In fact I’m one of the god’s creatures. I’m a sphinx,” it announced rising up on its very feline paws.

This gave Atem a very good look at the creature, and yes. Yes, it was a sphinx. He quickly lowered the knife so as not to disrespect it.

It was not the type of sphinx he was most accustomed to seeing depicted in scrolls and in reliefs. That being a creature with a lion’s body and the head of a human. No, this creature had the head and torso of a human, its arms changing into a feline’s paws starting at the elbow, and its torso becoming a feline’s lower half starting at the stomach.

The stomach that Atem’s head has been pillowed against, he noted. That’s what had been so soft like a cloud. He swallowed thickly.

“It’s been awhile since a human has wandered into my oasis,” the sphinx said conversationally. It took a few steps towards Atem. “What’s your name?”

He wasn’t about to give a magical creature such as this his name. Magical creatures could do dangerous things with your name. “Atem…” the name tumbled off his tongue unbidden. Fuck. He suspected some magic must be at play, but Ra would have to smite him before he would tell this creature he was a Pharaoh. Absolutely no good would come of this creature having that knowledge.

“Atem~” the sphinx tested the name on its tongue, and smiled brightly at him. “Hi Atem! My name is Yugi,” as it introduced itself it made a tight circle giving Atem a look at its entire body from nose to the end of its stumpy tail.

It was just like a cat to give someone an eyeful of its ass. If the lack of breasts hadn’t clued him in, Atem could safely conclude that the very effeminate looking creature was indeed a male.

When Yugi turned to face him again he couldn’t quite meet the Sphinx’s eye anymore and sort of looked off to the side instead.

It was actually startling how much the Sphinx’s hair resembled Atem’s. Should he be flattered? Or maybe the sphinx was flattered. It was probably far older than him. Their hair was strikingly similar, both having flowing blonde bangs and unruly black spikes tinged with color at the tips. Although Atem’s hair ended in red, while Yugi’s seemed to be a gradient of purples and reds. That was where the similarities between them seemed to end though. Yugi had large eyes and a small nose, with a slight build and fair skin. Where as Atem had a large nose, thick brows over slanted eyes, with the build of a fighter and brown skin.

“I’m sorry for scaring you when you woke up,” Yugi dipped his head and looked genuinely apologetic.

“What was…that anyway?” Atem jerked his head at the Sphinx and reached a hand down to pluck at some grass, tearing the blades between his fingers.

“I was keeping you warm,” Yugi explained. Almost comically large cat ears flicked on either side of his head, disturbing locks of hair as they did. Atem could make out black tufts of fur on the ends of the ears that reminded him very much of a caracal. Yugi kept his distance but sat back on his haunches. His wings adjusted on his back, fluttering a bit before folding back into place. “You were so cold, shivering in your sleep, and well… the elements don’t bother me.” he shrugged. “So I curled up beside you, and covered you with my wing.”

Atem narrowed his eyes at the creature. Were sphinxes usually so kind? He couldn’t recall many stories about sphinxes but the stories he did recall they were always dangerous and tricksy. “I suppose I owe you a debt now, don’t I?” He growled out, tossing his handful of shredded grass on the sand before him.

Yugi blinked at him. “No? Oh well maybe…” he tilted his head and it looked like the wheels had begun to turn in his mind. “Why?” he asked slowly.

“Because you probably saved my life. Kept me from succumbing to exposure or something.” Atem explained impatiently. He didn’t want to be in debt to a magical creature, but he was also a Pharaoh and it could spell disaster to leave debts unpaid. Should the sphinx ever find out he was a pharaoh and decide to collect on the debt it might ask for something outrageous. Like a child, or a golden statue in its likeness, or perhaps to stay in his palace to live like a king. “Creatures like you always want payment for a life saved.”

Yugi seemed to consider this, all the while studying Atem curiously. “I suppose that’s true,” he purred. “How about we play a game? Win, and consider the debt repaid. Your life will be your own. But should you lose, then your life is mine.” This time when the little Sphinx grinned at him it was far more predatory. If he wasn’t so adorable Atem might have felt more intimidated.

A game? A smug sense of triumph curled in Atem’s stomach. A game wasn’t so bad. He was excellent at games. “What kind of game?” Atem hedged warily. Skills aside, making a deal with any magical creature was extremely dangerous, but especially with a sphinx.

Yugi laid down on the ground and crossed his front paws. “Oh, nothing complicated. Just a simple game of riddles~”

Atem adjusted until he was sitting cross-legged facing the Sphinx. He placed his hands on his knees and did his best to school his expression with confidence. “Alright then. I’ll play your game.”

“Great!” Yugi chirped happily, and his cat butt wiggled with excitement. “I will start.”

Atem bit his cheek and silently reminded himself that this cuteness was probably a facade. He would focus…and he would win.

[usaginotwst]

☂️🔪🖤🧺 for jade, kalim and floyd please?

Oh my god, I'm so sorry! Tumblr never notified me that I had more asks, I feel like a heel!!!

☔️— What are they like when they’re emotional? How quickly do they recover?

Jade is a very patient guy. Things just seem to brush by him while he remains unaffected. However, no one is immune to negativity, especially one so far away from home. Homesickness hits him when he least expects it and after a phone call from his mother, he finds himself weighed down with the dark feeling of longing.

When he gets like this, he reaches out to you to see if you're able to spend time with him to take his mind off of things. When he's in your room, he sighs deeply, alerting you that something's wrong. Jade still tries to deny it, but one look from his you and he finds himself breaking down. He doesn't shed tears, but he does come close. If you let him vent and talk about the wonders of the Coral Sea, encouraging his excitement when he tells you about the best festivals and most exciting things to find down there, he'll start to smile more naturally and the tension leaves his shoulders.

Jade never stays upset for long because he knows himself better than anyone and can find ways to cheer himself up. There hasn't been a moment that he's found himself in dire straights. Yet.

When Floyd gets upset, the world knows it. He takes it out on anyone smaller than he is, namely freshman, shoving them to the side and roughly bumping into them in the hallway as he makes his way somewhere secluded where he can throw a fit in peace.

Floyd is the type of guy that gets frustrated with his own emotions, wishing they would stop and let him off the ride, which only makes him angrier or dive deeper into sorrow. He doesn't have the same kinds of mood regulating system that Jade seems to have, so he has to tire himself out before he can be okay again.

In terms of being homesick, Floyd will huff and puff before getting up and decided to just go home. It's the simplest way to ease the pain, he thinks, but you stop him, telling him its not reasonable to go all the way to The Coral Sea. This only irritates him further.

Some adjustments have to be made before he throws a full-blown tantrum, but when you draw him a bath all the way to the top where he can switch to his true form, he goes from fuming to a pout, which is a start. Floyd sinks deep into the tub so all that's visible is his eyes over the waterline and his tail that's too long and flips up and over the edge of the tub.

When Floyd starts to blow bubbles under the water or splash at you, that's the cue that he's ready to talk.

Poor, sweet Kalim is a crier. He cries at everything. He's a cancer after all. When he gets seriously upset, he wails at top volume. Snot pours from his nose and spit dribbles down his cheeks as he swipes at his tears.

Kalim will suck it up and stop crying just long enough to reach you before he breaks down again. The world could be ending, but once he's in his person's arms, all would be right. Once he feels safe, Kalim will calm down to a low sniffle, wipe away his tears and nuzzle his nose into the crook of your neck, breathing in your scent before sighing you out.

Like a raging storm, Kalim's emotions leave just as quickly as they come. Usually he cries himself out and has to take a nap afterward due to the emotional toll and exhaustion.

🔪— How would they react to injury/misfortune befalling their partner? Do they feel at fault?

Jade's ever present smile falters for a moment before he leads you away with a flourish and reassurance. After triple checking to make sure you're truly okay, he will go do his own snooping to try and figure it all out. If it was caused by another student, Jade would just start appearing everywhere that student was. In the cafeteria, out in the playing field, in the back of class. Jade would make that person's life a living hell by gaslighting them, making them believe they're going crazy, and generally frightening them.

If it was just an accident of your own accord, Jade would sigh and poke a little fun at your expense (unless you were seriously hurt) and then help bandage you up before he realizes that he doesn't really know as much first aid as he thought. He hoists you up, piggyback style and takes you to the infirmary. Your proximity makes up for any guilt he'd been carrying since finding out about your injury.

Floyd on the other hand, would go in swinging. Once he figures out how it happened, it's squeezing time. He's almost put on academic probation for putting another student in the infirmary wing, but it was worth it to defend your honor. If it's not a situation that he can just squeeze away, he might feel totally conflicted. He wants to help, but for the first time in his life he feels helpless and it staggers him a bit. Guilt keeps him at bay as he reevaluates his importance in your life. He'll bounce back, but it'll take him awhile.

Revenge is the last thing on Kalim's mind when he hears that you've been hurt. With the immediate first thought of your food being poisoned, he rushes to your side. If it's a more physical injury, while relieved it's not poison, Kalim would shed guilty tears and promise to take care of you no matter what. He doesn't leave your side and it may come to the point that you have to tell him to relax and go do something on his own because of how clingy he is.

🖤— Random romantic headcanon

Kalim likes to lay with you and watch the stars, taking each moment to point out constellations. When he can't find any, he likes to pull you close, breathe you in, and it's not until his wandering hands reach your own do you realize he's humming a low tune. Floyd flops back and forth between being touchy-feely and not wanting anything to touch his skin, but when he's in a cuddly mood there is little you can do to keep his hands off of you. He leans on you in line for coffee. While you're reading, his fingers waltz up your spine, over your shoulder, and down your arm to intertwine with yours. He likes random kisses, but also gives light bites to your shoulder when you're not paying attention.

Jade loves it when you listen to his rambling. When he realizes, mid-tangent, that you're looking at him with love in your eyes, he sputters for a second and a blush starts travelling up his neck to rest on his cheeks. Overwhelmed with love, he can't even continue when you urge him too.

🧺— Random domestic headcanon

Floyd loves baths and made sure he had a custom one built for your house on land. He has his nightly bath ritual and if it isn't done 100% on the nose, he gets irritable. He runs the bath and while it's filling up, he goes to fetch you - no matter where you are or what you're doing - and races back with you in tow to continue prep. Bath salt, milks, essences, and all sorts of things go into the bath and before you know it you're both in there as well. He holds you close and only allows you to leave once your promised 15 minutes are up, then he finishes the rest of his bath alone to soak.

Kalim's not a morning person. He will do absolutely anything to keep you in bed with him an extra 5, 10, 15 minutes. He groans and stretches, and with his outstretched hand he pulls you to him and settles back in. His favorite days are the ones when you actually get to stay in bed with him and laze about, whispering sweet nothings and sharing lazy, bleary kisses in the morning light.

Jade is an almost perfect househusband. He takes care of the cooking, the cleaning, and everything in between. It wasn't something you forced him to do, he just seemed to fall into it himself. However, on the days he wakes up to find you already up and tending to the household chores so he can get some extra sleep, he finds himself remembering just why he loves you.

[cosmiclatte28]

Neo Got My Back (Jaehyun x reader)

a/n : a domestic Jaehyun fluff scenario! 

enjoy! you all deserve a ( good bed time) story.. though I hope this is good enough.. 

warning : mentions of past incident of almost dying but nah you lived :D, some slight cursing

tagging @yutahoes who might like this domestic jaehyun and ofc @neopalette

--- here goes nothing ----

It’s starting to get dark outside and your house still feels empty. You walk around the small room holding your phone while checking if there is any new message or a call. It’s been a long day for you to finish your works and take care of your dog that’s feeling a bit under the weather. You give up waiting for a reply and choose to just leave your phone and take care of your sick dog.

“Neo, come here.” You make yourself comfortable on the floor and pat your lap as the small Labrador walks slowly to you.

“Aw look at you, you’re still sick but feeling better?” you ask when the good boy wags its tail

“Are you excited to meet daddy?” you coo at your pal and he licks your cheek. You giggle and kiss him back “I also miss Jaehyun, don’t worry he is coming home tonight.”

Your dog seems to understand what you said, maybe its because he heard Jaehyun and home in one sentence and your tone sounds happy. If you are happy, then Neo is happy.

“Let’s try to eat some more, you’re not eating as much as usual and I don’t find that settling.” You reach on the dog food you’ve prepared before hand and try to feed Neo.

He eats, but without much energy. You’re sad actually to see him acting like this, at night he also whimpers some soft painful growl. You’re planning to take him to the vet if he’s whimpering again tonight.

“Are you sick or are you just acting up to see Jaehyun?” you tease your Labrador, who once were caught acting sick just to bring Jaehyun home. Jaehyun loves Neo to the point where he is willing to drop his business to come and hug this good boy. Maybe it’s because Neo once saved your life.

You told Jaehyun about the story where Neo saved you from almost drowning in the beach when you were a teenager. Since then, Jaehyun’s love to Neo sort of jumps over the moon. He said he ought Neo everything because thanks to Neo he got to meet you.

Your dog finishes his dinner and proceed to lay on his bed to sleep, maybe he is not feeling well. You put your worry aside and grab your phone again, checking if Jaehyun actually replied your message or called you.

Nothing. No messages, no calls. He must be busy in the office, you thought to yourself. Trying your best to stay calm and think of positive things. You trust Jaehyun, he won’t be home late for any other reasons other than caught up with work or stuck in the road.

Jaehyun sighs and glances on his watch again. It’s already one hour past his regular go home time and his phone battery died the moment he was about to tell you he will be home late.

Well the project he is working on this month has a change on the product launching date, so the team has to rush things up and make sure they’re ready for the launching next week.

His attempt to stay calm with tuning into his favorite radio channel fails. Not even his music playlist can calm him down. He knows you’re probably worried something bad happens to him without news or update from him to you and that is not settling in his heart.

“I am so sorrryyyy..” he mutters to himself when he sees the red lights and rows of cars all crawling in the night street. Why must the road be congested today?

He made it into your neighborhood and at that moment he realized something.

“Shit, I forgot to download the Netflix movie she wanted to watch.” Jaehyun internally curses himself. Works really preoccupied his mind to the point where he forgot. Well he hopes you won’t be mad and just let him download it for awhile to avoid pauses.

The lift ride to your room is not helping. With the lift keeps on stopping on different floor, he has to hold his patience and not cry in there when the door once again opens and he’s still halfway to your floor.

The man with a nice fitted suit finally steps out of the crowded lift. His face shows how tired he is, but the smile he has in his face upon imagining the face of his lover and faithful pal is bright enough.

Jaehyun takes a deep breath when he presses the six-digit combination lock to your home and once he presses the handle down, all of his exhaustion seems to leave his shoulder.

The familiar scent of your favorite aroma therapy candle greets him. Slowly Jaehyun takes off his shoes and when he did not see you or get a surprising jump from you, he knows you’re probably in your room doing works or maybe playing with Neo.

His steps resonate through the room, first the kitchen looks bright with a nice simple dinner nicely arranged on the table. Though it’s no longer steaming, Jaehyun can feel his stomach rumbles.

“(Y/n)?” he calls your name slowly after putting his working bag and suit aside. His hand unties his tie as he uncuffs his buttons and walk to look for you.

“Oh you’re asleep?” he talks to himself in whispers when he finds you laying down sleeping on the sofa with Neo cuddled next to you, despite the lack of space!

Gently he tucks your hair aside from your face and leans in to kiss your forehead. “Sorry for being home late.”

You twist in your sleep and slowly open your eyes. Blinking your sleep away and gathering your energy to process what is this. Is this a dream or is this Jaehyun?

Your hand reach out to touch his cheeks and when you feel it you smile. “Hello love,” you yawn and hug his torso.

“I haven’t showered or changed.” he runs a hand on your hair and the other free hand is already rubbing Neo’s chin.

“It’s okay, you can shower later.” You mumble as you bury your face into his torso.

“Have you eaten?” you ask, definitely knowing he hasn’t eaten yet.

He nods “I am hungry.”

“I can heat the food for you. Take a bath quick.” You push him to the toilet. He laughs and ruffles your hair before leaving to take his towel and clothes.

You bring Neo with you to the kitchen, and start to heat the food again.

Seeing Jaehyun still try his best to smile in front of you despite his stress and tiring job, makes you feel grateful and that the only way you can pay him back is by giving him the attention and cares he deserves.

He returns with a brighter face and a comfortable tee shirt and sweats. You’re done with heating the foods and so you join him sitting on the other end of the table as you scoop him some foods into his plate.

“Thank you, you cooked this?” he asks while taking small bites on the foods. Knowing his best to not expect too much when you are a terrible cook.

You bite your lips “I tried a receipt from Taeyong’s website.” You look up at him with expectations, couldn’t be that bad right? You’ve been practicing for a while. Jaehyun nods and eats more “I guess you improved?” he chuckles when you let out a delightful clap

“I am glad!” you grin. “I am ready to be your housewife.” You tease him.

He giggles and reaches out for more kimchi “Who made this kimchi? So good.”

You roll your eyes “Mom.”

“Ah, learn from her first to make this good kimchi, then you can marry me.” He playfully pokes your cheek and you pout at him “You hold your words. If I succeed making that kimchi, you’re marrying me.”

He flashes his ring finger to you, the one with a couple promise ring he has with you and winks “I am more than ready to change this ring into a diamond one.”

You blush “Keep your words okay. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

He nods “I am. I am going to keep my words. Right Neo? You are our witness.”

The dog barks and stays under the table accompanying the warm night both of you spend together.

“About not replying to your text, I am sorry my phone died, and I don’t bring my charger with me today.” He brushes his hair away from his eyes.

You nod “I knew it, you and your hobby of running out of batteries. I’m just afraid something bad happens.”

“No, don’t worry. It’s just we had to take over time to finish a project for next week. Sorry to keep you waiting.” He raises from the chair and brings his plates to the dish.

You quickly keep the remaining foods into the refrigerator while Jaehyun takes the gloves and starts to wash the sink.

“Ow poor you, did you finish it? Things are okay?” you lean on the counter next to him.

“Yes, I can go home because I finished my parts.”

“Good then,” you pat his shoulder “You must be tired, let’s-“

He cuts you in “About Netflix-“ he takes a sharp pause “I am so sorry we have to postpone watching A Whisker Away, I haven’t downloaded it yet.”

You smile and rubs his shoulder “Don’t worry, the film is not going to disappear! Let’s rest instead. You had a long day and I want to cuddle with you.”

Jaehyun smiles and jumps into your side, he hugs you and pulls the cover over you both “Okay, cuddle it is then! Come here, let me hug you until you beg me to stop.” He peppers you with raspberry kisses on your neck and arm and you giggle loudly.

“love you Jae!” you kiss him quick to which the other man smiles and kisses you back “And I love you most.”

end

[pirate-kwazii]

Watching Ring Of Fire now so here’s more of my thoughts

Is that a fence in the water

Is everyone groaning about the sea urchin and crab or yawning? I can’t tell

Okay I’ve had the Vegimals song stuck in my head for awhile now

Kwazii’s alarm clock shoots tennis balls at him- same

And Dashi starts the day with yoga

Tweaks fell asleep playing video games mood

Shellington what the fUCK

Tf is that- is that lava?!?

Oh ring of fire like the volcanoes- I feel stupid now

They’re doing their role call out of order

What the fuck Kwazii why did you eat 17 kelp cakes

Is the only thing you eat is seaweed

VIDEO TRAINING VIDEO TRAINING

*terrible accordion playing* *everyone winces*

How many cousins do you have peso?!?!

Kwazii: I’m going out and FAST!!!!

Captain: *eyebrow raise*

Kwazii: I mean I’m checking the engine

MORE GUPS?!?!

“Don’t push the Z button” Kwazii is definitely going to press it I bet all 3 of my dollars

Wait why did Peso and Barnacles need a Gup if they were taking the octopod?!

How much time does Tweak have to keep making all these gups?!

Aw Kwazii loves that Gup so much

WHAT IS BARNACLES WEARING WHAT THE HELL NO

Kwazii’s copying it omg-

Shellington and Dashi are such nerd friends it’s actually adorable

Tremors those are probably important

Ring-shape? Like the ring of fire-

Oh no comms are down

A TSUNAMI?!?!

Mateys you should’ve stayed at the Octopod

Kwazii saved Tweak’s life and now it’s flooding

Why don’t they know about the Ring of Fire if they LIVE in the ocean

Oh no the comms are down they can’t reach them!!!!

Damn at least no one is alone...

Of course the Chinstrap Penguins live on a volcano

Well at least Shellington and Dashi are alright and above water so there’s a lower chance of drowning

“How does he know I’m an octonaut?” Maybe it’s because you’re wearing the octonauts colors and the logo all over it

Wow itd be faster to push the stupid thing

Last time you guys followed the screaming sound there was a tsunami

Well at least you found the whales you wanted to find

“I’ve always wanted to see a whale but not like this!” I’d sure hope so Shellington

Of course the volcano erupts

Tweak Kwazii are ya okay?!

THEY DONT HAVE AIR TANKS ON THEM OH NO

TWEAK!!!

Now is not the time to copy Barnacles- holy shit it worked

She just noticed that?!

Shit you guys are stuck

Kwazii beggars can’t be choosers

Why is that the only way to get across Tweak

No Tweak pay attention

ITS ON FIRE

I really hope you guys can hold your breath

She’s pulling a Ladybug and the things she looks at glow now

Improvised fire extinguisher

WHY IS EVERYTHING ON FIRE ARENT YOU UNDERWATER

Eww they landed in seaweed and a banana peel

Why does everyone end in the garbage disposal- sorry compost

Oh he almost fell in-

*opens door and floods room* Guess we’re swimming after all

Tunip leave him it’s natural selection

Grouber just sits and eats during a panic- same

“Lesson Nine- dealing with disasters” what

Why is the background of those videos so bad

I mean it’s rad but also bad

Tunip: *hands the Vegimals a bunch of shovels* good luck

Mateys how did that dirt pile work-

*quickly unplants all the seaweed*

*vacuums the animals*

LEAVE THE SEAWEED YOU HAVE ENOUGH

“You gotta save us!” Why didn’t you get their attention sooner?

Why do none of them notice the volcanoes that they live on/near

We’ve seen the rafts it won’t work

How the hell did you think of that

Is that even possible

They only leave Inkling in charge when legit no one else is there

Kwazii and Tweak: *mimic pirates, rabbits and Barnacles*

Peso and Barnacles: *mimic penguins*

How was the lava that aLMOST COOKED YOUR EGGS NOT A WARNING SIGN

Wow Inkling is not good at this I see why he’s never in charge

Even Kwazii and the Vegimals have managed the octopod better than that

Why is there is Disco Ball

Why does it always switch to the training videos

“Dashi’s so good at this” yeah it’s almost like it’s her JOB

There was a BUTTON FOR THAT EXACT REASON AND YOU DIDNT THINK TO PRESS IT FIRST?!?!?!

Took you long enough jeez

What is they fall off of the “slide”

“Mothers and babies first” anyone else can perish

Well that egg is dead

Oh never mind he got it

WHY DIDNT YOU TWO GET ON THE SIDE TOO TWEAK WOULD UNDERSTAND

I mean she and Kwazii are trying not to be set on fire so I’m sure she’d get it

“I just hope everyone else is okay” well shellington and Dashi are stuck on a volcano that’s exploding trying to get a beached whale out on a very slow Gup, the Vegimals are trying to evacuate the garden, and Tweak and Kwazii are trying to get out of the burning and flooding repair area so no I don’t think anyone else is okay

“This isn’t working” no really Dashi

Oh the crabs know Kwazii that explains so much

Another Training Video?!

The crew all look so nervous when they appear in a training videos

Oh now Dashi and Shellington are mimicking Tweak

Poor Shellington he’s clumsy

“I have to say I.. really like that plan” yea cuz it’s the one that doesn’t involve you burning in the lava

Shellingtons getting a workout in oof

He’s about to fall into the lava

Now the crabs about to fall into the water

Oh god he’s screwed

Crab jump on the whale- now he’s flying

Shellington get out of the lava!!!

Alright some people are safe

Oh never mind the other volcanoes are erupting too

That water level is dangerously high are they gonna be okay

Kwazii don’t phrase it like that it sounds like you’ll die

KWAZII!!!!!

Oh god oh no his tail

Mimicking Barnacles saved the day

TWEAK!!! KWAZII!!!

Oh they are alright thank god

They’re gonna be traumatized from this- *angst time*

“And how will we get up there” Kwazii making good points again

Kwazii with a grappling hook is a terrifying idea please get one

And now they find out the comms are down

Kwazii trying to be helpful

WHY DOES SHE HAVE AN EMERGENCY CARROT STASH

KWAZII GOT ONE TOO

Another video but this ones useless-

TWEAK YOU TURNED OFF THE POWER

They sounded the octo alert together!!!

Babies

EVERYONES OKAY!!!!

OF COURSE THERES ANOTHER ONE

Kwazii and Tweak: ya we’re good

Also them: *trying to not to drown or burn*

They are all gonna connect to each other like Voltron aren’t they

KWAZII DID PRESS IT IM NOT LOSING MY $3 TODAY!!!

Tweak: I got a plan

*crashes through the hatch*

Kwazii: *excited cat sounds*

Yeah they’re going together naturally

“Mega Gup Z” epic naming skills Tweak

“Seat swap” “wait a minute- WHOA”

“It’s completely covered in sea creatures” there’s no way you get all of them

Oh good some are swimming away

“Sit tight” they can’t really do anything else Captain

Do we know where they go after being S U C C E D into the mega Gup z?

And now rocks are everywhere

Kwazii’s excited cat noises are giving me life

Couldn’t the crabs walk away?

Oh no they’re getting stuck in the volcano-

Oh they’re good thank Neptune

Dashi: yea it’s bout to erupt we gotta go

Peso: I saw something inside there we gotta go look

Does Peso want them to die

Of course the animals sound snobby

“Why ever would we do that” CUZ ITS ERUPTING i swear all the creatures have the IQ of a walnut

“I didn’t even make a button for it” bruh

Yeah just like Voltron

Kwazii: *even more excited cat noises cuz he gets to destroy things*

Why do you all name the moves with the word “mantis” in front of them?

They all share one braincell and Barnacles and Peso have it 90% of the time

Tweak gets the other 10%

Everyone else runs on pure chaotic energy

“Tweak Status Report!” Tweak: WE ARE FUCKED

Let Tweak say “Fuck” 2k21

Kwazii: *e x c i t e d c a t n o i s e s*

*throws sea creatures at whale*

*blows up into five gups in massive explosion in front of erupting volcano*

Is all that sea urchin thinks about is food

“You know what I’d like? Dinner” “you know what pal, that sounds great”

“Have the eruptions stopped” “yea but that’s not what I called about”

Is Inkling trying to be more than that guy who sits in his library all day?

Yea it’s not hatching because of the bandage all around it

Please say the egg doesn’t die

Oh it’s alive good

Octonauts: remember that island that got destroyed by a volcano? Would you like to live on an island that volcano created?

Penguins: not really

Octonauts: too bad

Vegitoa? Wow

ITS THAT STUPID SONG AGAIN LAST TIME IT WAS IT MY HEAD FOR TWO WEEKS

“It still felt like we were working as a team” maybe cuz you were all copying each other the whole time

“You really, really need to update those training videos” yeah fair enough

Of course the Vegimals still remember the dance

I see what the hype was about that was a fantastic movie mateys... though everyone’s probably gonna have some problems after that

[insomniac-dot-ink]

Something is Coming

“Yes, ma’am,” a reserved voice said from the kitchen. “Thanks for picking up. We were looking for a dark sky site.”

Harmon hovered behind the couch in the living room like a visitor who didn’t know where the bathroom was and was too polite to ask. Cubby was in the other room with the landline held up to his ear. They were one of the last family’s on the whole entire block that still had a landline.

All the curtains were drawn but Harmon itched all over with a phantom burn. She wished she could break open the nearest window and feel the cool breeze across her skin. She didn’t want to see the street lights though.

“Harmon!” Cubby called and she snapped to attention. “She says the nearest one is over in Nevada. It’s called The Great Basin. You got that?”

“Uh huh!”

Harmon turned to pick up a yellowed Atlas from their parents attic. It smelled like mold and there were soft creases all across the oceans and land masses where it had been folded and faded away. She ran her fingers down one of these creases like she was feeling velvet before scanning the rest of the map.

“Found it!” Her voice was hoarse. She kept her finger on the Great Basin so she wouldn’t lose it-- like it might escape her if she let go. “It’s nowhere near Los Vegas.” Los Vegas was the only thing she knew about Nevada.

“How’s that help?” Cubby snapped at her before he said something else into the phone.

Harmon rolled her eyes. “Where we gonna stop for stuff then?” He ignored her. She was about to repeat her question when a soft rap came from the front door.

Harmon’s eyebrows shot up and she turned toward the sound. Two soft knocks came at the front door again and she thought of calling for her brother again.

Neither of them had bothered to lock the door with everything going on. It wasn’t that kind disaster. Harmon’s pulsed spiked with fear when the doorknob rattled and pushed forward. “Hey!” She made her voice big and fierce. “We got a baseball bat in here and I kn--” She stopped when a pair of big brown eyes looked back at her. Harmon exhaled. “Whatcha’ doing here?” She asked the neighbor girl with relief.

Marnie had to be only seven or eight and carried herself with a bird-like delicacy. She was never as loud as any of the other neighbors, but Harmon made of note of her. She was right next door after all and she always saw her scrawling with chalk on her driveway or watching ant hills out back with a type of reverence.

She stared at Harmon with the intensity of bugs right before they hit the windshield wiper. She was wearing an overly large hoodie with a hole in the sleeve where she had pushed her thumb through. Her jeans were ratty too and Harmon didn’t have the heart to ask if her mama knew how to dress or not. Her face was empty of everything but a small controlled frown and her grip on the doorknob was tight.

Marnie stood dully in the entranceway like a question. Harmon just gestured for her, “Come on now.”

The little girl exhaled through her nose before hurrying over.

Cubby came back into the room and glanced at the neighbor girl like he was less than pleased. He was a tall young man with limbs that were too long for him and floppy orange hair that fell into his eyes. He was supposed to get braces that year, but she supposed that didn’t matter anymore.

He put his hands on his hips and arched an eyebrow at her. “You pack?”

Harmon took Marnie’s hand and it was dry and firm in her own. “Course.” She nodded at her brother “She need to pack?” He thumbed at Marnie since their mama taught them some manners at the end of all things.

Marnie shook her head resolutely. Cubby looked at the ceiling like he was expecting it to open up and reveal something to him. He closed his eyes again. “The rest ain’t coming. Let’s go.”

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

The road was straight as a horse's snout and the rumble of the truck made its way all the way up Cubby’s forearm to his elbows. His fingers were tight around the steering wheel: ten and one, just like his daddy taught him.

Harmon was sitting perfectly upright in the bucket seat and staring straight ahead at the nighttime back road. The other little girl-- Marnie, was huddled in the corner and attached to the door like cling wrap. She wasn’t sleeping despite the hour and her little chin was perched on the door in a way that must rattle her teeth.

Cubby glanced out the window. “There goes part of ORion's belt.” He announced to no one. There was a hole right in the middle of the constellation now, silent as you please.

“Guess he’ll have nothing to hold his pants up with now.” Harmon said in her usual monotone. Cubby thought she got it from their mama always telling her to ‘use her indoor voice,’ and now she had nothing but a flat table-top voice that you could place things on.

“Which one do you think will be next?” Harmon asked without much to it. “I dunno.” Cubby sighed. He didn’t know that many constellations to begin with, but they always had names and faces and a familiar feel to them. You’d be surprised what things you consider as “friends” until they were missing. “The dog one? His owner ain’t got no pants now anyway.” Harmon snorted. “Harry would follow you anywhere buck-naked or not.”

Cubby gave a chuckle and tried not to think about his own dog. “Maybe that’s why Sirius’ll be next . . .” He said in a reserved tone. “He’s following ‘em.”

Harmon didn’t say anything after that. She was staring at her lap.

It had started with the Seven Sisters. They were told not to panic since they said they are some of the oldest stars in the night sky and things like that happened. Sometimes things were just washed off the chalkboard and you couldn’t stop. They couldn’t stop nothing it felt like.

A small whimper came from the other side of the car. Cubby glanced over just in time to see a house approaching in the distance. It was a boxy kind of farmhouse built for being in the middle of nowhere. Cubby frowned.

Every single light in the house was on and all the curtains were open to reveal the honey-yellow light spilling out. He considered turning around then like it was a lighthouse telling boats to avoid the cliffs.

But it could be as bad as any other place. He heard New York City was lit up like a fireworks display. Maybe the rest of the country worse. Lights on. More houses as quiet as the grave. He paused as a cat looked back at them from the very top of the roof. It’s yellow eyes were reflected in his headlights and it seemed to be curled up there like a coiled snake. Marnie whined again and reached for the door handle.

They pulled over.

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

Marnie wasn’t so sure how long they drove for. It could have been hours. It could have been days. She had been set loose much earlier-- like a kite with it’s string cut. Everything about her had been bundled up and packed away once she checked all the rooms in her house at least three times. Once she called her parents names over and over again and they hadn’t come.

A cat was in her lap and had been for awhile now. They all thought it might be a feral barn cat that would bolt the second they approached. However, maybe even cats knew what was happening. It was coaxed down and followed them into the car as docile as a lamb. Marnie had buried her hands it’s soft fur the second they began to drive again. It had closed it’s eyes and flicked it’s tail.

She named it Boots. Marnie seemed to sleep after that in an impossible kind of way since she thought she’d never sleep again. She woke again and everything was still gloom and empty road.

The car stopped with a burbling halt after they passed a large wooden sign. Her two neighbors-- both older kids, Harmon was at least a little closer to her age and Cubby a lot older, commented on finding “The Basin.”

The trees were tall and thin here with a stillness that gave her stomach cramps. It was damp with night by the time they stopped and they knew that it was time to get out. The cat hopped off her lap first to probably go do it’s business.

Harmon helped Marnie jump down and gravel crunched under her boots as she hit the ground. They went to the front of the truck and Harmon helped her clamber up the side of the car so they could all sit on the hood. Cubby was already tilting his chin up and staring up unblinkingly.

At least there were no buildings here. At least there were no more lights on in any houses. She closed her eyes at the memory of every lightbulb bursting to life in her own home as she hurried out the front door. She still didn’t understand how they hadn’t got her.

Marnie copied Cubby’s position and tilted her chin up. Harmon climbed up last and positioned herself in between the two of them as if they were arranging themselves by age. She took Marnie’s hand and then maybe her brother’s as well.

“There goes Cassiopeia.” Cubby murmured and Marnie blinked as a star right above their heads was abruptly smothered. A flame dipped in ink and disappeared as if it had never been there at all.

“Do you think,” Harmon seemed to struggle to form the words, “they’re being eaten?” Something was raw and young about the way she said it.

“Nah.” Cubby responded. “Can’t be. Nothing can eat up everything at once. It’s too big a universe.” Harmon nodded creakily. “Then what?” “Maybe they’re just tired.” He sounded tired himself. “It was just time.” Marnie shook her head and remembered the way everything lit up. Cities first. Then headlights in vacant cars, flashlights, rotting supermarkets, homes, and parking lots.

Marnie folded her legs up into herself. Boots the cat came back and jumped elegantly on the hood like it knew where it belonged, like even now it didn’t want to be alone despite everything. Another star blinked out. Marnie squeezed Harmon’s hand and unfolded her legs so Boots could curl up there.

“Maybe,” Marnie said the first words she had in days. “They’re sleeping so they can burn brighter again later.”

“Yeah, kid.” Cubby said and it was raw and young as well. “Maybe they’re just sleeping.” They watched as things disappeared around them and emptied out of light and substance. Marnie made sure to memorize the faces of the two older kids next to her. She made sure to take in the slope of their noses and hunch of their backs so when she woke up again after all this-- when they all blinked back to life, they would be with her there too.

So whatever came next would have them in it.

[theravencawsatmidnight]

An Obey Me! Fic

Satan has been turned into a cat by a magic book and dropped into the human world with no idea how to get back. A woman finds him & takes him home.

Tags. @squeaky-ducky

Want to see more of this? Let me know! Colored texts is Satan talking in his head.

The Royal Library was having a special sale today and Satan was eager to get there before it got too crowded. Satan was not one for crowds, he prefered selective company if anything, and today was no different. Satan had to side step Lucifer on his way out, he did not want to talk or interact with the oldest brother for any reason. Lucifer would realize later that Satan is nowhere to be found but that's okay, Satan liked getting away.

Satan was approaching the Royal Library, no one was around yet so he made it just in time to have some quiet to himself. The inside of the library was unlike any library in the human world, bookshelves reaching the ceiling, organized to a T with popular Devildom statues at every stairway with red carpets going all the way up leading to the upper floor where even more books were waiting to be opened.

The owner greeted the demon with a smile and he returned it like always, Satan made his way throughout the endless shelves touching every spine of the books as he passed by. It was so quiet here, so peaceful. No yelling, loud chewing or rules. He had picked out a few books , three to be exact that had caught his attention. He was about to sit down when a bright yellow spine got his eye. Satan placed the books on a nearby table and walked over to it with curiosity on his face. This book had paw prints on the spine that went all the way up. He ran a finger down the spine feeling a chill come from it. Satan picked up the book looking at the front and the back. The front said the Aristocat in black and the back had a long gold tail on it. He had never seen this book here before, must be a special edition ?

Satan brought the book to the table sitting down and opening it up to the first page to see some text that looked like lyrics.

“Everybody wants to be.. A cat?

Because a cats the only one who knows where its at?..”

Odd.. what did that mean?

The book twitched and Satan closed it in a second. “Must be magic, when did they stock magic books?” he set it aside to open one of his other choices to read it, leaving the gold book off on its own on the table. Satan was enjoying his read, this book was about detectives and he loved crime shows and such. But he couldn't..help…

“Everybody…...wants to …” he rubbed his eyes trying to shake the song from his mind and continue on with his reading .

“Wants.. To be…” he shook his head and leaned back to run his fingers through his yellow locks. “Pesky thing… maybe if i read the whole song ill get it out of my head.” He pulled the interesting book over again opening it up. “Wants to be.. A ….. Cat….”

The book shook all around on the table and the pages flipped back and forth. Satan tried to stop it but when he touched the pages he was sucked into the book. In a matter of seconds he was dropped in a muddy puddle on a street corner.

“Gah!!” he stumbled all around shaking his head and trying to wipe his face but missed every time falling on his butt in the puddle. Everything was louder, closer, lower…. Satan tried to walk and he fell on his side. “MOW!!!”

“.....”

“...”

“Mmo..”

Satan looked down to see two golden furry muddy paws and long whiskers. He felt a tail swishing behind him and he was very low to the ground….

He sat down in the puddle with shock and realization. He was a cat.

What the hell what the hell what the HELL?!? He fell on his side again trying to find his footing. Where am i , why am i a cat?!?!!

A woman passed him and he jumped running away and fumbling again. Human. That was a human. I cant be…. im in the human world… how. Was it that book? Calm down Satan.. analyze the situation. Im a .. cat and im in the human world., i dont know how long ill be stuck as a cat , i can do this. Satan got his footing after awhile and made his way down the sidewalk, he was covered in mud and rather angry.

Meanwhile, you were reading a book about detectives while you walked down the street. You were so captivated by the mysterious story that you did not see your footing and tripped.

“Ah! “ you stumbled into a nearby building clutching the book to your chest trying to figure out what you stumbled over. “Goodness .. what was that?” You asked looking all around

“Mrow…..” ow…. who did that? Satan pawed his head looking up to see you . His muddy ears wiggled at the sight of you. A human?

“Ahh!!! Im sorry kitty!!!!” You kneeled down putting the book in your bag and picking up the cat. “Im sorry im sorry !!!!”

...put me down

“Did you fall in a puddle? You poor baby ! Let me clean you up!” Satan sniffed at your wrists and his tail swayed. You smell like a new book, i guess.. i can go with you

Back at the Demon's home , Lucifer was hitting End Call on his phone looking rather irritated. “Where is that demon, its nearly dinner…”

[beyondthetemples-ooc]

OC-tober Day 2: Glass

OC-tober prompts put together by @oc-growth-and-development​! I have to ramble in meta instead of write, because my brain is Mush lately. (I know I’m behind but I have a lot pre-written, I just need to put it into coherent words!)

This one especially can be rambled about at length, because the most important “glass” object in my stories is one I greatly enjoy exploring: Dove’s mindscape mirror!

^ I drew it forever ago; here’s the deviantArt link if you’d like to see the big version! 

https://www.deviantart.com/ravenshiddensoul/art/Dove-s-Keepsakes-Mirror-and-Box-284227087

It’s largely modeled after a bird stretching its wings upwards, with a handle like a tail and certain details are inlaid with Azarathean gold to better channel its magics.

Now, this is where the rambling begins: The mirror’s backstory, and I’ll be exploring one of my favorite things to develop in all of my stories: Dove’s mindscape!

Dove's mirror isn't one of her most prized possessions, nor super incredibly sentimental, but it IS an object touched with her mother's magic, it has flourishes of Azarathean gold (some of the last pieces to exist), and it's useful for introspection and self-soothing, so it does have some value and importance.

Dove struggled with meditating quite a lot as a child, and there was only so much her mother could do to help. Meditation was pretty important to them as both a means of helping Dove control her powers, and as a staple of Azarathean spirituality. As she so often did, Alerina poked around and asked enough questions around the temple that she was told about Raven's mirror, and she decided to replicate it for Dove. She custom ordered a gold-lined wooden hand mirror, and then cast the spells to connect it to Dove's inner world herself. It took a few tries (it's much harder to connect something to someone else's mind than your own, after all), but she was nothing if not determined to help her daughter, and eventually figured it out.

As for its main purpose: Self-reflection! (If you'll pardon the pun.) Dove uses it to meditate, but where Raven uses hers for centering and compartmentalization, Dove uses it more as a blend of escapism and a focusing aid.

Much like Raven's, Dove's mirror acts as a portal to the depths of her mind, and this is where it gets fun!

The vortex that transports the users is usually white and gold, imbued with the same energies that give Dove her powers, at least on her mother's side. It's noticeably touched with black and red in DDD. (Dove's evil side starts taking over her mind, and thus its energies manifest through the mindscape, and Dove's portal into it, hence: black and red energies instead.) It tends to open up like a light tunnel and almost opens the mental world around the user, rather than dragging them in.

Once inside, one can't expect to navigate the same way as Beast Boy and Cyborg did in "Nevermore". Every mind is different, after all! We saw Raven's mindscape divided nearly into emotional sections with a neutral space between them, and the way through each area was preset and linear. While different parts of Dove's internal world manifest in different "areas", they're not so totally divided and separate, and there's no real "neutral" zone except at the very "center". The scenery changes, but it's more of a gradual transition, and though Dove employs thresholds to mark key areas, they're very much just visual aids.

Dove's mindscape is laid out more like a series of rooms and courtyards in a very (very, very, very) large mansion. The ground is generally of crystal, spires and columns decorate the scenery, and the thresholds are modeled after birds with their wings outspread. (While this seems like a play on Dove's namesake, it's actually based on Azarath's architecture, particularly that of George Perez's Azarath in the 1980's New Teen Titans comics.)

Dove's sky shows various stars and often casts moonlight from an uncertain source, particularly when she's introspecting. The ambient temperature varies amongst the locations, chilly in the regions ruled by fear and sadness, uncomfortably warm near her demon's domain, and comfortable and breezy where her peace and contentment reside.

One could easily get lost in her mindscape if they don't know where they're going. The place can shift and change on a whim.

Where Dove spends her time building that peace and contentment, it's very closely modeled after her mother's memories of Azarath (which is where she learned how to find peace, after all): there's marble and gold everywhere, and the stars twinkle with dozens of colors in the sky.

Where Dove retreats when there are feelings of timidity, her excruciating shyness, her grief and doubt, the world becomes shrouded in thick fog. Broken buildings and pale light litter the grounds.

Where she built her love for reading, for history, for creativity and study and learning, it's arranged as rooms with dark marbled tile and a carpeted path, the floor for dozens of feet on either side littered with piles of books.

Dove's inner happy place is an open field on gently rolling hills, where thoughts take the form of birds and somehow the sky holds both the stars and suns. One might find trees, flowers, abstract forms of cottages, and forts loaded with mugs and cozy cushions. If you wander far enough you'll find very tall stone walls surrounding it, because Dove's mind is such that her happiness is one of the few things she really truly believes she needs to protect from the rest of herself.

And then there are the aspects of herself that she shoves the deepest down, secreted far away from the surface: the anger, the hunger for power, the mean streak. (Yes, believe it or not, Dove does have a mean streak! You just have to work especially hard to bring it out. Or trigger her in just the right ways around sadism, violence, war, or death. It's very much Not Recommended; bringing too much of that mean streak out could mean Dove loses control of her powers, or worse: her demonic aspects.)

Those secret forces aren't so much located in one particular space of her mind as they're hidden in every dark corner, coursing through the underside of all the ground, a tantalizing power running through every part of her, only ever set free enough to use the dangerous powers to her own ends.

Her places for Fear and Curiosity in particular will be explored in the upcoming Missing: Raven rewrite. (As they're the strongest things Dove is feeling in that story, that's going to be what Beast Boy and Cyborg encounter.) I also explored the way these things manifest in DDD, and in that same story Dove will focus on rebuilding Peace in the final chapter.

I can't talk about Dove's mindscape without mentioning the "emoticlones". These fun little guys are called by the fanon term given to Raven's "emotion clones", the separate parts of her that express a specific set of traits based on particular aspects of her personality. I had so much fun playing with their voices and thoughts in Dove's head during DDD, you have no freaking idea! I also copied the concept of them having Colored Cloaks from Teen Titans canon, because honestly it's a quick and easy way to identify them, and the fandom's familiar with this system through Raven.

Which colors mean what was more inspired by details from a really old, now-defunct website called Cartoon Orbit that had separate "online trading cards" for each of Raven's emoticlones! On that site, Raven's were labeled as such, and this is what I based Dove's system on, loosely: - Pink: "Raven Happy" - Red: "Raven Rage" - Orange: "Raven Rude" - Yellow: "Raven Smart" - Green: "Raven Brave" - Brown: "Raven Fear" (I'm pretty sure there was a purple one, but I don't recall what it was called. "Love" maybe? That might be from fanon; this site was running like 15 years ago, and I was like 10 years old, so I hardly thought to pay Super Special Attention to it...)

But I digress. The point is, I adapted that system for the key aspects of Dove's unique personality, and came to understand them as follows:

- Pink: Joy, relief, coziness - Red: Cruelty, impulsivity, anger - Orange: Apathy, indifference, disregard - Yellow: Curiosity, study, intrigue - Green: Courage, determination, activity - Blue: Contentedness, pacifism, spirituality - Purple: Compassion, friendship, romanticism - Gray: Sadness, grief, longing. - Brown: Fear, fear, fear!

But for Dove's mind in particular, it's not only HER experiences and personality that form the world! She's a telepath, and though she holds others' privacy in very, very high regard and tries never to read someone's mind without their permission, her sense of receptive telepathy is ever-present. Echoes, lights, shadows, reflections of others' memories and thoughts might affect the very edges of her mind. It's a constant sense, but it only ever causes very ephemeral changes unless something deeply affects her.

Her mindscape also grows and changes as Dove grows and changes, experiences life, learns to cope, and changes how she handles her own emotions.

Most notably, the internal struggle in DDD tore her mind apart. Initially it was due to a breakdown of certainty and confidence, hastened by guilt and grief, but it soon became a deliberate tactic to wage war on the parts of Dove's mind that were trying to resist the evil; eventually her inner demon began intentionally breaking/corrupting everything it could touch.

By chapter 20, that evil is the only strong and stable thing in Dove's mind. Raven's attack to remove the evil in her took away that stability, and strength, and thus took away what was essentially the last support holding Dove's mind together. As it says in the story: "everything collapsed". Dove's mindscape was utterly destroyed, and only the most basic aspects of her remained.

For awhile, that left Dove unable to remember things clearly, or feel emotions without great pain. Rebuilding it to the point where she was able to talk and feel Mostly Normally again took months of meditation.

When Dove is kidnapped and Leyla has distressing dreams about her mother, she, Srentha, and Raven use the mirror to check on Dove by accessing her mindscape. With her powers stripped away, surrounded by people who mock her, and certain Fauni rituals sickening Dove to her soul, naturally her mind is very different: shadowy forms flitted at the edges of vision, the ground wavered, her discomfort was thick in the air and the constant fear made everything so, so cold. "Shadows" of others' thoughts flashed in and out of existence, and Dove's desperation manifests as fleeting voices on the wind. It's uncomfortable to be in her mind while she's so distressed.

It's also worth mentioning that her mindscape changes again, essentially "growing" the part of her that belongs to Love when she finally lets herself love Srentha, and it expands again when Leyla's born and Dove once more finds depths of love she didn't know she could carry.

[tttinytrash]

 Another of Shy’s lovely prompts! This time we have big Swap Papyrus as our merskele, and a highly unfortunate reader. Not much other preamble on this one, so let’s jump into it!

How had everything gone so wrong so fast?

The storm had come seemingly out of nowhere, and your tiny boat was being buffeted around like it was nothing. The icy sting of the wind-whipped rain juxtaposed terribly with the aching fire beneath your skin as you overworked muscles desperately tried to wrangle the lines to get you the heck out of this mess. 

You lost your footing on the soaked deck and tumbled harshly, catching yourself on the rope around the perimeter of your boat just barely. You clung for dear life as a huge swell dangerously tilted your entire hull, threatening capsizing you and your only hope of getting out alive. It was in this moment you saw a faint orange glow beneath the waves, but you had absolutely no time to consider what it could be as you scrambled back to your position to try and regain control of the boat before you hit the rocky outcropping nearby.

You got your ropes again and fought like mad, but it quickly became futile as an enormous wave struck you along the starboard side and tossed you off the boat, into the rocks. Thankfully, you missed the worst of them but felt a sharp pain in your left leg. You fought back the pain and came back to air to see your boat had been mercilessly dashed into the rocks shortly after you, and had begun to sink. 

You desperately paddled, kept aloft by your life jacket, but your safety gear was no match for whatever had apparently wrapped around your good leg and dragged you towards Davy Jones. You fumbled where you felt the pulling, realizing a rope from the boat was tangled around your leg. Thankfully your knife was still folded on your belt and you used it to saw off the rope. Without its pull you were rushing towards the surface again, but it seemed so far off you weren’t sure you’d make it from this depth. Is this how you left this world?

As your body was pulled upwards by your own paddling and the buoyancy of your vest, blackness creeped on the edge of your vision. ...and orange?

-----

Papyrus had felt the distress from a strong soul from deep below the waves. From his vantage point and because of his size the stormy currents were a novelty, but clearly for whoever had been caught above it was life or death. 

...maybe he’d just go check on them, push their boat out of the worst of it and back towards shore. Yeah, that’s all. No biggie. 

He came near the surface and saw it was lone human on a small boat. Jeez, how had they even lasted this long on their own? He was impressed, but looking for an opening in which he could help without being spotted. Humans spelled trouble for his kind, and despite the 0 EXP he saw in his Check he couldn’t not be wary. The last thing his bro or the rest of the school needed was hunters.

Unfortunately his caution meant the storm beat him to the punch, and smashed the ship. Oh Delta, was the human dead?

No! He could still feel the bright flare of determination somewhere... below him?

They were being dragged down by the wreckage, and as he darted towards them to free their leg he saw them do it themself. Oh gosh, they had a knife. The weapon made him hesitate again, which meant he felt their determination start to peter out. Their grip went slack as the knife fell away, consciousness slipping due to lack of air.

Curse him and his soft Soul!

He sped over, cupped his hands around them, and propelled them both towards air as fast as his fins could go. Delta let him not be too late...

The hoarse hacking when he made it to air was more of a relief than he’d expected, but after mostly clearing their lungs the fatigue won out and they collapsed into his hands They seemed barely aware and were just making drunken sounds, but their eyes did intermittently open.

During his observation, the waves of the storm actually managed to surprise him and dunk his skull underwater, but he managed to keep the human in the air thankfully. 

There was nothing else for it, he had to take them in and get them both out of this mess.

He took a brief moment to spit out seawater so the human would have air, then slipped them into his mouth without much ado. Tossing his skull back brought them to the opening of his throat, and they weakly threw their arms out as if to steady themself. The sluggish movement hopefully meant they weren’t fully aware still, as he didn’t have any time for reassurances (he narrowly avoided being dunked again and the storm was getting even worse) and didn’t need a fighting human inside. One strong swallow brought them swiftly toward his core, at which point he left the surface. 

One hand was absently brought to rest on his middle, where he felt the human slide in and go mostly still. He still felt the bright power of their soul, so they were alive, but they may have finally succumbed to exhaustion and passed out. That was fine by him, that left him time to figure out what the heck his next move would be.

-----

Wakefulness was slow to come back to you, and you spent a blissful moment in hazy awareness. 

Sadly for you, memory snapped back into place in the next moment which made you to jolt upright. The rapid movement was more than your abused body wanted to handle, and it very clearly told you as much. Well apparently you had to take a breather, so you took stock of your condition. Your headache throbbed in time with your pulse, your muscles ached from overuse, and your throat and eyes hurt from saltwater, but you were alive. You looked to your legs, which were the areas that hurt worst. The left was a rainbow of bruises and may or not be able to be stood on, but you were both surprised and relived the underlying bone wasn’t utterly shattered from your unfriendly meeting with the rocks. Meanwhile the right had an ugly forming bruise and plenty of abrasion from the rope that had wrapped around you and dragged you down.

Oh, right. Now you recalled being dragged downwards after the destruction of your boat. So... what happened to you? You remembered rushing back towards the surface, but not reaching it.

Where were you?

You looked around and saw you were in a spacious cavern. The sand along the edge was widest where you sat, oddly bundled atop what was likely someone’s sail at one point. Maybe even yours. The center of the cavern, and indeed the majority of the “floor” so to speak was water. So this must have been an air pocket. How far underwater were you? How long would this air last? Then again, the cavern was huge for a single human so food and water would be the first priorities. But it was still concerning to have limited air supply. 

Any planning ended when movement from the water caught your attention. A giant freaking skull of all things rose from the depths, followed by the rest of a skeletal torso adorned with an orange tail. Oh, god, the orange glow had been this thing?! What did it want?!

You were frozen in place, much to your chagrin and the monster before you focused its gaze on you. Oddly, it smiled when it spoke “oh good, you made it.”

“W-where am I? Who are you? What do you want from me?!”

He actually managed to quirk an eyebrow at you without having eyebrows. “in a cave, papyrus, and nothing.”

“...What?” Everything just felt too fast right now, but your panic did start to fade the longer the monster before you did a grand total of nothing towards you.

He laughed a little, surprising you enough to shake off a good chunk of panic and actually process that he’d been answering your questions.

“S-sorry. I’m a little scrambled right now.”

“got that part, yeah.” he teased.

You couldn’t help the laugh in response before replying “It was, Papyrus, right? I’m Y/N.”

“good to meetcha, kiddo. so, how much do you remember after your boat crashed?

“Not much. I was underwater last I recall, how did I get here?”

“didn’t miss a ton then. i fished you out, but with the storm it was best to bunker down for awhile. it’s still pretty nasty up there. i can take you back to shore when the storm lets up. for now, how’re your legs?”

“Not the best, but I’ll live.”

“lemme heal you up then.” he said, bringing his hand up towards you and approaching.

“Woah! Wait!” You scrambled to move away, only managing to tangle yourself in the sail and bring a wave of white hot pain to your left leg.

“right, big scary monster. got it.” He backed off, hands up in surrender. 

You felt bad about it now, but couldn’t help that his sheer size made him intimidating. Even if he’d apparently been the reason you weren’t dead...

“let’s try from a distance then, show that i can help?” He formed a bone from nothing, glowing bright green and as big as your hand. Surprisingly, he shot the bone towards you, where it struck the bruising on the better leg and appeared to melt into the skin on contact.

You flinched, expecting pain from the impact, but found it just felt warm and tingly instead. Upon inspection, the soreness was diminished and the bruising was nearly gone. You looked up to Papyrus, mouth agape in wonder.

“heh, maaaagic~” he wiggled his fingers, clearly amused by your reaction. “can i help now?”

You hesitantly nodded, presenting your pretty busted leg. You two were stuck here for now, may as well give him a little leeway. 

You didn’t scramble away at his approach this time, but couldn’t help but tense up anyways. He gingerly brought his hands forward, laying the very tips of his long, thin fingers atop the damaged limb far more gently than it seemed should be possible for such large hands. Even the feather light touch made you flinch momentarily before his phalanges started to glow the same green as the launched bone had been. Warmth seeped into your leg, and it felt like a warm blanket on a cold rainy day. The energy being transferred somehow carried a sense of benevolence, which made you feel safe.

“we’re lucky it’s your tibia that got the worst of it. bones are my specialty, for obvious reasons.” He said, smiling a little at the final comment.

You chuckled at his observation, “I can see why. And, uh, thank you for everything, I don’t think I actually said that yet.”

“eh, don’t mention it.”

For how odd this whole encounter was, it wasn’t so bad at all.

-----

Well, as comfortable as the human had gotten with him (not feeling the fear radiating off them after awhile was such a gratifying feeling) he still wasn’t looking forward to getting them out of here. He kinda knew this was gonna be rough, but with the storm outside finally quelled he needed to get this little human back home. 

He had left the cave to assess the storm, but his thoughts were completely focused on how to make the next steps easier. So distracted, he almost swam past the entrance to the cave entirely. Luckily he snapped out of it and was able to redirect to enter the cave. The human perked up as soon as his skull crested the water, and he didn’t fight the smile in reply.

“ready to go back topside, squishy?” he asked.

“The storm is gone?” The human asked hopefully.

“yep, won’t be any trouble.”

“Ok so how do we do this? Are you just going to cup me in your hands, or...?”

“ah, about that. we’re pretty deep down, i don’t think you’d make it back to air just holding your breath.”

“Oh, well how did i get here then?”

“same way you’ll gave to get back, i just played submarine. i’ll just take you in, and you get to relax while i take us back towards the nearest port.”

“...I don’t follow.” 

They were confused and hesitant, but not outright scared yet. That was good. The hope was that being casual and forward about it would play off the trust he’d already built, “it’s totally safe, but the short version is i’d swallow you and let you out later.”

There was the inevitable flare of fear, but it wasn’t as strong as it could have been. “Safely? You’re sure?”

“yep. you’ve already done it, but i’m not surprised you don’t remember given your state when i found you.”

They were silent, but a plethora of emotions swirled around them. He could easily feel their distress without even trying.

Better try reassurance and appealing to logic, then. “kiddo, if i’d wanted to hurt you, wouldn’t i have already done it?” he kept his voice soft, non-accusatory, and gave them space to think. 

His words seemed to have cut through their clouded emotions and they nodded after a moment. “Yeah... you would have. Ok. If that’s how I get home, let’s do it. Can you just... make it quick? To uh... get me inside, that is.”

“you want me to just do it for ya?” he asked, somewhat surprised.

“Yeah, get it over with. I don’t want to think about that part too much if I’m being honest.”

“alright, can’t say i blame you.” He gently scooped the human into his hands, and his Soul sunk a little at how much they’d curled in on themself. “you can close your eyes if you want, i’ll tell you when it’s done.”

They took his advice, and he saw them cycle a steadying breath. Well, they’d said make it quick so...

He pinched the back of their shirt, hung them over his open mouth, and lowered them in. He was able to release them and the slight drop brought their legs into his throat. The extra space meant their head was fully behind his teeth, so he closed his mouth around their warm body. He felt their hands flutter blindly around the area as if they were fighting the urge to stop their descent. He decided to keep going, even if it felt a little wrong when they were so clearly anxious, to comply with their request for speed.

One swallow brought their hips down, and he felt his throat dip into the small of their back. Another gulp and he felt their ribcage stretch the ectoflesh around them, and a third brought their form fully inside his. He brought his hand up to trace their downward journey, until he lost them past his clavicles. He felt them spill into his belly a few seconds later, limbs flailing outwards as they startled in the suddenly more open space.

He didn’t think they really needed him to tell them, but went ahead and said it anyways “ok kiddo, that’s the whole trip. i’ll give you a sec to get your bearings before we head off.” While they settled, he leaned his spine along the sandy embankment in the cave and bought his hands to fold over his belly in concern for his worried passenger.

They did start to move around, movements shaky and uncertain. He didn’t comment, letting them figure things out as they pleased. Their tactile approach did feel pretty nice, actually, but he didn’t outwardly react for fear of discouraging them. Whatever observations their pawing at the walls and floor were helping them make was lessening the fear exponentially.

After a while he hesitantly asked “you doing ok in there?”

Their tiny voice sounded a little odd coming from so very close, “Y-yeah. I’m good. ...I’m good...”

“good. told you it was safe. how do you feel?”

“Confused? Overwhelmed? ...I’ve got a dumb question though.”

He laughed, which seemed to have knocked them over since he felt an impact inside. “whoops, sorry kiddo. but if you’ve got questions you can ask.”

“...What does this feel like for you?”

That surprised him, and he fumbled for something to say beyond “good.” They took up space, which was helpful considering it’d been awhile since his last meal. Definitely wouldn’t bring that up though, for fear of scaring them. 

“Papyrus?”

Shoot, had he been silent for that long? “sorry, surprised me there. uh, i guess this feels protective? kinda feels good, like a hug?”

“But you can feel me in here?”

“of course. you’re right here,” he lightly pressed in where he could feel their weight, and heard the squeak of surprise in response.

The squeak devolved into laughter, and they hesitantly pushed back at his invading hand. 

He chuckled and relented on the pressure, “alright, that one wasn’t even dumb. any more questions?”

“I guess that was the big one. Think I’m set to go.”

“cool, hold tight then.” He pushed off the sand, ducked out of the cave, and headed towards human civilization.

The human slid around due to the drastic shifts in gravity, but resettled relatively quickly.

After a bit, Papyrus offered “i can let you see where we’re going if you like.”

“You can do that?” they sounded excited at the prospect.

He turned his magic from opaque to transparent in reply, earning a happy gasp from the human as they quickly readjusted to take the best advantage of the view. He went quiet again, happy to let them enjoy the views of the ocean most human weren’t afforded. 

This really wasn’t how he’d planned for his day to go, but he couldn’t really say this experience left him disappointed. 

With any luck, maybe he’d get to see this little sailor out on the sea again.

[littlelovelyspiderling]

Mending

ever wondered what happens when you have too many ideas and want to do them all immediately so you cram them into one story even though it doesn’t make any sense?? this. this is what happens

What if Zuko was the one struck by Azula's attack in The Chase? And what if instead of fire, it was lightning? An exploration of what would have occurred between Zuko, Iroh, and the Gaang in that scenario. Hint -- the Gaang has a LOT of fun messing with him.

word count: 29,650

_____________________________________

It happened so fast. Unbelievably fast. 

One second, Azula was standing in front of them, trapped and outnumbered, raising her hands in defeat. They’d beaten her; they’d won. It should’ve been over. Then, with a single sweep of her arm, a bolt of lightning shot from her fingertips, zipping toward Iroh too quickly, too close range for him to react in time to redirect it. 

She had been aiming at him. It should’ve been him getting hit, him doubling over, him collapsing lifelessly to the ground. So why was his nephew suddenly flying in front of him? Why did the lightning strike him instead? How could he have predicted what was about to happen, let alone moved in time to take the blow? 

Why did the world dip into slow motion as the electricity coursed through his body? Flashing, cracking, sizzling—coiling like neon blue snakes? Why couldn’t he move as he watched Zuko fall? Why didn’t he reach out and catch him? Why did his screams sound distant even though he was right there, convulsing at his feet?  

Why did the stench of burning flesh have to smell so familiar?

“Zuko!”

The avatar and his gang threw everything they had at the princess. But in a flash of blue flame, heat and smoke exploded across the battlefield. When the air cleared, she was gone. Zuko lied where he’d fallen, motionless and silent. 

Iroh dropped to his knees. “No—Zuko—no.” A large hole was seared through the fabric on the upper left side of his chest. The skin that was visible was red and raw. His eyes were closed and his muscles were slack. He looked asleep—peaceful, even. 

It was too similar. Too real. His last day in Ba Sing Se roared back to the present with a ferocious vengeance. With trembling hands, Iroh cradled the boy’s head. 

“Nephew...can you hear me? Zuko…please...”

Once they’d determined the threat was gone, the group gazed upon the gut-wrenching scene, stunned. A cold knot formed in Aang’s belly. Zuko had been hurt—bad. Zuko was their enemy. They’d been fighting each other not even thirty seconds ago. But the old general he called his uncle had always seemed strangely neutral. He’d never actively fought against any of them. Back in the Northern Water Tribe, he’d helped them save the moon spirit—and in turn, the entire world. 

However evil Zuko was, Aang didn’t want him to die. The old man clearly cared about him. And the sound of his sobs…

He looked to Katara. The war raging in her soul gleamed in the whites of her eyes. She caught his gaze, grimacing bitterly, her hands balled into fists at her sides.

“Katara,” Toph said, the weight of the situation heavy in her voice. The others held their breath, glancing between Zuko and the waterbender. Slowly, the anger drained from her expression. 

She stepped toward the old man, extending her hand. “I—I can help,” she said. “I can heal him, if you’ll let me.”

“Katara!” Sokka protested. She ignored him. Iroh looked at her over his shoulder, eyes red and pleading. 

That was all the confirmation she needed. Katara rushed to Zuko’s other side, kneeling opposite of Iroh. She streamed a line of water from her pouch and cloaked it around her hands.

“What are you doing?” Sokka snapped. “He’s our enemy!”

“He’s hurt,” Katara retorted coldly. “He needs my help.”

“I d-don’t think he’s breathing,” Iroh stammered, clutching the teenager like he’d disintegrate if he let him go. “Is he—is his heart—I c-can’t tell if he’s—”

“He’s breathing,” Toph assured him, laying a hand on his shoulder. “I can feel it. His heart’s beating, too.” She closed her eyes. “But...they’re both very weak.”

It tore her up, feeling Iroh shiver against the ground, hearing his voice quake with fear. She’d only spoken to him once, but in their short conversation, he’d proved himself to be a wise, kind person who would do anything for his troubled nephew. They couldn’t let him die, if only for Iroh’s sake.

Katara held her hands over the injury, the water following its path through his body. The damage was deep and gruesome. Streams of burnt flesh fanned out from the entry wound across the majority of his torso, snaked down his left leg, then re-concentrated at the bottom of his foot, where the lightning must have exited. 

“This is bad,” she admitted, her gaze shifting to Zuko’s face. He’d never looked so fragile to her before—so small. His weird bald ponytail look was gone; he’d chopped it off and let his hair start growing out. It was short, fuzzy, and—dare she say—cute, comparatively. It also aged him down, making him look less like a scary Fire Nation soldier and more like a teenager. 

“It’s going to take me awhile. We should find somewhere safe to move him.”

Iroh sniffled and wiped his eyes, holding Zuko’s head in his lap and running a hand through his hair. “Okay,” he said. “Yes, let’s—yes. Okay.”

It took him a minute to stand. He kept his palm cupped under Zuko’s head, never letting it touch the ground. Once he was on his feet, Katara and Aang helped lift his nephew into his arms. 

“Thank you,” the old man whimpered. “Thank you all s-so much...” Tears flowed freely from his eyes as he held Zuko close to his chest. Aang offered him a small smile. 

“Let’s head back toward the river,” Katara said, returning the water to her pouch. “Appa should be waiting for us there. We can set up camp in the surrounding forest.” 

As she walked past Sokka, he gave her a what is wrong with you look. She shot back with a glare of her own, which shut him up for the time being. 

That lasted about two minutes. As Katara led the way, Sokka jogged to catch up with her, keeping his voice low.

“You do realize how crazy this is, don’t you?”

Katara narrowed her eyes but didn’t respond.

“We’re helping Zuko. You know, royal Fire Nation psycho freak? Ozai’s devil spawn? The guy who's been chasing us around and terrorizing us since we first met Aang? The dude who wants nothing more than to kill us all and drag our friend back to the Fire Nation like a prized turkey pig?”

“You think I want to help him?” Katara snapped, holding her shoulders tight as she walked. “He’ll die if I don’t heal him. Are you saying we should just let him die?”

Sokka swallowed and stared at his feet. “I...no. I don’t know. I just...don’t see any version of this ending well.”

“I know it’s weird,” Aang concurred, glancing back at Iroh nervously. “But...we have to help him. It’s the right thing to do.”

“What if one of us got shot full of lightning?” Sokka retorted. “You think Prince Jerkbender would do anything to help us? Of course not. He would exploit the situation to try to capture Aang.”

“His uncle would help,” Toph said.

Aang smiled solemnly. “Exactly. Don’t think of it as helping Zuko. Think of it as helping Iroh not be sad.” He blinked, his eyes darkening. “He seems...really scared and shaken.”

“It boggles my mind that he cares about him so much. That old man’s kindness is completely wasted on a selfish moron like Zuko.” 

Iroh moaned suddenly, causing the group to freeze in place and turn around. The Fire Nation general was trailing far behind them, flushed and sweaty. His knees were wobbling under the burden of Zuko’s weight.

“I’m so sorry,” he grated out. “S’my old joints. Please...could someone…”

Slowly, all eyes swiveled to Sokka. It took him a moment to notice the sudden onslaught of attention. He glanced between his friends, spluttering.

“What?” he exclaimed. “Why me?”

Aang shrugged. “Out of all of us, you’re probably the strongest.”

“But I don’t want to carry the angry jerk!” he whined, stamping his feet.

Katara placed her hands on her hips. “You don’t want to, or you’re not strong enough to?” she retorted smugly. 

Sokka knew she was baiting him, but with a huff, he decided to bite. All of them were exhausted; Azula and her tank of dangerous ladies had made sure of that. The sooner they got to camp, the sooner they could rest. 

“Fine,” he grumbled. He marched back toward Iroh, griping sourly under his breath. “Here—gimme.”

Sokka knelt down and let Iroh drape Zuko over his back. Sokka wrapped his arms under his knees and hoisted his weight forward, bundling the unconscious prince into the world’s most unhappy piggyback ride. 

Once he was secure, Sokka rose upright and stomped after Katara, face gnarled with irritation. “Happy now?” he said. “If he wakes up and roasts me alive, I’m blaming you.”

“Please be careful with him,” Iroh said nervously, tailing Sokka with his hands out like he was going to drop his nephew at any moment.

Sokka rolled his eyes but held Zuko a little tighter. “Yeah, yeah,” he murmured.

Ten minutes later, they reached the river. Appa was snoring peacefully beneath a tree with Momo nestled in his fur. The sun poked above the horizon line, casting blood red beams across the water.

As Aang gathered their blankets and sleeping bags from Appa’s saddle, Katara yawned and pointed at an alcove between two evergreens. “Toph, could you make us an earth tent? One big enough for all of us to fit.”

Toph jabbed her fists out then up, forming a large, triangle-shaped structure. The gang staggered inside, blinking and rubbing their sleepy eyes, with Iroh close behind.

“Lay him down here,” Katara instructed. Aang spread their spare blanket across the ground while Sokka unraveled himself from the lifeless firebender. 

“You know, you’re a lot heavier than you look, your highness,” Sokka scoffed. “Might want to lay off the fire gummies. And your obsessive rage-fueled quest of evil against me and my friends.”

Iroh hurried to Sokka’s aid. The two of them worked together to gently guide Zuko to the ground. Aang tucked Sokka’s Water Tribe jacket under his head as a pillow. 

“But that’s…!” Sokka began, then sunk in defeat. “Oh, whatever.”

“He looks so still,” Iroh breathed. He petted Zuko’s hair and ran his thumb along his cheek, tears glistening in his eyes. “Oh, nephew. How could I let this happen…?”

Again?

Katara re-soaked her hands in water and sat on Zuko’s left. “I’ll help him as much as I can,” she said, expression steely. She stifled another yawn, then got to work. 

The moon was high in the sky by the time she was done. The wound was still bad, but edging away from life-threatening. Her friends had fallen asleep long ago; she and Iroh were the only one’s left awake. She would’ve kept going, but at this point, she could barely keep her eyes open.

“He’ll need a few more sessions to heal properly,” she said, streaming the water back into her pouch and rising to her feet, “and a lot of rest. I’ll start again in the morning.”

“Thank you, young lady,” Iroh said, bowing his head. “I owe you and your friends an insurmountable debt. I know how you all must feel about my nephew, but…” He swallowed, voice wavering. “He—he’s very important to me. I know he is capable of great good, he’s just...been through a lot.” 

Katara wasn’t sure how to respond. She didn’t want to entertain the possibility that Zuko was or ever could be an actual human being with feelings—not after all the pain and trouble he’d put them through. Regardless of how his uncle saw him, he was still their enemy: a Fire Nation scumbag determined to capture their friend and rid the world of its last emblem of hope. Healing him was a reflection of her own kindness, and a courtesy to Iroh; it had nothing to do with Zuko himself. Having the capacity for good wasn’t enough; he’d never acted on it, which rendered it meaningless.

Katara glared at the ground. “If he wakes up…” she began.

“He will be no trouble to you,” Iroh assured her. “You have my word.”

She trusted him, though she wasn’t sure why. He was just as much Fire Nation as Zuko, but his aura and levelness reminded her of her father. Someone inclined to protect the wellbeing of others, and who never broke their promises. Still, she wasn’t letting her guard down.

She eyed the large red splotch on Zuko’s chest. “Even if I can fully heal him, he’ll probably still be left with a scar.”

Iroh blanched, but kept his expression stony. “I see,” he said. His somber gaze shifted to his nephew’s face. “That is okay. He can handle it.” His fingers carded through Zuko’s hair, lingering around his left eye. “It won’t be his first time being scarred by a family member.”

Something cold coiled around Katara’s heart. Her eyes flickered toward the dark, leathery burn marring half of the prince’s face before quickly jerking away. Someone in his family did that to him? She’d never thought much about Zuko’s scar—just that it marked him as an individual, distinguished him as their enemy, and made him all the more scary-looking for it. She hadn’t really considered how he’d gotten it, or what significance that might carry. 

Her curiosity was officially piqued, but she knew better than to ask. She turned away indignantly. What does it matter, anyway? A bad home life doesn’t warrant a lifetime of evil. 

No amount of sob stories would ever make Zuko deserving of her sympathy.

“Goodnight,” she said, curling up beside her friends.

“Goodnight,” he replied. He scooted behind Zuko and lifted his head into his lap, periodically checking his pulse as he petted his hair. It didn’t look like he was planning to go to sleep anytime soon. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The world that Zuko woke to was bright and painful. A beam of sunlight was shining directly into his eyes, making him squint and blink. He tried to shift to escape the harsh glow, but he couldn’t seem to move.

Maybe it had something to do with the bone-deep agony radiating through his entire body.

It started underneath his left shoulder and pulsed out from there, feverish and nauseating. His foot surged with a similar ache, but to a less heated degree. Every feeble attempt to move made it a hundred times worse. Even breathing was excruciating. 

Ugh, he thought, gritting his teeth. His mind was hazy; his skull felt like it was full of stones. Wha…?

He blinked, and a blinding blue flash exploded behind his eyelids. He jolted as the memory returned, his hand flying to his shoulder.

Azula. Outnumbered. Defeated. But...she attacked. Uncle. Had to protect him. Jumped between them. Then…

A cataclysmic thrum of unimaginable pain. After that, everything had clapped to darkness.

Grimacing, Zuko slid one hand underneath his body and pushed against the ground. The effort left him dizzy and gasping, but he managed to lift himself off the floor and into a sitting position, his bare back resting against the stone wall behind him. He sat that way for a while, panting and moaning, gripping his chest where the pain throbbed like a second heartbeat. 

Azula had done this to him. Figured. Had she captured the avatar and dragged him home to Father while he was out, taking away his only chance of ever redeeming his honor? 

He looked down at his shoulder, lifting his hand away from the skin. A large, red scar lied underneath, blistered and swollen and still relatively fresh. The splotchy, scarlet circle was the only visible evidence left by Azula’s attack, although he could feel its harrowing effect in every muscle of his body. It looked slightly different than the mark on his face—felt different, too. But not different enough. 

Another burn. Another scar. At least this one he could hide.

But man, did it hurt.

He tore his gaze away from the wound and scanned his surroundings, blinking the sleepy sheen from his eyes. He was in some kind of tall, tent-like structure made of earth. The ground around him was littered with blankets, bags, and other miscellaneous items. Not Uncle’s belongings, he realized. Zuko’s throat tightened. 

He’d have to worry about dealing with Azula later. For now…

Where in the world am I?

Voices reached his ears, making him perk up in alarm. Someone calling from afar, followed by a cheerful laugh.

“Hold on—let me grab my staff!”

Footsteps approached, quick but light. A few moments later, a figure jogged into the tent, silhouetted by sunshine. Zuko squinted against the harsh brightness, his eyes still bleary with exhaustion. 

The individual moved out of the doorway to rummage through a bag on the floor. Only when he stood upright, glider in hand, backlit by the sun but no longer blown out, did his bald head, blue tattoos, and chipper smile become distinguishable.

No way.

“Found it!” the avatar cried. Then his gaze fell upon the injured firebender, who was now sitting upright and visibly conscious, and his eyes bugged out of his skull.

“Ah!” he gasped, flinching back and dropping his staff. Before Zuko had time to react, let alone process what was going on, Aang darted out of the tent, shouting: “He’s awake! Guys! Zuko’s awake!”

Zuko blinked. And suddenly, four people were looming over him, their outlines and features fuzzy-looking. Time seemed to be flying by at double the speed while he was trapped in slow motion. His brain felt like a mushy bowl of jook. Fortunately, he managed to identify the individuals surrounding him.

Unfortunately, they were the last four people he wanted to see right now. 

“What the—?” he exclaimed, panic blooming in his chest. He tried to sit up a little straighter, but the movement made his chest flare with pain. He clutched it with a groan, slumping limply against the wall. 

“Don’t move,” the small earthbending girl said. “You’re hurt really bad.”

Zuko forced his eyes open, leering between the avatar and his gang, sweating bullets and shivering all over. Why was he shivering so much? Why couldn’t he make it stop? He didn’t just feel hurt; he felt sick. The wound was hot and sticky against his palm.

“W-what are you doing here?” he growled. 

“Saving you, that’s what,” Aang retorted. The Water Tribe boy—Sokka, if his memory served—stood beside him, holding his boomerang at the ready. 

“Azula attacked you,” he explained. “She shot you full of lightning. You’d be dead if Katara hadn’t helped you.”

Zuko’s stomach turned icy. His eyes wandered to the waterbender, who frowned at him with her hand hovering over her pouch. All of them looked ready to kill him the second he made the wrong move. 

Meanwhile, he felt ready to puke. 

Why would they save me? That meant they needed him for something. Information? Intel on the Fire Nation? A ransom hostage? Fat chance he’d be helpful on any of those accounts. They could turn him over to his father, maybe—he was a fugitive of the Fire Nation. Then again, so were they. 

Or they were lying about saving him. Maybe they’d kidnapped him after Azula’s attack just so they got to watch him suffer a slow, grisly death. Maybe this was building toward some elaborate form of payback for all the times he’d tried to capture the avatar. His injury wasn’t even bandaged—no medicine in sight, either. What exactly had they done to help him?

“I’ll go get Iroh,” Aang said, jogging out of the tent. Zuko’s fear-fueled fantasies veered into confusion.

What? Uncle’s here? Why? Was he hurt, too? Had the avatar and his friends captured them both? What was going on? 

“His fever’s gotten worse,” the earthbender said. It took Zuko a second to realize she was talking about him, and a second longer to realize she had somehow come to this conclusion without even touching him. It made no sense. None of this did. It felt like he was trapped inside some crazy, lucid nightmare.

Katara studied him for a while, her eyes dark and searching. Then she sighed, coating her hands in water. She walked toward him suddenly, making Zuko tense.

“Stay back!” he shouted, gritting his teeth to keep them from chattering. He kept one palm glued to his wound while the other stayed flat against the ground to prevent him from toppling over.

To his disbelief, the waterbender ignored him, sitting by his side with a level expression. Katara stared at Zuko coldly. She’d never realized how golden his irises were. She’d never been this close to see—not while he was awake. When they caught the sunlight, they glinted and shimmered in an almost supernatural way. The eyes of a hunter. 

Zuko glared back with his usual scowl. Brows furrowed, teeth bared. He’d always reminded her of a predator. Something wild and ferocious that prowled after the innocent. But today, something was different. Today, Zuko was the prey: trembling, injured, trapped, and scared. His typically scalding gaze was clouded with fear.

Katara held up her hands as she stared him down. The water encasing them glowed a soft blue. “I’m going to help lower your fever,” she stated. “Either you sit still and let me do it, or Toph pins you down and makes you stay still.”

“And if you try firebending, Boomerang is coming for your head,” Sokka added. 

Zuko’s skin bristled with goosebumps as chills shuddered up his spine. After the Agni Kai against his father, he recalled contracting an intense fever in response to the terrible burn. It hadn’t lasted long, but it wasn’t pleasant. Uncle had worked diligently to bring it down and comfort him while the physicians tended to his scorched face. It wasn’t a time he liked to remember, but he wondered if that’s what was happening now—if Azula’s burn was afflicting him just like Father’s had. 

“I don’t w-want your help,” Zuko hissed. He had no idea what she was planning to do to him, and he wasn’t interested in finding out. Whatever the end goal to all of this was, their intentions were clearly hostile.

Katara shared a look with her brother, then wrinkled her brow. Wordlessly, she reached forward, placing her palm against Zuko’s forehead. 

“Hey! What’re you—?” He squirmed away and made a grab for her wrist, but she caught his first, pinning his arm against the wall without moving the hand on his head. He didn’t realize how weak he was until he tried and failed to wriggle free of her hold. The effort it took just to try left him woozy. 

“Just—wait,” she instructed sharply. “It’ll make you feel better. I promise.”

He considered frying her hand to force her to release him, but Sokka was right there, and he knew how much that boomerang could hurt—even with a helmet on. Plus, he was tired, lightheaded, and now that she mentioned it…

He stopped fighting for a moment, panting. The watery glove around her hand felt like it was seeping through his skull and into his brain, sucking all the heat and pain with it. The pulsing ache in his head eased to a small hum. His feverish chills eased away. Slowly, his muscles relaxed. He blinked, stunned by the sudden and extraordinary relief. 

Once she realized he wasn’t trying to escape anymore, she let go of his wrist and pressed both palms to his temples. The assuage increased even more, making Zuko release a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. 

“This should bring your fever down temporarily,” she said. This was not normal waterbending; he knew that much. It was cool, tingly, soothing, almost spiritual in nature. When she took her hands away, he was left feeling exponentially better, though the wound on his shoulder continued to throb. Zuko met her gaze for an instant, pressing a finger to his brow. 

“What...what’d you just do?” he asked. Katara stood and stepped back, her expression sour.

“Reduced your pain, even if you deserve every bit of it.” 

Anger resurfaced in the prince’s chest. Even though he was still reeling with relief, his eyes cut daggers through hers.

“Then why do it?” he remarked. He gripped his injury tighter. “Why am I here? What do you want from me?”

“I’ll see if Iroh has any herbal remedies he could give you for a more permanent solution,” Katara continued, ignoring his abrasive inquiry. “But you’ll need plenty of rest to recover completely.”

“Answer my questions!” Zuko yelled, making Sokka and Toph wince. “Why are you keeping me here? What are you planning?”

The shouting roused his wound, making him fall back against the wall with a strained whimper. At that moment, the avatar skipped back into the tent with Iroh on his tail. Zuko glanced up along with the others. As soon as Uncle’s eyes found his, the old man melted. 

“See? He’s awake! Told you he’d be all right!”

Iroh didn’t wait for him to finish. He rushed toward his nephew, tripping over sleeping bags and pushing past Sokka with his arms outstretched. “Zuko!” he cried.

“Uncle?” the young prince answered, looking puzzled. He yelped in surprise when Iroh practically tackled him, wrapping him into the biggest platypus bear hug any of them had ever seen.

“Oh, my beautiful nephew!” Iroh blubbered, squeezing the air from his lungs. “I’m so happy you’re all right!”

Zuko squirmed uncomfortably, inexperienced in dealing with such blatant physical affection. “Uncle! What’re you—ouch! Quit it! You’re—crushing me!”

A few giggles slipped from Aang and Toph’s lips. It was an amusing scene—watching the grumpy Fire Nation prince get smothered by his overbearing uncle. Even the Water Tribe siblings hinted smug grins. Aang swore he saw a touch of pink flush across the firebender’s cheeks. 

Despite his nephew’s wriggly protests, Iroh clung on to him a little while longer, one hand wrapped around Zuko’s torso while the other cradled the back of his head. Zuko eventually gave up trying to escape and just sat there awkwardly, squished and pouting as he waited for his uncle to get his fill. The gang was relieved to see Iroh happy after so many hours of anxiety. 

Once he finally released Zuko from his hold, Iroh’s attention honed in on his nephew’s wound, his hands hovering around the bright red scar. “How bad does it hurt? Are you in terrible pain?”

More like excruciating, Zuko thought. His muscles felt like burnt noodles, his bones like over-roasted komodo chicken legs. But he didn’t need to tell Iroh that—he was already an erratic pyre of stress as it was. He rolled his eyes and shrugged, trying to evoke nonchalance, realizing his mistake too late. A stabbing ache tore through his shoulder and shot down his arm, making him to wince sharply and hiss through his teeth. He grabbed his chest, groaning wearily.

“Stay still, Prince Zuko,” Iroh said, laying the back of his hand against his cheek. “Your body is very weak, and you’re still warmer than usual. I’ll brew you some ginger root tea to reduce the fever.”

Zuko scrunched up his brow and knocked his hand away. “Stop fussing, Uncle,” he grumbled bitterly. “M’fine.”

“Fine?” Iroh repeated. A beat passed where the old man just stared at him, jaw tight, his lower lip trembling. Then, out of nowhere, Uncle seized Zuko by his uninjured shoulder, his eyes flashing with an uncharacteristic rage. “Are you insane? You call this ‘fine?’ What on earth were you thinking?”

Zuko blinked, looking just as surprised as everyone else in the room. He was still recovering from Iroh’s crushing embrace, followed by the sudden burst of pain. Now he was yelling at him? 

“What?” Zuko said, startled.

“Why would you throw yourself in between me and Azula like that?” he shouted. “That lightning should have hit me, not you!”

It wasn’t like Uncle to shout. Uncle only shouted when it was for a very specific and important purpose. He wasn’t like the Fire Lord—or Zuko, for that matter. 

“You’d rather I just sat there and let you take the hit?” Zuko scoffed in disbelief. “Azula was trying to kill you!”

“And she very nearly killed you!” Iroh retorted, making Zuko shrink back a little. “If it wasn’t for the kindness of these children, you’d be dead right now! First in the North Pole, and again today!”

Zuko grimaced and turned away, avoiding everyone’s eyes. “I never asked for their help.”

Iroh gave him a quick shake, making the young prince tense. “You shouldn’t even be needing it! You have to stop putting yourself in danger like this!”

Zuko didn’t understand why he was so angry with him. He huffed toward the ground. “This is exactly why I didn’t want us traveling together anymore. You worry too much.”

“Because you don’t worry enough!” Iroh roared. “You seem perfectly fine with throwing your life away over nothing!”

“I was trying to protect you, Uncle!” Zuko exclaimed, shoving his hand off his shoulder. “Is your life nothing?”

“Yes!” Iroh snarled. He cupped his nephew’s face in his hands, his eyes like fire. “Compared to yours, yes! My life is nothing, Prince Zuko.”

Zuko’s scowl fell, replaced by a look of sickly confusion. The tent plunged into sudden silence. Aang and his friends felt like they were intruding on a very private moment, but now they were too intrigued not to see how this ended.

“Why...would you say that?” Zuko asked uneasily. He pulled Iroh’s hands away from his face. “That’s not—”

“I’ve lived my life, nephew,” Uncle insisted. “If I died today, I’d die a happy, fulfilled old man. But you are just a boy, my prince, whether you choose to acknowledge it or not. You have so much life left to live. If you died…”

Uncle shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut, bowing low to ground, as if the thought physically hurt him. Zuko didn’t know what to say. Tears started slipping down Iroh’s cheeks and dripping into the grass.

“Uncle…” Zuko began softly. A moment later, his eyes lurched up to the four others occupying the room and grew wide, as if he’d forgotten they were there. He leered at them with a mixture of loathing and embarrassment, feeling strange and exposed by their prying gazes, until Uncle listed forward, burying his face into his chest. 

“Don’t m-make me endure it again, Zuko,” Iroh wept, hugging the prince with all the love and pain in the universe. “Don’t make me watch another son die...”

Guilt and sorrow surged into Zuko’s throat. He knew Iroh cared for him—knew he liked to pretend that he was his own now that Lu Ten was gone. But to this day, he didn’t understand why. Zuko had done nothing to earn Iroh’s love; he actively pushed him away and treated him like garbage just to prove it, testing how much it would take to get it to break. But no matter what he tried, Iroh’s love persisted: unbending and unconditional. It was perplexing, illogical, infuriating—and wonderful.

Uncle’s love wasn’t like Ozai’s. Uncle’s love wasn’t something he had to beg and fight and compete for. It was just...there. Always. And he had no idea how to deal with it.

As Iroh cried into his shoulder, Zuko placed an awkward hand on his arm in attempt to calm him, wincing at the anguish in his sobs. “I wasn’t—I didn’t—” he stammered, grappling for the words to make him stop.

“It would’ve killed me, Zuko,” Iroh wept, holding him close. “If you d-died saving me, I would have died anyway. I couldn’t bear it. Not again…”

Zuko watched his Uncle sniffle and shake, a lump forming in his throat. He didn’t understand it. He doubted he ever would. He swallowed thickly and closed his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said. He cursed the wobble that snuck into his voice. 

“I think we should go,” Toph whispered, jerking her thumb toward the exit. The group nodded in agreement. None of them had ever seen Zuko so vulnerable before—physically, emotionally, or otherwise. He obviously reciprocated Iroh’s love, even if he wasn’t as good at expressing it as him. It was obnoxiously heartwarming.

“No,” Iroh said, sitting up suddenly, running the heels of his hands under his puffy eyes. “No, please stay.” He turned to Zuko, placing a palm against his back. “My nephew has something he’d like to say to you.”

Zuko’s soft expression twisted into a look of disgust. “What?”

“These people saved your life on two different occasions, Prince Zuko—despite all the trouble we’ve caused them. The least you can do is thank them for their generosity.”

The firebender’s golden gaze bore ferociously into his uncle’s, then swept across the four kids standing around them. His signature scowl returned with a vengeance. 

“There’s a reason besides generosity that they did it,” Zuko hissed, flinching and grabbing his wounded shoulder. “I just haven’t figured out what it is yet.”

Katara placed her hands on her hips. “We did it because we’re not monsters,” she shot back. “And because your uncle cares about you. Why, I have no idea—but we didn’t want him to lose his nephew.”

Zuko lunged toward her with a growl, but Iroh held him back, which did not take much effort. 

“Enough, Zuko,” he scolded him. “The reason they helped you does not matter. The fact is, they helped you. And that alone warrants your gratitude.”

The injured prince glowered at them, gritting his teeth. Iroh was kidding himself if he thought he was going to get a ‘thank you’ to cross his insufferable nephew’s lips.

“Trust me, Prince Zuko—it is far more honorable to thank your rival for sparing your life than to hold your tongue out of senseless pride.” He placed a hand on his head and ruffled his hair. “Go on.”

Zuko ducked out of his reach and scratched his scalp irritably. The group waited for him to blow up, to spit fire and fury and tell all of them to go jump in the river. His glare alone could sear clean through stone.

But to everyone’s disbelief, the flames in his eyes were gradually superseded by something else. A lifetime of exhaustion, misery, and defeat. His golden irises suddenly looked dull; his expression grew heavy with sadness. He grimaced at the wall, still trembling a little from his fever.

“This doesn’t change anything,” he spat, squeezing his eyes shut. “But...thank you.”

A moment later, Zuko did a quick motion, placing the heel of his left palm on top of his right fist and dipping his head toward the ground. If someone blinked, they would’ve missed it—but the gang recognized the rapid gesture as a Fire Nation bow, done as a sign of respect and humility. It was fast and awkward, but it was genuine. Then Zuko turned his back to them, frowning at the corner of the tent, hunching his shoulders and kneading his wound with his thumb.

Katara, Sokka, and Toph walked outside, but Aang stayed behind, smiling wide. Even though he wasn’t looking, Aang repeated the movement back to Zuko. Iroh beamed at him delightedly, then patted his nephew’s arm.

“Get some rest, Prince Zuko. I’ll be back soon with the tea and some soup.”

Zuko didn’t acknowledge him as he got up and left with the others. He just stared at the wall, feeling small, broken, and weak. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

While Iroh prepared the meal, the avatar and his crew sat around the fire in a misshapen semi-circle, each occupied with their own projects. Aang polished his staff, Sokka sharpened his boomerang, Katara sewed a tear in her dress, and Toph played with Momo, making little pegs of earth pop up from the ground for him to chase. 

The silence was suffocating. 

Sokka kept shooting looks at his friends, as if to say is no one going to acknowledge how strange this is? They had two Fire Nation royalty with them, one of which was making them dinner, while the other (who had tried to kill them on many, many occasions) was sleeping hardly twenty feet away. When he couldn’t bear it any longer, he cleared his throat, painting an awkward grin on his face. 

“So...uh...Iroh. General Iroh? Or—Prince Iroh? Or—?”

The old man chuckled. “Just Iroh is fine.” He swirled a ladle through the steaming broth. The aroma was thick and spicy. “Would anyone care for some ginseng soup?”

Everyone raised their hand, bringing a smile to his face. He filled four bowls to the brim and handed one to each of the kids. Once the group had been served, Iroh sat among them, sipping his own meal while monitoring the tea.

“Wow, this is great!” Sokka said, slurping noisily. He wiped his mouth and eyed the old man with a frown. “Not to be rude or anything, but...you seem like a pretty okay guy. Why do you waste your time trying to help your evil nephew?”

“Sokka!” Katara rebuked him, making him wince.

“What? It’s a valid question! He’s so polite and nice, even if he is Fire Nation. Zuko, on the other hand...”

Iroh rested his bowl in his lap, watching the soup wobble and glint in the sunlight. He sighed softly. “I know you all dislike my nephew. And after everything he’s done, you have every right to. He is a conflicted person who has made many mistakes.” He lifted his gaze. “But I’ve known Zuko since the day he was born, and I know the goodness that lies within him.”

Katara huffed dubiously, sipping her dinner in short bouts. Sokka frowned behind his soup mustache. Meanwhile, Aang and Toph listened curiously, spooning heaps of broth into their bellies. Momo leaned over Aang’s shoulder and lapped up a few mouthfuls from his bowl. 

“I was on a path not dissimilar from his for most of my life. Obsessed with honor and power, as well as my place in the Fire Nation. It took immense pain and suffering for me to realize the error of my ways and to start on a new journey. One focused on restoring balance to the world and protecting peace.”

His words struck Katara like an arrow through the heart. “Your son?” she said hesitantly, remembering his words from before. Iroh closed his eyes and nodded his head. 

“Yes. Lu Ten.”

“But how is helping Zuko capture Aang protecting peace?” Sokka asked bluntly. “You’d be destroying it.”

Iroh chuckled. “I haven’t exactly been helpful in my nephew’s pursuit of the avatar. That has never been my goal. I travel with him because I’m all he has left.” He lowered his gaze. “Now that he and I have been declared fugitives of the Fire Nation, I suppose he’s all I have, too.”

Aang gawked. “Fugitives? You mean the Fire Nation considers Zuko a criminal?”

He recalled that it had been Zuko who busted him out of the Fire Nation prison Zhao had locked him up in. Zuko, wielding dual swords and wearing a blue mask, had helped him escape. To this day, he never understood why he’d risked his life to free him. Was it really all because he wanted to capture the avatar himself? 

Had the Fire Nation found out what he did that night, and branded him a traitor? 

“Zuko was banished from the Fire Nation when he was thirteen, and has been living in exile ever since. But only recently has the Fire Lord labeled him fugitive.” Iroh stroked his beard. “Why, I’m not entirely sure—though I have my suspicions.”

Katara and Sokka exchanged a startled glance. Zuko was banished from his own country? At thirteen?

“Why was he banished in the first place?” Toph asked, voicing the question in everyone’s mind.

Iroh finished off his soup and placed his bowl to the side, his eyes dark. He knew Zuko wouldn’t approve of him sharing his life story with his so-called enemies. But perhaps if they knew how he ended up in the place he was today, they could begin to understand the why, and maybe even aid him on his journey to see the light. Iroh heaved a lofty sigh.

“It is my fault, I am afraid. I let him attend a war meeting even though I knew the risks. It is one of my greatest regrets.” He bowed his head. “The Fire Nation is very strict about knowing one’s place and staying quiet in certain social situations. When I granted him permission to join us, I warned him not to speak. But when one of the generals suggested we use a group of new recruits as bait for our next attack against the Earth Kingdom, that we send a bunch of kids into what would very likely wind up a suicide mission—Zuko denounced him in front of the highest ranking war authorities in the Fire Nation.”

His nephew’s words echoed hollowly in his skull. You can’t sacrifice an entire battalion like that! Those soldiers love and defend our nation. How could you betray them?

The four friends stared at him in tense silence. Iroh poured himself a cup of tea as the fire cracked and fizzled. 

“Zuko was right, of course. But his actions were considered extraordinarily disrespectful. He was forced to fight an Agni Kai—a fire duel—in front of the entire royal court. He thought it would be against the elderly general he’d interrupted. Instead, when he turned around, he found himself standing face-to-face with Ozai, his father.”

The icy claw from before seized Katara’s heart with a newfound frigidness. She had a feeling she already knew where this was leading, but the thought still chilled her to her core. 

“His dad...wanted to fight him?” Sokka inquired. “Or he was forced to?” 

“Ozai is the Fire Lord—the supreme leader of the country. He could have easily pardoned Zuko and moved on. My brother chose to fight his own thirteen-year-old son willingly and zealously.” Iroh grimaced. “Ozai has detested Zuko since he was a child, always favoring his sister Azula above him. He’s been searching for a way to revoke Zuko’s birthright to the throne since Azula began to overshadow him in firebending prowess. Speaking out in a war meeting granted him the perfect excuse to do just that.”

The air was still. Toph suddenly felt guilty for once believing her parents were the worst the universe could bestow. Momo trilled and pawed at Aang’s ear. The avatar leaned toward Iroh anxiously. 

“What happened next?”

The old man sipped his steaming cup, his expression sad and distant. “I thought by this point, the whole world knew what happened that day. Fire Nation parents tell the story to their children to scare them into obedience and allegiance to their country.” 

None of the kids spoke up. They just stared at him, wide-eyed. So Iroh continued. 

“Zuko threw himself to the ground, begging for his father’s forgiveness. Ozai commanded him to fight, but he refused to attack his own father.” 

The cup was suddenly trembling in his hands. His knuckles were stiff and white. “I...I should have stopped him. I should have protected Zuko. He was just a child, you know? And he was so afraid...”

Iroh gazed at the grass between his feet. Tiny flowers shuddered and danced in the breeze. 

“Ozai...did not show him mercy,” he said, voice ominous. “After the duel, Zuko’s refusal to fight was pronounced weak and disgraceful—behaviors unfit for a prince of the Fire Nation. And so, the Fire Lord banished him. He was tasked with capturing the avatar,” he noted grimly, turning to Aang. “A purposely impossible mission at the time, since you had been missing for over a hundred years with no sign of returning. It was meant to keep Zuko from ever coming back to the Fire Nation. But Ozai claimed that if Zuko found you and brought you to him, he would restore his son’s honor and welcome him home with open arms.” He looked away, face solemn. “And that is what he’s been trying to do ever since.”

Appa grunted from his shady spot by the river. The air between the four friends suddenly felt cold. It was a lot to process. It explained a few of the things many of them had always been confused about when it came to Zuko, but gave rise to multiple entirely new questions they’d never even thought to consider. Katara lifted her hand toward her left eye.

“Is that…” she began reluctantly. “You said a family member gave that to him—the scar on his face.”

Iroh blinked slowly, miserably. “Yes,” he replied. “His father did that to him. He burned his own son while he lay prostrate before him, pleading for mercy.” His eyebrows furrowed together. “Out of all the horrors I’ve witnessed throughout this war, watching my brother scar and banish that boy is among the cruelest. I doubt the memory will ever leave my mind.”

Shocked silence gripped the group. So that was where Zuko’s scar had come from. Not a training misfire, not some careless childhood mistake—but an intentional brand from his father to mark him as an unwanted outsider. A couple more seconds passed before Sokka scoffed, throwing his hands in the air. 

“This is insane! If Ozai really did do all these terrible things to him, then why is he so obsessed with capturing Aang and returning home? If I was Zuko, I’d be relieved to be banished and away from that psycho. The guy’s a total monster!”

Iroh released a slow breath. “It is hard to understand my nephew’s logic from the outside. But please, try to put yourself in his position. He was cast out—renounced and rebuked by his home and his people, those he had been taught to depend on. His own father disowned him. One tiny mistake cost him everything: the crown, his honor, and his family. Now, exiled from his country, where else can he hope to go? The entire world despises the Fire Nation for the atrocities they have committed. As the banished son of the Fire Lord, no nation is safe for Zuko. He believes his only choice is to bring his father the avatar. That only he can restore everything he lost. That if he can complete the mission Ozai bestowed upon him, their relationship will somehow be different. He thinks he is capable of winning the Fire Lord’s love by delivering you to him. It gives him hope.” 

The old man withered. “I don’t have the heart to tell him the truth, to take that hope away. Even if I did, it wouldn’t change his mind. He would continue this poisonous path without me, searching and fighting until he destroyed himself. I’m doing what I can to support him until he discovers the truth on his own.”

Iroh’s anecdote hung over their heads like storm clouds. Katara narrowed her eyes in thought, drumming her fingers against her bowl. 

“What if he never comes to that conclusion?” she said coldly. “How many more people does he have to hurt or villages does he have to burn down for you to decide he isn’t worth it?”

Iroh met her gaze, his jaw tight. She thought he was going to snarl or shout, like he had in the tent with Zuko. Instead, he relaxed into a smile. 

“He will change. I know it. I’ve seen what he’s capable of. He was such a sweet and happy child before my brother got ahold of him and twisted him up.” He grinned at Aang. “He was a lot like you, actually. Bright and joyful and kind. I wish you all could have seen him then. Perhaps you’d understand why I haven’t given up on him yet.”

“Really?” Aang said, beaming. “Wow. I’m having a hard time imagining that.”

The old man chuckled, then stared across the circle of young faces. “I’m not asking any of you to forgive my nephew for what he’s done. I’m not asking you to make excuses for him or to pity him. I just wanted to grant you some insight into the person he is, and why he acts the way he does today. You’ve already been more kind to him than I ever could have anticipated, which shows what honorable individuals you are. I am forever grateful to each of you.” His expression softened. “Zuko is too, even if he doesn’t seem it. Because of the way he was raised, he can’t comprehend the idea that others would show him compassion without it being earned, or without some sinister ulterior motive in mind. Your kindness is entirely foreign to him, so don’t take his aversion to it personally.”

This was exactly what Katara had been afraid of. That if they learned more about Zuko’s past, they’d start to realize he wasn’t the sick, totally irredeemable person they believed him to be. She wanted to hate him—wanted to see him as nothing but an obstacle in their path, a soulless enemy to defeat. But it was hard to do after hearing his life’s story. 

“If only Zuko had been surrounded by people like you growing up,” Iroh continued wistfully. “You all have such good hearts.”

Sokka swirled his boomerang in the air. “Yeah—too bad we all couldn’t live it up in the Fire Nation palace together, celebrating global tyranny and singing kumbaya around the fire.”  

Iroh hinted a somber smile, then rose to his feet. “I’m going to see if I can get my nephew to eat something,” he said, ladling another helping of soup into his bowl and pouring a second cup of tea. “Have a delightful afternoon, all of you.”

With that, he strolled back into the earth tent, humming a quiet tune to himself. The group was left to wallow in the tsunami of information they now knew about their arch nemesis. 

Eventually, Sokka huffed. “Well, if there’s anything we’ve learned from this bizarre little misadventure, it’s that the Fire Lord is literally the worst in every way imaginable, and deserves everything he’s got coming his way.”

“No kidding,” Toph agreed, cracking her toes.

Aang pulled his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but...I kinda feel bad for Zuko.”

“Don’t,” Katara snapped, scowling at the fire. “We’ve all had hard lives. We’ve all been hurt and lost things we cared about. You don’t see any of us attacking towns or terrorizing innocent people.”

“But we were raised by good people,” Aang pointed out. “Even when we disagreed with them or fought with them, we never doubted that they loved us.” He rested his chin on his knees. “Zuko didn’t have that. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t capable of change.”

“A lot of people are capable of a lot of things,” Katara retorted. “That doesn’t mean they’re ever going to do the right thing and actually commit to being better.”

Aang blinked at her, then gazed into the flickering flames. “Not if you don’t give them the chance...”

He considered telling them the truth about that day in the Earth Kingdom. When Zuko had broken him out of Zhao’s prison, saving his life—and, unknowingly, Sokka and Katara’s. If Aang hadn’t escaped and gotten those frogs to them, they could have died. The only reason the three of them were sitting together today, alive and well, was because of Zuko’s help.

But before Aang had the chance to speak, Katara scoffed and stood, marching toward the river.

“Katara?” he called. “Where are you going?”

“Swimming,” she answered without looking back. “After today, I seriously need a bath.”

He watched her stomp away, then exhaled defeatedly. Maybe he was being naive. Maybe Zuko wouldn’t change. But while the Fire Nation prince was stuck here with them, he’d try his best to be patient and kind to him—perhaps to the point where it no longer felt so foreign.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Iroh went back into the woods to forage for more tea leaves and herbs before the sun went down, leaving Zuko alone in the stone tent. While the others were off busying themselves around their campsite, Aang crept into the dark structure. He intended to pop in for only a moment to grab some nuts from his bag, but froze in the doorway at the sight he stumbled upon. 

Zuko was facing the back wall of the tent, sitting with his legs crossed and his spine straight. Four small candles were arranged in front of him, their flames rising and falling in sync with Zuko’s steady breathing. Aang immediately recognized the familiar scene.

“You’re meditating!” he exclaimed. Zuko flinched in surprise, the candlelight flaring and rippling, casting wild shadows across the walls. He turned on him lividly.

“Don’t scare me like that!” he shouted. “I almost torched you alive!”

“Sorry!” Aang said, grinning shyly as he stepped closer. “But you are meditating, right?”

Zuko huffed and turned back toward the wall, rubbing his wounded shoulder. “I’m trying to,” he said pointedly, re-assuming his sturdy position.

“That’s awesome!” Aang said, bounding to stand by his side. “I never would’ve pegged you as someone who meditates.”

Aang thought he remembered Zuko mentioning meditation back in the South Pole, but it seemed so out of character for him. He never expected to actually witness the hotheaded prince putting it into practice.

Zuko looked uncomfortable and irritated by Aang’s presence. He tried to ignore him, but the avatar wasn’t making it easy. The twelve-year-old stood over him, smiling from ear to ear.

“I meditate too. Every day, in fact! Meditation is a sacred tradition among Air Nomads. The monks always said it’s a great way to strengthen one’s discipline, inner peace, and spirituality.”

The flames danced and flickered, mirroring Zuko’s aggravation. “Then you should know how important it is to be quiet when someone’s trying to concentrate!” He jabbed his finger toward the exit. “Get out of here!”

Aang was beginning to realize that Zuko yelled a lot, but there wasn’t any real bite behind it. At least, not in his current condition. So for now, he wasn’t going to let it faze him. 

Ignoring Zuko’s demands, he plopped down beside him, making the royal teenager start. “Can I meditate with you?”

Zuko blinked, looking appalled. “What?” he gawked. “No!”

“Why not?” Aang asked, settling into his own meditation position with his fists pressed together and his eyes closed. 

“Because—because you’re going to distract me!” he cried. “There’s a million other places for you to do it besides here! Why don’t you go meditate with one of your obnoxious friends?”

“None of them practice meditation,” he explained simply. “Back at the Western Air Temple, me and the other monks used to meditate in a group, all of us sitting and breathing together in perfect harmony. I haven’t meditated with someone else for over a hundred years.” He opened one eye and hinted a sad smile. “I miss it a lot. I think it’d be nice.”

Zuko scowled at him, but it seemed more thoughtful than angry. Scowling also appeared to be a thing he did by default, not as an intentional expression of aggression. He could see him searching for a motive, a scheme, some kind of backhanded revenge plot in the avatar’s innocent request. He really did second guess every gesture of kindness offered to him. 

The firebender looked ready to blow a gasket, or snag his quartet of candles and stomp out the door. Instead, he exhaled forcefully, growling under his breath like a komodo rhino with a headache.

“If you’re quiet enough that I forget you’re here, I don’t care what you do,” he grumbled. 

Aang beamed, flinging his hands in the air. “Hooray!” he cheered. He leaned forward with a grin. “I like your hair, by the way.”

Zuko’s eyes popped open and flitted towards him bewilderedly. “W-what?” he stammered, as if that was the most absurd thing anyone had ever said to him. 

“Your new hair! It looks nice. A lot better than the bald ponytail thing you had going on before. It’s so cute and fuzzy now. I like it!”

Again, Aang watched the wheels in Zuko’s head turn, trying to find some convoluted ploy masquerading behind his friendly words. He couldn’t even take a tiny compliment without drowning in doubt and suspicion? It was as heartbreaking as it was endearing.

Once the prince deduced the avatar’s nice comment posed no immediate threat, but was simply a genuine approval of his change in appearance, his expression softened. “Oh,” he said. He stared at the wall, warmth rising in his cheeks. “Well, um...thanks. I guess.”

“Of course!” Aang chirped. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Zuko sweeping a timid hand through his hair, and felt pretty proud of himself.

“I like your hair, too,” Zuko said after an awkward pause. “Did you...do something new with it?”

Aang stared at him blankly. His delivery was so bland and clumsy, it took the avatar a full five seconds to realize that Zuko was attempting to make a joke. Immediately, he busted out laughing—not because the joke was good, necessarily, but because Zuko had actually tried to make one, and his effort was so hysterically ungraceful. 

“Ehahaha!” Aang cackled, hugging himself around the middle. “Good one, Zuko! I didn’t know you could be funny!”

The tiniest of smiles lifted one corner of Zuko’s mouth before vanishing without a trace. He made an oval with his hands, pressing his thumbs and middle fingers together, then straightened his spine. “Now be quiet,” he ordered bluntly, inhaling and releasing a slow, centering breath. 

Aang grinned and reflected his pose. Zuko was still a little shivery and sweaty from his fever, but both were growing less severe as Uncle’s tea worked its magic. The room fell silent except for the soft flickering of the fire and their synchronous breathing, and stayed that way for the next hour. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The avatar was the first one to break their vigil, floating to his feet and bounding out of the tent like a miniature whirlwind. “Thanks for letting me join you, Zuko!” he called cheerfully, then darted outside.

Zuko...didn’t know what to make of their interaction. He and the avatar were adversaries. He’d told him he wasn’t going to stop hunting him. As soon as he was healed, their little game of cat owl and spider mouse would pick right back up from where it had left off. 

So what had compelled him to come in here and meditate by his side?

Not only that—he’d opened up to him about his past, his culture, the society that raised him. The very people Zuko’s forefathers were responsible for wiping out. Was he trying to appeal to his humanity, guilt him into abandoning his mission to capture the avatar? 

And what was with the whole complimenting his hair thing?

The whole exchange left Zuko feeling off. He didn’t want to think about what would become of that peppy little kid once he delivered him into the hands of his father. Avatar or not, he was so agonizingly young. 

But tricky, as well. And conniving, all of them. Just like Azula. He wouldn’t let them get in his head. For however long he was trapped here, he’d avoid interacting with them unless it was absolutely necessary. He couldn’t afford any more distractions. 

“How are you feeling, Prince Zuko?” Uncle’s voice asked from behind him. “Have you managed to eat or sleep at all? I found some basil and turmeric to add to your tea. I know you don’t care for either, but they should help settle your stomach.”

Zuko turned toward him, grimacing as the movement sent little sparks of pain zipping through his muscles. “I’m going to sleep outside tonight.”

Iroh raised an eyebrow as he prepared the ingredients for the brew. “I don’t know if the avatar and his friends will approve. They wish to keep you contained and in sight, understandably, and—”

“I don’t care what they want!” he interjected. “I’m not sleeping in here with all of them. I won’t be able to.”

Uncle sighed exasperatedly. “Prince Zuko. They are already being very considerate. They’ve given you space and leave you to your business unrestrained.” He wafted the fumes from the pot toward his nose and breathed deeply. “If I were them, I would have chained both of us up. We aren't exactly trustworthy company.”

“I’m not sitting in this stupid tent anymore,” he growled. He braced one hand against the wall and tried to push himself upright, groaning and straining with effort. 

Uncle rushed to his aid, wrapping an arm around his waist and hoisting him to his feet. Zuko wanted to push him away, but there was no way he could stay standing without his help. 

“All right—easy now, nephew.” 

He took one step forward, and almost immediately collapsed. Pain bloomed across the bottom of his foot and shot up his leg like an explosion going off in his bones. He listed forward, dizzy and nauseous, gasping for breath. 

“Do not put any weight on your left side,” Iroh insisted. “Let me support you.”

“Th-this is...infuriating,” he hissed, panting. “Why am I still so weak?”

“It has only been a day, my prince. You must give yourself time to heal.” He slung his nephew’s arm over his shoulder and bore him forward. “Come on. We’ll go slow.”

Any progress toward the exit basically required Zuko to hop on his good leg. The violent motion still jarred him, but he managed to keep going, pausing in between to let the pain subside to a manageable level. Iroh would rather he let one of kids carry him out of the tent, but Zuko would sooner hop himself to death than allow that.

Once they breached the doorway, their little limping routine turned the heads of everyone outside. Katara stood up, hands balled into fists at her side.

“What’s going on?” she said.

“Zuko needed some fresh air,” Iroh explained, grunting beneath his nephew’s weight. He was basically doing all the work required to move him away from the tent. The prince hung off him loosely, grimacing in pain, a line of sweat glistening along his forehead. His face was abnormally pale and blanching whiter and whiter with every cloddish hop forward. 

“Do you need…help?” Sokka asked hesitantly. 

Iroh forced a smile. “No, we—” he began, but Zuko was sagging lower and lower, a quiet moan rising from his lips. “—Zuko? Are you all right?”

The teen’s head was suddenly spinning like a top. Gravity was pulling on him two times stronger than usual. His wounds throbbed and ached in protest. He’d barely walked two steps away from the tent, but apparently that was all his stupid body could tolerate right now. 

“Ugh…can’t…l-lemme...down…” he whimpered.

Alarm pricked Iroh’s heart. “Okay, okay. Here.”

He eased him carefully to the ground. Zuko slumped against the outer wall of the tent, panting harshly, gripping his leg with one hand and his chest with the other. 

“What’s wrong?” Iroh asked, kneeling in front of him and cupping his palm against his pallid face. 

“He doesn’t look good,” Aang noted uneasily.

Once she realized he wasn’t going to be doing anything threatening in his current state, Katara’s muscles uncoiled. “He shouldn’t be moving,” she said, stepping closer. “Especially if he hasn’t been able to eat anything today.”

“He’s been too nauseous to,” the old man said, fear creeping into his voice. He gave his cheek a few light pats. “Zuko—hey! Talk to me! Tell me what’s going on.”

His eyelids fluttered sluggishly as he fought to stay conscious and slow his rapid breathing. “Just...lightheaded,” he slurred, squeezing his shoulder and gritting his teeth. “Ugh...h-hurts…”

Iroh turned to Sokka. “I’ve prepared some tea for him inside the tent. Please—if you could—”

“Right,” Sokka said, hurrying into the stone structure. He reappeared a few moments later with the kettle and cup in hand.

“Thank you,” Iroh breathed. He filled the cup and held it to Zuko’s lips. “Here, nephew. Drink. It will help you feel better.”

Zuko wrinkled his nose but did as he was told. He abhorred the fact that he was acting so pathetic and weak—and in front of his enemies, no less—but he was so woozy, and everything hurt, and he just wanted it to stop. The tea was hot on his tongue and left a sour aftertaste in the back of his throat. He made a face and found himself missing Uncle’s classic jasmine brew. 

“Blech,” he said. 

“I know,” Iroh conceded sympathetically. Katara offered him a bowl, and he lifted the edge to Zuko’s mouth. “Have some water.”

Zuko braved a few small sips then pushed it away. He was still queasy and didn’t want to risk overwhelming his upset stomach. The black fuzz pressing into his peripheral vision was slowly beginning to retreat, and the world was no longer dipping and tilting around him. But he was still so tired. He rested his head against the tent, struggling to keep his eyes open, inhaling through his nose and exhaling through his mouth.

“You must try to eat something,” Uncle insisted. “A couple bites of bread, soup—anything.”

Zuko recoiled at the thought of food. It was the last thing he was in the mood for right now. “I’m fine,” he grumbled breathlessly, sweat slipping down his face. “Just...lemme sit for a...a minute…”

“You will never recover your strength unless you eat,” Iroh said softly. He tore a piece of bread in half, took his nephew’s hand, and placed it in his palm. “Please, Prince Zuko.”

The firebender stared at the bread miserably. He looked so ill and weak—even Katara was nicked with pity at the sight. He must’ve been desperate to feel better if he was letting his uncle order him around without throwing a fit. 

Zuko wished there weren’t so many eyes on him right now, watching him lie half-conscious against the tent, barely able to hold his head up, shivering with pain and sickness as he nibbled defeatedly on the bread in his hands. Azula’s mocking voice echoed in his ears—weak, pathetic, miserable failure. Father’s piercing glare bore down on him, radiating disgust and disappointment. 

But Uncle was with him, pressed against his side, telling him everything was going to be okay as he gently guided his head to his shoulder.

“Don’t...wait...” Zuko whined. But once he was leaned against him, he felt himself starting to drift. Sleepiness curled around him like a warm blanket. Iroh pulled the bread from his limp fingers and ran his thumb along his cheek. 

“Just rest here a moment. I will help you move once you have the energy to stand.”

But Zuko made the mistake of closing his eyes. It was meant to be for only a moment, but after they slipped shut, he couldn’t get them to open again. As Iroh anticipated, his nephew was soon asleep. He pulled a rag from his pocket and mopped the fever sweat from his forehead. 

“Did he just...pass out?” Toph asked.

“He hasn’t slept since last night,” Iroh said, watching his nephew snooze against his shoulder with a tender fondness in his eyes. “He’s always been so stubborn, never resting until he’s completely burnt out or unless it is forced upon him—even when his body desperately needs it.”

Aang found the sight endearing. Katara thought the old man’s concern for his nephew was misplaced but sweet. Sokka narrowed his eyes, opening the tea pot and gingerly sniffing its contents. His jaw dropped. 

“Did you drug him?”

Iroh chuckled lightly, his eyes glinting with mischief. “An old trick his mother used to use when he couldn’t get to sleep as a child. Add a tiny dash of dragon thistle root to his tea, and he is out like a light.”

While the others reeled over the old man’s well-intentioned but semi-conniving actions, Katara’s mind honed in on one word: mother. During Iroh’s entire soapbox about Zuko’s past, he’d never once mentioned his mom. What did she think about her son? Was she like Ozai? Cold and heartless, happy to exile her own child in favor of her more powerful daughter? Or was she different? What part did she play in the strange, tragic menagerie of Zuko’s life?

Iroh smiled at the children. “Would one of you please grab a blanket for me, if you don’t mind?” 

“Sure!” Aang said, darting past him. Katara stared at Zuko’s sleeping face and decided not to ask about his mother. She already knew more about him than she wanted to as it was. And the more she learned, the harder it was to hate him.

Aang returned with the linens. Iroh gathered his nephew into his arms and carefully laid him down, tossing the blanket over his body and pulling it up to his chin. 

“Hopefully he sleeps through the night,” he said. It was funny to watch the person they fought and feared as an enemy be treated like a precious little baby by his uncle.

“I’ll heal him again tomorrow morning,” Katara said, then stalked into the tent without another word.

Her friends hesitated, then followed her inside. Iroh stayed beside his nephew, matching his breathing to his.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zuko woke up screaming. 

He’d suffered from night terrors since Mom had disappeared without a trace, and they’d only gotten worse since his banishment. He dreamed of her face being swallowed up in flames, of the ground turning to tar beneath him and dragging him into suffocating darkness, of his father scorching his eye again and again and again, the smell and the pain all too real. 

And now, he was dreaming of Azula. Eyes dark and remorseless as she shot lighting into the hearts of those he loved, sending Mom and Uncle toppling to the ground in smoking heaps before turning on him. He was lucky if he got through the night without shooting awake in a cold sweat at least one. 

When the lightning struck him, Zuko bolted upright, a terrified shout leaping from his throat. But something clapped over his mouth to stop it from escaping. Whatever it was was shaped like a hand, but it had the texture of rock. Panicked, fire flared from his fingertips. He made a grab for the stranger’s arm, but something caught his hands before they reached it, trapping them at his sides. He squirmed and cursed, voice muffled, heart racing. 

“It’s okay,” a girl’s voice said. “Shh. It’s me.”

A young face took shape in the darkness. Black hair and pale, faded eyes. It was the tiny earthbender that had showed up at the fight between Azula, the avatar, and himself. She must have joined their group while they were traveling through the Earth Kingdom. So far, the two of them had avoided direct confrontation—or rather, any interaction whatsoever. 

“I heard you. From the tent. And, uh, felt you shaking. I didn’t want you to wake anyone else up.”

Zuko stopped struggling, his breathing quick and his eyes blinking. Slowly, she took her palm away from his mouth. It was shrouded in rock, perhaps in case he tried any breath-related firebending moves. With a flick of her wrist, the earth restraints fell away from his hands. 

“Sorry for scaring you. I just figured you wouldn’t want anyone else hearing that, and I didn’t wanna get fried in the process of shutting you up.”

Zuko studied her in a fuzzy, flustered haze, panting quietly. “Oh,” he stammered. “Uh, r-right.” His bones were quaking under his skin. His heartbeat was pounding in his ears. He scrubbed a hand across his face and started when it came away wet. He touched under his eyes and realized his cheeks were damp with tears. Shame burned up his throat as he dried them frantically and turned away. “Um, s-sorry for waking you.”

She stared at him in silence. Well, not exactly stared—not with her eyes, at least. But he could feel her feeling him, gauging his movements, his voice. She probably knew he’d been crying. She barely looked a day older than the avatar, but exuded the power and poise of a master bender, all while retaining the appearance and quirkiness of a child.

Which was weird. Because as far as he could tell, she was totally blind.

“Well...goodnight,” he said, voice brittle. But she didn’t move. And he didn’t lay back down.

“They have them too, you know.”

He glanced at her bemusedly. “What?”

“Nightmares. They get them too. Aang, Katara, Sokka.” 

He scoffed lightly, rubbing his eyes. “And you don’t?”

She grimaced at the ground. “Not like they do. I had a difficult home life, but...it’s different.”

He gripped his arms at the elbows and stared off to the side. He wasn’t sure what she was looking to get out of this conversation.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.

Zuko wrinkled his brow. “About what?” he said.

“Your nightmare.”

Heat flushed across Zuko’s skin. “No,” he said sharply, glaring between his feet. 

Toph shrugged. “That’s fine. Just thought I’d extend the offer. I’ve been told I’m a pretty good listener.”

The girl grinned. Zuko narrowed his eyes. Was that supposed to be a joke? He kneaded gingerly at his shoulder.

“I’m fine,” he growled, wincing when he touched a particularly sore spot. “You can go away now.”

“I’m Toph,” she said, ignoring him enthusiastically. “I don’t think we’ve formally met.” 

Why don’t any of these people ever listen to a word I say? he thought bitterly. Also, I’ve never formally met any of you. He heaved a small sigh. 

“Hello,” he deadpanned. “Now get lost.”

“My friends don’t seem to like you, but I judge people for myself.” She flexed her feet in the grass absentmindedly. “And yeah, hunting Aang isn’t cool, but I don’t think you’re as bad as they make you out to be.”

Zuko was caught off guard by her blunt but oddly nice statement. He tried not to let it show, masking his surprise behind a scowl.

“I don’t care what you or your friends think of me,” he snapped, bunching the blanket in his fists. “Just leave me alone!”

“See, you put on this scary, tough facade, but I don’t think that’s really you,” she continued. “It's a defense mechanism.” 

Zuko fumed. “Are you blind and deaf? Go away! You don’t know me. Stop pretending like you do!”

“But I do know you,” she insisted. “You try to push others away so they can never get close enough to hurt you. You think by being mean and abrasive and keeping them at a distance, you’re protecting yourself. But really, you’re just making yourself more lonely.”

The firebender’s heart skipped a beat. Toph could tell she’d struck a chord. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish stranded on land, her words bouncing around in his head, freakishly insightful for someone who barely looked ten. 

“I know you because you’re like me,” she explained. “We’re not good at feelings and all that dumb mushy crap. We think doing everything on our own makes us stronger than accepting help from others. But I’m starting to learn that’s not always true.”

Was she baiting him? Trying to rile him up to the point that he attacked, granting her an excuse to kill him? Or was she truly speaking from the heart? Her observation stung a bit too deep to not be genuine, and sounded a little too familiar for his taste. 

Like Uncle. 

But he refused to dwell on it. He wouldn’t; he couldn’t. Stunned confusion was quickly superseded by prickling irritation. He scoffed indignantly.

“You’re crazy,” he spat. “You’re a child. You don’t know anything.”

Toph crossed her arms and smirked. “Then that makes two of us.”

Flames roiled in Zuko’s belly. “What?”

“Hey!” a voice called from the tent. Zuko turned and spotted Sokka peeking out from the darkness, an angry line twitching between his eyebrows. “Some of us around here are trying to sleep! Why are you guys yelling?” He stepped through the doorway with his boomerang cocked behind his head, glaring sleepily at Zuko. “Is Prince Angry Jerk here causing trouble?”

“I’m not doing anything,” he snarled, gesturing to Toph. “Your obnoxious little friend won’t leave me alone.”

“We’re fine,” she assured him. “I was just informing Zuko that his whole ‘bad guy’ charade is stupid, along with his entire mindset about everything.”

Smoke hissed from his nostrils and coiled from his fists. “Why, you little—”

“Ah-ah!” Sokka interjected, waving his boomerang threateningly. “Don’t even think about it.”

Zuko threw his hands in the air. “What, I’m just supposed to sit here while she calls me stupid to my face?” 

“Precisely,” Sokka said, sitting beside Toph. His hair was out of its usual ponytail and hanging in his eyes, forcing him to tuck it behind his ears every now and then. Zuko had never seen the Water Tribe boy with hair down before. It was a lot longer than he expected. 

Sokka bumped his shoulder against the earthbender’s. “Is this late night insult Zuko hour or something? Because I’m totally in, and very upset I didn’t receive an invitation.”

“I’m not trying to insult him,” Toph insisted. “I’m just telling him the truth.”

“What you’re doing is asking to get fried beyond recognition,” he spat viciously. Sokka leaned toward him and squinted.

“Why are your eyes red?” he asked. His brows shot toward his hairline. “Have you been crying?”

Zuko’s scowl dissolved into a look of panic. He’d tried to push the horrific nightmare from his mind, but the damage it had reaped was evidently still lingering. Drenched in milky moonlight, Sokka had never seen the Fire Nation prince look so scared and distraught before. Humiliation sawed at Zuko’s insides. He grappled for something to say—a quick and scathing retort. But his throat was seizing up, and a fresh bout of tears welled in his eyes.

“I…” he began, voice shivery. Toph punched Sokka in the arm. 

“Lay off,” she scolded him. “He startled me when I came out here to take a whizz, so I kicked dirt in his eyes. That’s all.”

Zuko turned to her in disbelief, blinking. She hinted a small smile that disappeared just as quickly. Relief drizzled over his heart. 

“Oh,” Sokka said, rubbing his shoulder, glancing between them skeptically. “Right.” He recognized immediately that they weren’t telling him what was really going on, but decided not to press the matter. If Toph thought it important to keep under wraps, he trusted her.

Zuko kneaded his eyes with the heels of his hands and avoided his gaze, feeling sticky and exposed. Why would she lie for me? he wondered. How does that benefit her? Wouldn’t she want to humiliate her enemy every chance she got? To show her friends how weak and pathetic he really was? Maybe she wanted him indebted to her. Or to have something over him to use as blackmail. 

Whatever the reason, he was relieved. For now, at least. A part of him wanted to thank her. He stared into her foggy eyes for a moment, hoping she understood. 

Toph responded by crossing her arms and grinning wide. “Anyway, back to you being stupid,” she said spiritedly. 

The prince deflated with a groan. So much for being grateful. “Seriously?” he exclaimed, his rage blossoming back to life. 

“You make no sense to me,” she continued unperturbed. “You're trying to capture Aang and bring him home to your dad so he’ll love and accept you, right?”

Zuko was off-put by the direct address. So was Sokka. The firebender huffed irately. “I’m not talking to you about this.”

“But it sorta seems like he’s been awful to you even before you were banished.”

The prince wasn’t sure how much she or others knew about his situation, but already it sounded like more than he was comfortable with. He gritted his teeth.

“Be quiet!” he barked. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“You want a father who cares about you and understands you,” Toph said with a snort. “Trust me: I get it. My parents still think I’m some helpless little blind girl, not a butt-kicking, earthbending champion.” 

Zuko glared daggers through Toph. “Our situations aren’t the same. My father does care about me. Once I bring him the avatar, he’ll accept me as his son, and my honor will be restored.” 

Toph blew a tuft of hair out of her face and dropped her chin into her hand. Sokka rolled his eyes.

“No offense, Prince Jerkbender, but your dad is kind of the worst.”

Zuko turned away from them, hissing with pain and frustration. “This is why I’m not talking to you about this! None of you could ever understand!”

“What we don’t understand is why you’re set on getting your terrible father to like you when you already have someone who loves and accepts you right now!” Sokka cried, exasperated.

A shock went through Zuko’s system. He swallowed, gripping his wound and hunching his shoulders.

“What...w-what are you talking about?” he murmured.

Toph scoffed. “Um...your uncle?” she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the universe. “You know, the guy who left the Fire Nation to help you? Who travels around the world with you and supports you no matter how badly you treat him? The man who makes you tea and comforts you when you’re sick and tucks you into bed at night?”

“And who convinced us to help you even though we really didn’t want to?” Sokka added. 

Zuko’s chest tightened. Anxiety and confusion and an avalanche of other emotions churned inside his gut. He grimaced at the ground.

“He cares about you. Like, openly, aggressively cares about you. It’s as annoying as it is sweet.” Toph tilted her head to the side. “Why are you so determined to earn your dad’s love, when your uncle already loves you as you are?”

The prince didn’t look at them. He watched a beetle crawl over a rock, his fingers shivering against his aching shoulder. He inhaled sharply, then laid across the ground, yanking the blanket over his head and curling into himself. 

Sokka glanced at Toph, then back at Zuko, then sighed. It looked like there was no getting through to him. The earthbender rose to her feet.

“Drink some more of your uncle’s tea,” she demanded, then strode back into the tent. “G’night.”

Sokka was quick to follow her, yawning as he stepped into the darkness, shooting one last look over his shoulder.

Zuko shuddered alone beneath the stars, blinking back tears. A few restless minutes later, he heated up Uncle’s teapot, choked down another cup of boiling, bitter liquid, then nestled against the grass, praying that the rest of his night would be dreamless. That is, if he ever managed to fall asleep again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Is it just me, or is Zuko...kind of awkward?”

Katara stopped fixing her hair mid-braid, scoffing. “What? What do you mean?”

Aang stretched and smiled, the morning sunlight pouring in through the doorway gilding his limbs in a golden halo. “Yesterday, while we were meditating, I told him I liked his new hair. And he totally didn’t know how to respond—as if he’s never been complimented by anyone besides his uncle before. It was hilarious!”

Sokka shot upright, mouth hanging agape. “Wait—‘we?’” he exclaimed. “As in, you were meditating together?”

“Yeah! Zuko practices meditation just like me! Isn’t that cool?”

Katara frowned. “That’s...weird. He’s the last person I’d expect to see meditating. Especially with you.”

“I know, right?” Aang giggled. “The best part was, when I told him I liked his hair, he said he liked mine, too. Like, as a joke! Because I’m bald!” He laughed brightly. “It was so bad, but that only made it funnier!”

Katara huffed, tying off the end of her braid. “Well I’m glad you had fun with the guy who’s going to try imprisoning you the moment he can walk again.”

Aang winced at her coldness. “I’m just saying, Katara. If you’re patient and give him the chance, you’ll see there’s more to him than ‘angry scary firebender prince.’ He’s more human than you might think.”

When Katara simply rolled her eyes, Toph decided to speak up.

“So, don’t tell him I told you guys this, but...I had a chat with him last night. He had a really bad nightmare, and the sound of his cries woke me up.”

Sokka hopped to his feet. “Ha! I knew you were lying! I may not have lie-detecting feet, but I know a fib when I hear one.” His excitement was short lived, however. He backtracked with a troubled look, eyeing the doorway. “Oh...does that mean I was right before? You know...about him crying?”

Aang’s eyes bulged out of his head. “Wait—Zuko was crying?” 

Everyone’s gazes veered toward Toph. The tiny earthbender nodded solemnly, her expression grim. “He was screaming in his sleep. I had to cover his mouth to stop him from waking all of you up.” She scratched the back of her neck. “He was...calling for his mom. Begging her to come back. I don’t know what happened to her, or what their relationship is like, but…” she shook her head. “It was really sad.”

Silence veiled the room. Again, Katara felt torn in half by her usual eagerness to help those in pain and her hatred toward Zuko. Sokka put his hair up and placed his hands on his hips.

“The guy’s got a lot of issues, that’s for sure. Do I feel bad for him? Maybe, a little. Does it make me trust him any more than I did before? Absolutely not.” 

“Exactly,” Katara said, glad she had her brother were back on the same page. Aang crossed his arms against his chest.

“But he has shown us he has more than one side. You guys saw more of his vulnerable side, and I got to see part of his calm and awkward side.” He snickered into his hand. “Man, you should’ve seen his face! He has no idea how to take a compliment. I don’t think anyone’s ever called him cute before.”

Katara stuck out her tongue. “Who would ever have a reason to?”

“Oh, come on! You have to admit his new haircut is better than his old one!”

Sokka snorted. “I think anything is better compared to that disaster, so you’re setting the bar pretty low.”

Aang beamed between his friends. “You all should try complimenting him sometime, if only to see his response. It catches him completely off guard.”

Sokka blew a raspberry and walked outside, stretching his arms over his head. Katara wrinkled her nose at Aang’s chipper attitude toward all of this. How many times did she have to remind him that Zuko was their enemy who wanted nothing more than to see him in chains. Even if she liked his new look, and had maybe had to stop herself from touching his hair while he was unconscious and no one else was around to see (it just looked so fuzzy!), no way would she ever say so out loud. 

“Thanks, but I’ll pass,” she snapped. “Under no circumstances would I ever consider that monster cute.”

At that moment, Sokka popped back into the tent, looking both shocked and delighted at the same time. “Guys, you have got to come see this,” he said.

Katara and Aang exchanged a glance before following him. Toph came along too, although she had a feeling she already knew what he was referring to, based on the cluster of mismatched vibrations her feet were picking up.

The three friends tailed Sokka outside and stopped when they discovered a giant fluffy mountain resting in the sunrise. Appa had moved from his spot by the river and was now lying beside the earth tent. His ears perked up as they approached, but he didn’t raise his head. Aang didn’t understand what all the fuss was about, until Sokka coaxed him forward.

“Look,” he snickered. 

Katara and the avatar peered over Appa’s large foot to find a very bizarre sight. A bunch of animals were gathered between Appa’s front legs—a skink quail, a prickle snake, a pair of dragonflies, and a family of turtle ducks, which was strange in itself. But underneath the zoo of wildlife was Zuko, curled up and sleeping peacefully with all the animals snuggled against him, as if they were his babies and he was their teenage firebending mama. Even Momo was there, nestled in the crook of Zuko’s neck and shoulder, purring contently. 

“What the…?” Aang said, blinking.

“Right?” Sokka giggled.

“What exactly am I looking at right now?” Katara asked, her hands flying to her mouth in horror. “Oh no. He’s not—they’re not—eating him, are they?”

“He’s not dead, if that’s what you're asking,” Toph assured her. “His breathing and heartbeat actually feel better than they did yesterday.”

“They look like they’re just...cuddling him,” Aang said. He cupped his palms over his heart, melting with endearment. “Awww! That’s so sweet!”

“But why are they doing it?” Katara asked. The prickle snake was coiled into a spiral and resting on top of his belly. The four turtle ducks were pressed against his back, their tails tucked underneath his side. While the dragonflies occupied both of his arms, the skink quail burrowed itself in the bend of his knees. Appa had his nose against his shoulder blades and his toes under his head and feet, his deep breaths stirring Zuko’s hair. 

Okay, it was cute. Sue her. It still made no sense.

“Maybe he...smells good?” Sokka suggested dubiously. “From something in his uncle’s tea?”

Aang sprung on top of Appa’s head and petted his fur. “Whatcha doing with Zuko, buddy? Do you like him? Does he smell nice?”

“Maybe it’s because of his fever,” Toph suggested, pressing one hand against the ground. “He still feels a lot warmer than the rest of you.”

“So they’re snuggling him to sap his fever heat?” Katara said, fighting back a smile. It was oddly endearing—watching the prince sleep, his wiry shape buried in woodland creatures. He looked like a spoiled little kid surrounded by toys, or some kind of mystical forest spirit communing with nature. 

“Here Momo,” Aang called, hanging off Appa’s horn to try to scoop him up. Momo growled and hissed in protest, pressing closer to Zuko. His squirmy movements roused the slumbering firebender, making him wrinkle his brow and release a quiet moan. 

Zuko blinked sluggishly, the grass and the flowers poking up from the earth gradually coming into focus. He yawned and rubbed his eyes, feeling clusters of tiny bodies shift with his movements. Oh, great, he thought. Not again. He pushed himself upright, grimacing from a sudden jolt of pain, careful not to squish any of the little creatures around him. When he lifted his bleary gaze, he was surprised to find four pairs of eyes gazing back, wide with confusion.

“Ah!” Zuko yelped, flinching backwards sharply. The turtle ducks and the dragonflies sprung away from him for a moment, then quickly reconvened, nuzzling against his limbs. Momo hopped on to his scalp, pawing at his messy bedhead, but Zuko barely seemed to notice. His shock shifted to puzzled anger. “What on earth? Why are all of you watching me sleep? Don’t you know how creepy that is?”

Sokka shrugged dramatically. “Huh, gee, I don’t know. Maybe because we walked out here to find you having a giant cuddly slumber party with an entire petting zoo’s worth of animals.”

“Which for some reason doesn’t seem to be weirding you out,” Katara added, watching Momo growl at the dragonflies from on top of Zuko’s head. 

Aang and Toph giggled at the peculiar scene. Zuko glared between them lazily, stifling another yawn.

“It happens sometimes when I sleep out in the open,” he mumbled. “I don’t know why.” He winced when Appa nudged him in the back with his nose, as if he hadn’t noticed the enormous flying bison looming over him until now. Momo leapt from his head to his shoulder and licked his cheek. 

“Wait—you mean this is a regular thing for you?” Aang floated to the ground in front of him, beaming. “Waking up and being surrounded by a bunch of animals?”

Zuko shrugged, scratching at his disheveled hair. “Sorta.” 

The four friends just stared at him. He began to realize how strange this probably looked to people who didn’t have to deal with it on the regular. He cringed when Appa’s giant tongue lapped across the entirety of his back, plastering him in sticky saliva. 

“Ugh! Gross!” Zuko shoved the bison’s enormous nose in disgust. “Get your slobbery pets away from me!”

“They like you!” Aang insisted, eyes sparkling. “Wow! You’re like an animal whisperer! Look at you, surrounded by cuddly wildlife! You’re so cute!”

To everyone’s delight, Zuko’s cheeks turned pink. Aang hadn’t been joking about the whole ‘can’t take a compliment’ thing.

“I’m not—it’s not—cute,” he grumbled. “It’s annoying.” 

Frowning, he scooped the family of turtle ducks in his arms and placed them to the side, trying to look careless and angry while also being noticeably gentle. As soon as their feet touched the ground, they scurried back up his legs and into his lap with a chorus of quacks and chirps. His look of surprise made all four of them burst out laughing. Sokka grinned smugly. 

“Face it, Zuko. You’re a prissy little prince whose angry royal yelling attracts flocks of baby animals to snuggle you to sleep. If that’s not cute, I don’t know what is.”

Zuko’s cheeks went from pink to red. Until now, none of them had ever seen the firebender full-on blush before. Couple that with the dragonflies flanking his sides, the skink quail fluffed against his knee, the prickle snake slithering toward his neck, and the turtle ducks quacking incessantly at Momo, it was a scene all of them wanted painted and framed to treasure forever. One of the dragonflies prodded at his hand, asking to be pet, and he begrudgingly obliged.

“Whatever,” he muttered shyly. “It��s not like I try to make them come. They just show up.”

Toph hummed in thought. “I figured they were snuggling you because of your fever, but if this happens pretty often, then I don’t know what’s causing it.”

“I’m telling you, it’s a royalty thing. Wild animals just really like aristocrats. Especially ones that sing.” Sokka leaned toward Zuko suspiciously. “Can you sing? Come on—belt out a tune for me.”

Ignoring him, Zuko lifted Momo off his shoulder and placed him on the ground. “I don’t feel like I have a fever anymore,” he said. “I think it broke last night.” The lemur warbled in disappointment and scampered away.

His chills were gone, along with the skull-splitting migraine. Now he only had the aches and pains of his lightning wound to worry about. It wasn’t much of an improvement, but it was better than no progress at all.

“You still feel warm to me,” Toph said skeptically. Katara reached forward and held her hand against his forehead, making him wince in surprise.

“Definitely warm,” Katara agreed. Zuko pulled away from her touch sourly.

“I don’t have a fever,” Zuko snapped. “I’m just naturally hot.”

Katara blinked at him. Sokka snorted behind his hand. 

“Oh, is that so?” he snickered.

Zuko narrowed his eyes bemusedly. “Yeah,” he said. “It’s a firebender thing. We tend to run hotter than regular people.” He pushed at the dragonfly that was nibbling his ear. “But I’m unusually hot for some reason. Like, more so than normal firebenders.”

Now everyone was giggling. Zuko glanced between them with a puzzled frown, the double-sidedness of his words clearly not registering.

“What?” 

Sokka waved dismissively, clutching his stomach. “Oh, nothing,” he chuckled. “That’s just a pretty bold statement to make about yourself.”

One of the turtle ducklings scuttled on top of Zuko’s leg. He stroked its tiny head with his thumb unconsciously, scowling. 

“No it’s not,” he insisted. “It’s the truth. My uncle said so.”

Now the four kids were howling. Zuko started, eyes wide, then scoffed, balling his hands at his sides.

“What is so funny?”

“Are you sure your uncle’s not just saying that because he’s obligated to?” Katara giggled. 

Toph cackled with her arms crossed. “Personally, I trust Iroh’s opinion. If he says Zuko’s hot, then I’ll take his word for it.”

Aang and Sokka doubled over with laughter, hugging their bellies as their shoulders bounced up and down. Zuko’s face burned as the realization gradually dawned on him. 

“No, wait, th-that’s not what I…!” he began, but no one was listening to him. They were all too busy giggling like children at his simple slip-up. He sighed irritably, plucking the prickle snake from his shoulder and placing it in his palm. “You’re all so immature. You know I was talking about temperature...”

“Whatever you say, Prince Hotman,” Aang chuckled, bowing extravagantly. Zuko blushed and avoided their gazes, petting the snake bitterly. 

“Aren’t you scared it’s going to bite you?” Toph asked, pointing to the serpent in his hand. “Prickle snakes are venomous.”

Zuko looked down at the small reptile. “They never have before,” he said casually, letting it curl and slither around his wrist. 

“I think they like how warm you are,” she said. “That’s why they cuddle up to you to sleep. I guess it was pretty chilly last night.”

Without warning, Aang hopped over Appa’s leg and wrapped Zuko in a hug, making the prince recoil uncomfortably.

“Hey! W-what are you—?” he stammered.

“You’re right, Toph! He is really warm!” Aang nuzzled his head into Zuko’s shoulder, closing his eyes and grinning wide. “No wonder all the animals want to snuggle you! You’re like a big, cozy space heater!”

“Get off me!” he snapped, squirming and pushing the clingy airbender. The dragonflies hissed in protest, the turtle ducks squawked furiously, and the skink quail puffed into an angry little ball, cuing Appa to let out a guttural roar.

Feathers exploded from the skink quail as it took flight, flapping and fluttering in terror. The dragonflies screeched and zipped into the sky as the prickle snake sprung out of his hand and slithered into the brush. Quacking frantically, the turtle ducks scurried out of the prince’s lap, gunning for the river. In a matter of moments, all of the wildlife had fled the scene. Zuko blinked in surprise as Appa licked his hair, satisfied with his work. 

“Appa! How rude!” Aang scolded the bison, his arms still curled around the wriggly firebender. “Space heaters are meant to be shared!”

“I am not a space heater!” Zuko retorted, shoving Aang’s face away with both hands. The others weren’t sure whether they should be concerned or amused. It was a pretty funny sight, watching the two diametrically opposed benders squabble like little kids. 

To add to the humor of the situation, it was at that moment that Zuko’s stomach decided to release a long, loud growl. He and Aang both froze, startled by the sudden noise. Then the avatar laughed brightly. 

“It sounds like the space heater needs some fuel!” he giggled, releasing Zuko from his hold and flitting on top of Appa’s foot. Zuko stared sideways sheepishly, gripping his belly, still rattled by the random cuddle attack. His stomach continued to rumble against his fingertips, pleading for anything besides tea. He’d forgotten that he’d hardly eaten yesterday. Now that he was no longer nauseous, he was really beginning to feel the effects. 

“Do you have an appetite at all?” Katara asked. “We have fish and berries and a little bit of bread. You need to get some food in your system if you can.”

Zuko shrugged, trying to look casual. “I guess,” he mumbled. A second later, his tummy practically roared, causing heat to rush to his ears. 

“I think the monster in your stomach speaks for itself,” Sokka snickered. His friends chuckled alongside him. Zuko squeezed his belly tighter, as if he could smother it into silence. 

Katara tugged on the avatar’s sleeve. “Aang, why don’t you go grab him some breakfast while Sokka and I move him into the tent?”

Aang brightened. “Okay!” He formed a ball of air underneath his body and sprung onto it, balancing on top with one foot and zipping away like some kind of crazy performer in a freaky circus act. Toph followed after him, yawning and stretching.

Zuko looked uneasy as the two Water Tribe siblings approached. Appa nuzzled his back with his nose in an almost encouraging manner. 

“Can you walk at all, or do you want us to carry you?” 

The prince glowered. “I’m not going back in the tent,” he hissed. “And you’re not carrying me.” 

“You need another healing session. I figured you’d want some privacy.” Katara rolled her eyes. “But if you want to do it out here, grouchy pants, we can.”

Zuko thought on it for a moment. He supposed he’d prefer not having eight eyes watching as the Water Tribe girl put her weird glowy healing hands all over him. He looked up at the bison, who had angled his head toward him in an oddly convenient manner.

“Fine,” he mumbled. He grabbed hold of Appa’s horn and used it to lift his body off the ground, straining and sputtering. Once he was upright, he sagged against the fluffy monster, sweat beading across his brow, face flushed with effort. Appa stayed still for him, perfectly content being a two-ton support stand for the tiny, warm human. 

Katara and Sokka shared a look before flanking Zuko on either side, wrapping their arms under his and bearing the majority of his weight. They walked him toward the tent, letting his feet touch the ground so he didn’t feel like he was being carried even though that was essentially what was happening.

“Wow, Aang was right,” Sokka observed. “You are really warm. Just like a—”

“If you say space heater, I’m lighting your hair on fire,” Zuko grated out. 

Katara gaped. “If you even think about lighting my brother’s hair on fire, your ungrateful butt is going in the river.”

“Yeah,” Sokka chuckled. “The fishies need a turn cuddling Prince Hothead.”

Zuko grumbled something under his breath, but didn’t have the energy to banter. He hated having to be cared for and escorted around by his stupid enemies. The Water Tribe siblings in particular both annoyed and puzzled him. He’d never seen a brother and sister get along so well, let alone be protective of each other. Azula would never in a million years defend him if he were in trouble; she’d be watching from the front row with a bowl of fire flakes, cheering for his demise, if not trying to kill him herself. Similarly, for as long as he’d known them, Ozai and Iroh had always been rivals first, relatives second. Being dual heirs to the Fire Nation throne just gave you another person to compete with, to fear, to suspect of plotting your assassination. Royal Fire Nation siblings were never allies, and certainly not friends.  

He and Azula had been playmates when they were kids, of course. As a child, Zuko had protected his little sister whenever and however he could. But that only lasted until they began to understand who they were—what they were. Until Azula no longer needed his protection. Until he needed protection from her. 

If it came down to it, if it was life or death, would he still defend her? Or would he let her get what she deserved?

Even after getting zapped into oblivion by his sister, it was hard to say. 

“Where’s my uncle?” Zuko asked through his teeth as they led him into the tent.

“He went to a nearby town to get supplies,” Sokka replied. “He said he was looking for ingredients for some kind of burn balm for you.”

Sokka eyed him in a way that screamed you know, because he actually cares about you, unlike a certain son-banishing Fire Lord I know? 

Zuko turned away from his gaze and glared at the ground. He hoped Uncle would find what he needed and get back here soon. Whatever medicine he’d put on his eye in the infirmary three years ago had significantly sped up his recovery.

“How are you feeling right now, overall?” Katara asked. She and her brother helped him sit against the wall. He held his shoulder and panted softly, his face gnarled with pain. 

“Like I got struck by lightning two days ago,” he muttered.

Sokka barked out a laugh. Katara frowned at him. He withered beneath her glare. “What?” he said defensively. “It was funny! Wasn’t that supposed to be funny?”

“Why don’t you go harvest some nuts or something?” Katara said, pushing him toward the exit. Sokka dug his heels into the ground, narrowing his eyes at the injured prince. 

“You’re okay being alone with him?” Sokka asked. “What if he firebends at you?”

Katara scoffed in Zuko’s direction. “Don’t worry,” she insisted. “I’m more than capable of handling him myself.”

Zuko scowled, even though he knew she was right. Sure, he could get a surprise attack in—two, if he was lucky. But she’d easily counter with a lash of frozen water, rendering him immobile (and possibly eating the floor) in seconds, if not dead. She had gotten obnoxiously better at fighting since visiting the Northern Water Tribe. She was now one of the biggest threats he encountered when confronting their team, even when he wasn’t half-fried and barely able to walk. In his current state, he didn’t stand a chance. 

It wasn’t like he was planning to attack her—not right now, at least. Still. These were the anxieties constantly seething through his mind. In the event he needed to overpower her, it was scary to realize he probably couldn’t. Why did Uncle think it was okay to leave him all by himself with these people? The old man was far too trusting. 

Sokka wrinkled his nose. “Okay,” he relented, giving Katara a quick hug. Then he jabbed a finger at Zuko. “Don’t try anything funny or fiery with my sister, or you’ll be sorry. Got it?”

Zuko stared between them bemusedly, then offered a short nod. Sokka puffed up his chest and marched out of the tent, leaving the waterbender and the firebender alone inside. 

Once her brother’s footsteps had faded out of earshot, Katara turned to the prince with sharp eyes and an expression he couldn’t quite read. She popped open her pouch and streamed the water around her hands, cycling a slow breath through her lungs. 

“Let’s get this over with,” she said, and kneeled beside him. She pressed both palms to the wound on his chest and let the water flow over and into the burnt flesh, tracking the damage as it traveled through his body. Zuko tensed at first, the strange, cold feeling taking him by surprise. But as the pain began to ebb away—the stings, the aches, the twinges, all of it—he allowed himself to relax. Well, as much as he could relax with a Water Tribe girl who hated his guts sitting uncomfortably close to him with her hands on his chest. 

As the two sat in awkward silence, Zuko considered the possibility that choosing to be alone with Katara while she healed him was worse than being out in the open. 

“How long is this going to take?” he asked, shooting brief glances at her hands, but mostly just staring at the ground. 

“About twenty minutes, if you stay still,” she answered. Hardly a minute had passed, and already Katara knew she preferred healing an unconscious Zuko over an awake one. When he was asleep, she didn’t have to worry about breaking the tension, or tip-toeing around his injury, or those deadly golden eyes watching her every move. She didn’t even have to acknowledge that he was Zuko, their nemesis. He was just a body that needed to be healed. A broken pile of muscle and skin for her to mend with waterbending. It was like working with one of those dummies the Northern Water Tribe women had practiced and demonstrated their healing abilities on. Treating him while he was unconscious was easier because she didn’t have to think of him as a person. It was more like fixing a machine.

Zuko’s piercing stare lingered on her hands a little longer than she liked. Maybe she should get him to drink more of his uncle’s knock-out tea. Anything to escape the growing balloon of discomfort suffocating the air between them.

“How...are you doing that?” he inquired carefully, the glow from her waterbending glinting in his eyes. She weighed the question in her mind before choosing her reply. 

“Some waterbenders have healing abilities,” she said. “Lucky for you, I’m one of them.”

Zuko studied her for a second before looking away. “I’ve never heard of that before.”

“Maybe you would have, if the Fire Nation hadn’t killed nearly every last waterbender in the South Pole.”

Zuko’s eyes flitted wide for a moment before dropping to the floor. He swallowed, his hands fidgeting in his lap.

“I’m sorry.”

Katara’s steady hand movements wavered. She lifted her gaze to his. Now that she knew the story behind his scar—the malevolent forces and people who had allowed the prince to be permanently branded so cruelly—she found it difficult to tear her eyes away from it. She’d never noticed how painful it looked. How the scorched, leathery skin stood out so drastically against the rest of his young, unblemished face. He could be two totally different people, depending on which side of him you were looking at. Staring at him now made her stomach clench. It felt like she was seeing him—truly seeing him—for the very first time. 

The apology had caught her off guard. So much so, she didn’t realize how long she’d been gazing at him until he turned toward her. A flash of realization crossed his face.

“My—my sister didn’t give me this one too, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

Katara glanced away quickly, feeling rude. “N-no, that’s not…” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Sorry.”

Zuko gave a small shrug. “It’s fine,” he said, although his expression told a different story. 

She went back to healing his shoulder. Now she was purposely not looking at his face, which somehow felt just as awkward. A full minute passed before either of them spoke again.

“Does it still hurt?” she asked quietly.

Zuko blinked at her. “What?”

“Your eye. Does it still hurt sometimes?”

A line formed between his brows. “It’s a scar,” he said.

“Is that a no?”

He shifted in place, looking thoughtful and uneasy. He reached up and grazed the burned skin with his fingertips. “I guess I sometimes think it’s hurting, but...I don’t think it’s real.” 

Katara nodded solemnly. “Sokka has a scar on his back like that. He fell out of a canoe as a kid and landed on a sharp patch of ice. It really rattled him, and he says it still stings from time to time. But he thinks it’s all in his head.”

Zuko looked down at her hands again. “Do you think it’s all in his head?”

The waterbender pursed her lips in thought. Then she lifted her shoulders somberly. “Does it matter? It still hurts him. Except there’s nothing I can do to make it better.”

The prince had a curious expression on his face, like he wanted to understand what she was saying while also knowing he never would. This was the longest she’d ever seen him go without boasting his signature scowl. 

“You and your brother care a lot about each other,” he said warily. Not as a question, but a stated fact. An observation. 

“Of course we do,” she said, almost laughing. Zuko eyed his shoulder wound dismally. 

“Must be nice,” he murmured. 

Katara followed his gaze and grimaced. “Oh,” she said. She’d almost forgotten it was his sister who had nearly electrocuted him to death.

“I guess not all siblings were meant to get along like you two.”

Katara couldn’t imagine not being friends with her brother. Sure, they’d had their fair share of spats and squabbles, as all siblings were bound to have. But to honestly, genuinely hate each other? To see him as an enemy rather than her most trusted companion? To not have each other’s backs through thick and thin, in every trial they’d faced together? 

And to actually try to kill each other…the absurdity of the concept blew her mind.

But she and Sokka weren’t Zuko and Azula. 

“I guess not,” she said softly. Her hands moved to hover directly over the gruesome injury. “Still...I can’t believe your own sister did this to you.”

“Have you met Azula?” Zuko scoffed. 

Katara narrowed her eyes. “If you had the chance, would you kill her?”

Zuko lifted his gaze and blinked. A flicker of uncertainty touched his irises—one that scared both of them. Then his expression clouded over.

“No,” he said adamantly, swallowing. “But if she was in danger dying, I don’t know if I’d save her.”

Silence shrouded the room. In that moment, it occurred to Katara that she was doing the exact thing she’d promised herself she wouldn’t do. She was interacting with Zuko like he was a normal human being, not their sworn enemy. Not the person who had tried to imprison her friend over and over. Not the prince of the most bloodthirsty nation on the planet. She cursed herself for so carelessly letting him in, for actually feeling bad for him. 

She set her jaw and refocused her attention on his wound. She wouldn’t let herself slip again.

“We saved you,” she pointed out coldly. “Because unlike you and Azula, we’re actually good people.”

She felt Zuko tense and saw his hand curl into a fist out of the corner of her eye, but she didn’t react. She continued to begrudgingly heal his injury, moving her palms along his collarbone. 

Unbeknownst to her, Zuko was actually glad she’d decided to insult him the same moment her hands changed position on his body. The feeling of the water healing his wound fanned outwards from wherever her palms touched, strange and cool and tingly—perfectly fine when it was just over his shoulder. But as she inched toward his neck, the tingly sensation started crawling up the sensitive skin, spreading underneath his chin. In an instant, the feeling went from soothing and mystical to tickling him like a feather. Zuko soon found himself clenching his teeth and coiling his muscles in attempt not to laugh, a position he had not anticipated being in. When it grew too much to handle, he jerked away, gripping his throat.

Katara winced in surprise, her water-coated hands hanging in the air. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

Zuko blinked. “Um.” His face suddenly felt warm. How was he going to explain this? He rubbed his tingling skin nervously. “It just—hurt. I’m sore there.”

“Where? On your neck?” She reached toward his throat, but he flinched back from her touch. A line formed between her eyes. “Let me see. I might be able to help.”

“It’s fine,” he snapped. “I just tweaked it. It doesn’t need your freaky magic hands.” If that tingly feeling was pressed directly against his neck, he was certain he’d fall to pieces in seconds. He was embarrassingly sensitive, as Uncle had recently (and obnoxiously) discovered, and he had no desire for anyone else to find out—especially his enemies. He’d sooner let Azula fry his other shoulder than let that happen.

Fortunately for him, Katara didn’t press the issue. “Fine,” she said, letting her hands fall to her sides. “I’m done with the wound on your chest for now anyway.”

Zuko breathed a sigh of relief. Bullet: dodged.

“Now I can start on your foot.”

A spark of alarm shot up Zuko’s spine. His eyes popped open as she moved to sit by his feet.

“W-what?” he exclaimed. 

Katara gave him a questioning look. “Your foot,” she said, pointing. “It needs to be healed, too. You know, the one you can hardly put any weight on?” She gave his sole a light tap, causing dread to rise in his belly. “The lightning entered your chest, traveled down your left side, and exited out of the bottom of your left foot. The scar on it matches the one on your chest—it’s just smaller.”

Just the thought of that tingling sensation spreading across his sole was enough to make him twitchy. Zuko swallowed, worrying his thumbs in his lap. “Do you…have to heal it?” he asked timidly.

Katara frowned at him. “I mean, yeah. If you ever want to walk normally again.”

It took a moment for the change in his demeanor to catch her attention. He looked shy and fidgety all of sudden, as if he was about to give a speech but had forgotten his notes, and he was doing absolutely everything he could to avoid her gaze. His face also had a slight pink tint to it, like he’d been holding his breath. 

“Is something wrong?” she finally asked him. Zuko hesitated before shaking his head. He was doomed either way, but he refused to confess what was really going on. If he kept his mouth shut, at least there was a chance he could find the strength to stay composed—perhaps enough for her not to notice. 

Katara studied him for a few more puzzled seconds before shrugging it off and getting to work. She used one hand to hold his ankle steady while the other brought the water to his sole. The scar was in the center of the ball of his foot, just above his arch and right below his toes, which was why Zuko was having so much trouble walking on it. His leg would probably be stiff for a while, but she could heal it enough for him to at least start putting some weight on it again. 

But barely two seconds into the healing session, Zuko yanked his foot out of her grip. She flinched and looked up at him, narrowing his eyes.

“What are you doing?” she asked irritably. “I told you, you have to stay still.”

Zuko had his hands shoved under his armpits and his lips pursed tight. “Oh, r-right,” he said. His voice was pitched slightly higher than normal. When he didn’t return his foot to her, she grabbed his ankle and dragged it back to its original position. 

“Don’t move,” she demanded, and pressed her glowing palm against his sole again.

Easy for you to say! Zuko thought miserably. The tingly sensation revved back to life, sprawling down his heel and between his toes. It felt like his entire foot was being brushed with tiny, magical feathers. Even worse, it hurt to curl his arch or scrunch up his toes, so he really couldn’t move other than ripping his foot away or kicking her in the face, which he was seriously considering.

A flood giggles started building behind his lips. He twitched and snorted and slapped a palm over his mouth before tearing his foot away from her tingly touch. Katara huffed exasperatedly, balling her hands into fists.

“What is your problem?” she shouted. “What part of ‘don't move’ and ‘stay still’ do you not understand?”

Zuko’s ears felt like they were on fire. He hugged his knee skittishly, grappling for an excuse. “I don’t—I’m not trying to,” he stammered, rubbing his heel against the ground. 

“Then why do you keep doing it?”

The prince crossed his arms close to his chest. “Because—” he said, biting his lip. “I just—I don’t...like how it feels.”

Katara raised an eyebrow. “You don’t like how it feels?” she parroted mockingly. “You didn’t mind how it felt when I was healing your chest. Why is this any different?”

Zuko didn’t answer. The firebender was noticeably flustered—hands restless, shoulders hunched. Clearly there was something bothering him that he wasn’t letting on about. Katara’s expression softened.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” she said, changing her tone. Zuko was in a pretty vulnerable position. Even if he was evil, he still felt pain the same way she and all her friends did. As a healer, she had to acknowledge that. She sighed levelly. “But you need to stay still so I can heal you properly.” The waterbender nodded towards his foot. “Is it hurting when I heal you? Is that why you keep jumping away?”

Zuko shook his head. “N-no, it’s not...” he mumbled, scratching his forearm nervously. His eyes stayed locked on the ground, as if it would disappear from underneath him if he dared look away. “It’s just...weird.”

“Weird?” she said.

“Yeah.”

“Weird how?”

“You know...weird.”

Katara scoffed. “You’re not making any sense.”

“Forget it,” Zuko growled, scowling between his feet. “I’ll let it heal naturally.”

“You’ll have a limp for the rest of your life if you do that.”

A grimace crawled across his face. Zuko shifted uncomfortably, weighing the two evils in his mind.

“Just tell me why you can’t keep still,” Katara insisted. “Use your words, your highness. Does it sting? Does it burn? Is it making your skin pruny? What?”

“It doesn’t matter, okay?” he snapped. “It feels weird, so I’m not staying still.” He turned away bitterly. “Why don’t you learn how to heal in a way that doesn’t feel weird?”

The waterbender stared at him with a mixture of annoyance and amusement. She placed her hands on her hips. “You’re being a spoiled little brat right now, you know that?”

Zuko continued glaring at the wall, his stomach rumbling quietly. Katara sighed.

“Fine,” she said. She stood and walked out of the tent, disappearing into the sunshine. Zuko watched her go, blinking. Had she given up? Maybe she had another way to heal him that didn’t require tingly waterbending magic. He exhaled slowly and stretched out his legs, allowing himself to relax a little. 

The moment he did, two bands of earth rose up from the ground and wrapped around his ankles, trapping his feet in place. At the same time, the wall opened up behind him and swallowed his arms from the elbows down, pinning his hands behind his back. Zuko yelped in surprise, straining against the newly formed bonds as Katara re-entered the tent, tailed by Toph.

“Hey! W-what are you doing?” He tugged and pulled to try to free his arms, grunting with effort.

Katara smirked. “Making you stay still so I can heal you, of course.” 

Zuko gawked. Uh oh. Trying not to laugh when he could pull away from the tickling sensation anytime it grew too intense was already hard enough as it was. But trying not to laugh when he couldn’t escape it at all? Not good. 

“Now I can make sure you’re up and walking again in no time.” Katara grinned at the earthbender. “Thanks, Toph.”

“Sure,” Toph replied, looming over the trapped firebender smugly. Zuko blanched, squirming even more.

“Th-this is absurd! Let me go!” The prince wrenched and fought with all his might, but it was clear he wasn’t going anywhere. He was thoroughly, entirely pinned. Even at his full strength, he doubted he’d be able to escape Toph’s rock-cuffs.

“Relax, Squirmy,” Toph chuckled. “You’re in good hands. Katara knows what she’s doing.”

She most certainly does not, he thought skittishly. Not yet, at least. And I’d really prefer to keep it that way! He twisted and turned as the Water Tribe girl sat by his feet again, reaching for his now defenseless sole. Anxiety leapt into Zuko’s throat.

“Wait!” he cried. “I’ll—I’ll be still. I promise.” He fidgeted sheepishly. “Just...let me out of this.”

Katara had no idea what was causing him to act so strange and frantic. She’d never had anyone respond to her healing sessions this way. But as entertaining as it was, she’d had enough of it. 

“I’m sure you would, Zuko,” she said, rolling her eyes. “But this guarantees it.”

With that, she pressed her palm to his foot and willed the water to mend the damaged flesh. It was a lot easier to do now that he wasn’t pulling away every two seconds.

Once she got into her usual healing rhythm, she looked up at Zuko, expecting the assuage to calm his bizarre uneasiness. Instead, she found him with his face buried in his shoulder as his cheeks burned bright red. 

“Zuko?” she said, startled. “What’s wrong?”

The prince shook his head, his body shivering like his fever had returned. He was trying his best to hide his face, but she could see enough to notice he was smiling, although it looked like he was fighting it with every ounce of his being.

“Why are you smiling?” she asked, the corners of her own lips lifting in puzzled amusement. She didn’t think she’d ever seen the grumpy firebender actually, genuinely smile before. It was a nice look on him, even when he was trying desperately to conceal it. He was also making a bunch of funny little noises—stifled squeaks and snorts he was struggling to keep at bay. At the same time, he was twitching and wriggling sporadically, as if his pants were crawling with centibeetles.

“He’s smiling?” Toph asked, mirroring Katara’s grin. Curiously, Katara’s gaze dropped to his foot. She moved her hand down his sole and gently fluttered her fingers against the center of his arch. Zuko’s wild reaction confirmed her hilarious hypothesis. 

“Ahack!” the prince yelped, his entire body going rigid. He whirled on her bewilderedly. “Dohon’t do that!”

Katara’s face lit up with delight. “No way. You’re ticklish?” She scribbled her nails toward his heel, making Zuko squeak and writhe. “Oh man! You are! That’s why you’re being so weird and squirmy!”

“S-stohop it!” Zuko giggled, a giant smile overtaking his features. Meanwhile, he was absolutely dying on the inside. This was too humiliating for words. His whole body smoldered with embarrassment while his toes twitched in protest. 

“Is my waterbending tickling you?” she wondered aloud, swirling one finger against his sole in thought, fiercely enjoying his erratic response. If there were ever a time she’d consider calling Zuko cute, it was now, when he was squealing and squirming beneath her delicate touch, flashing one of his rare (and surprisingly radiant) smiles, his face rosy with shame. She chuckled softly. “Hm. That’s new. No one’s ever told me it tickled them before. You must be really sensitive, huh?”

Thankfully, Katara did stop tickling him, but the evil smirk she drilled him with rendered him no less flustered. The damage was done, and there was no taking it back. Toph placed her fists on her hips and grinned smugly.

“Aw! No wonder he didn’t want to tell you why he couldn’t stay still. The little Fire Princey is embarrassed! How cute!”

For the second time that day, Zuko’s face turned as red as a lychee nut. He pouted timidly. 

“Sh-shut up!” he snarled. “It’s not cute!” He didn’t seem to understand the fact that the more he denied it, the less he was helping his case. 

“What’s not cute?” Aang’s chipper voice called, causing dread to shudder up Zuko’s skeleton. He and Sokka stepped through the doorway, holding bags of provisions. 

Katara giggled into her hand. “Yeah, Zuko,” she said pointedly. “What’s not cute?”

The firebender shrunk into himself shyly. Aang tilted his head to the side.

“Why is Zuko all bound up?” he asked. “Did he attack one of you?”

“He wouldn’t stay still for Katara’s healing session,” Toph explained, a mischievous glint in her faded eyes. 

Katara pressed her water-cloaked palm to his foot again, boasting a bright grin. “But we don’t have to worry about that anymore! Right, Zuko?”

If Zuko were able, he’d definitely kick her in the face right now. Unfortunately for him, all he could do was cringe and bite the inside of his cheek, battling back a wall of bubbly giggles while squirming against his restraints. 

“Why does he look like he’s about to explode?” Sokka asked, frowning.

“But like...happy explode!” Aang observed. 

Toph chuckled, unable to keep quiet any longer. “Because Katara’s water healing technique is tickling him,” she explained, feeling Zuko’s heart leap in despair. “She has to heal the exit wound on his foot, but apparently his feet are super ticklish.”

To Zuko’s dismay, two more pairs of eyes turned on his blushing, smiley self with stunned delight. Other than the Agni Kai with his father, Zuko couldn’t remember another moment in his life where he so desperately wanted to be invisible. 

“Zuko is ticklish?” Aang exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. “Aw! That’s adorable!”

Zuko considered retaliating, but if he opened his mouth, laughter was the only thing coming out. Sokka snickered.

“First we discover you sleep with a traveling petting zoo, and now we find out you’re ticklish?” The Water Tribe boy tsked disappointedly. “Man. Your bad guy aesthetic has taken a major hit today, buddy.”

Aang hopped to Zuko’s left side, leaning in close to his flushed face. “If you’re tickling him, how come he’s not laughing?” he inquired. 

Katara chuckled softly. “I think he’s putting all his effort into keeping himself from laughing,” she said. “He seems determined not to let us hear it.”

A steady stream of whimpers and squeaks were escaping the flustered firebender, but he was somehow managing to stave off the tsunami of giggles. If somebody wasn’t intentionally tickling him, it seemed he was able to stay quiet, so long as all his focus was honed in on that goal.

Before Aang had a chance to remedy this injustice, Iroh appeared in the doorway of the tent, beaming with excitement.

“Zuko, look what I found!” he exclaimed, holding up his fist. “Feathers from the rare blue skink quail! Legend says if you add them to your tea, they can cure any ailment!” He eyed the long quills suspiciously. “Unless I am mistaken, and they are actually normal skink quail feathers, which are known to cause uncontrollable dysentery if consumed…”

He glanced up from his dilemma to find his nephew pinned down with shackles made of earth, looking extremely red in the face. He was surrounded by the avatar and his friends, who appeared amused by the prince’s pitiful squirming.

“Hey Iroh, did you know Zuko is ticklish?” Aang giggled. 

Iroh blinked, taken back by the sight and the question. “What are you doing to my nephew?” he asked bemusedly.

“I’m just healing him,” Katara insisted, pointing to the glowing hand on his sole. “But I guess the feeling on his foot tickles, so we had to restrain him to keep him still.” 

Iroh stared at Zuko’s twitchy toes, then at his smiling, blushing face. A stroke of endearment touched his heart. He loved seeing Zuko smile, even if the reason at the moment wasn’t to his liking. Unfortunately, the only way to get his hotheaded nephew to smile nowadays was through convoluted and unconventional methods like tickling. He tried not to use his adorable sensitivity against him too often, knowing it embarrassed the prince tremendously, but sometimes he felt he had to do it just to remind himself that Zuko was capable of joy and laughter, no matter how hard he tried to convince both of them he wasn’t. It was especially nice to see him smiling now, after nearly losing him to Azula’s attack. The thought of never seeing his nephew’s happy face again was too painful to dwell on. 

“I see,” he said, the corners of his mouth turning upward. “He’s probably not pleased you found out about his little weakness.”

“Uncle!” Zuko squeaked out before shutting back up again, clenching his teeth behind his lips. The children chuckled in delight. He was really struggling now, snickering and sputtering with his eyes squeezed shut. Not even Katara was immune to the endearing scene. She offered him a sympathetic smile. 

“You know you can laugh if you want,” she said earnestly. “I imagine it’s not easy to fight it for this long. It might actually be good for you.”

“Yeah!” Aang chirped. “It’s just like the monks always said: laughter is the best medicine.” He sat down beside him, beaming brilliantly. “Don’t be shy! Go ahead!”

Zuko shook his head adamantly, shoving his face into his shoulder as his whole body trembled and quaked. He had already been humiliated beyond all reason—he would not grant them any more satisfaction at his expense. A wry grin curled along Sokka’s lips. 

“Perhaps the stubborn prince needs a little more encouragement,” he suggested. He plucked one of the large feathers from Iroh’s fist. “Could I borrow one of these?”

“Sure,” Iroh said knowingly. “I probably won’t be using them anyway. I don’t have a great track record with concocting teas from strange things I found in the wilderness.”

Sokka skipped between his friends to sit on the firebender’s right side, opposite of Aang. “This oughta do the trick,” he said. Grinning eagerly, he held the soft end of the feather above Zuko’s torso, wiggling it threateningly. “Hey Fire Lord Spawn,” he teased him, “is your upper body ticklish too?”

Something lithe and fuzzy started brushing against his side, causing Zuko’s eyes to fly open. Horror sprawled across his face as goosebumps bubbled up from his skin.

“Ah! W-wahait! Don’t—!” He clamped his mouth shut and tried to angle his body out of the feather’s reach, but Sokka made sure the tickly bristles stayed glued to his side, gliding in the space between his hips and ribs. 

Zuko’s steely resolve was snuffed out in seconds. The sensation tickled far too much for the poor prince to take. Add that to the tingly tickles on his foot, and he knew he was done for. In real time, the four kids and the old man watched Zuko’s willpower rapidly crumble away: from whimpering to snorting to thrashing in place, until finally—

“Ehahaha!” he belted out, his cheeks glowing bright pink. He bucked and writhed, bursting with uncontrollable giggles. “Nohoheehee! Stahap!”

“Aww! There ya go!” Aang cheered.

“No way,” Toph gasped. “That’s Zuko?”

Sokka smirked triumphantly as he swooped the feather up and down the full length of the firebender’s side, drawing airy, nervous giggles from his lips. It was a softer kind of laughter compared to the time Iroh had attacked his tummy in the cave, but just as endearing—if not more so. Plus, in his current state, gentler tickling was definitely more appropriate. 

“Q-quihit it! Gehet awahay!” His eyes darted around the room, searching feverishly for a way out of this ticklish nightmare. Among the unfriendly faces, he spotted Iroh, who was watching the scene play out from the back, chuckling softly. 

“Uhuncle!” Zuko bubbled, his wide smile and bright laughter melting Iroh’s heart. He squirmed helplessly, burning from head to toe. “Mahake them stohop!”

Iroh grinned, stroking his beard. “I think the avatar is right, Prince Zuko. Laughter is a wonderful remedy for a broken body and a troubled soul. Indulging yourself in it for a little while may benefit your condition, especially right now.” 

Zuko stopped listening six words in, when it was clear he wasn’t going to help him. His mind was too occupied by the feeling of the feather delicately tracing the right side of his ribcage, causing light but frantic giggles to spill from his throat. Sokka lingered in the spot just below his underarm, teasing and stroking the exceptionally sensitive skin, then dragged the feather back down his side, fluttering the tip right above his hip bone. 

Katara chuckled along with the giggly prince, still grappling with the notion that the shrill, happy noise ringing in her ears was coming from Zuko. The typically grumpy firebender had a laugh that was both joyful and shy, like every second longer he heard himself doing it was making him all the more ashamed of it. He continued to try to muffle his giggling but was failing at every turn. The fact he was so mortified by the sound of his own laughter almost made her sad. 

“I think Prince Grouchy Butt is embarrassed of his laugh,” she observed amusedly. “Is that why you don’t do it very often?”

The blush in Zuko’s face bled down into his neck. Iroh chortled.

“He has a strict image of hostility and toughness he likes to maintain,” the old man explained. “I don’t think giggling like a child fits into that criteria.”

Sokka cooed, brushing the feather all over his belly. “Poor little Zuko, trying so hard to act tough. Too bad all it takes to shatter that facade is one wiggly feather!” He painted figure eights across his abs, noticing the sharp leap in the prince’s voice. “Hate to break it to you, but I don’t think tough guys typically have such ticklish tummies.”

“Stahap patronizing me!” Zuko demanded between giggles, doubling over as much as his restraints would allow. “Youhou’re all gonna—p-payhay for this!”

“There’s no need to be embarrassed,” Iroh assured him, unfazed by his nephew’s squeaky threats.

“Yeah,” Katara agreed, grinning fiendishly. “Your laugh is super cute.”

The way he looked at her, you’d think she just told him he would never walk again. Katara couldn’t help but snicker, which only made his face heat up more. Zuko fought once again to stem the waterfall of laughter from breaching his lips, but it was hopeless. The feeling of the feather teasing his bare skin was driving him mad with giggles.

“Nohot—it’s nohohot—eheeheehahahagh!”

He was so focused on the soft bristles mercilessly exploring his right side, he didn’t even notice the avatar nabbing a feather from his uncle and floating down on his left until he started swirling the soft end inside his belly button. 

“Katara’s right, Zuko! Your laugh is super cute. Now I just wanna hear more of it!”

Zuko threw his weight around and arched his spine. “Nohohahaha!” he squealed, the sensation sending shocks across his ticklish tummy. “Ahagh—s-stahap! Thahat feels so weeheeheird!”

The room buzzed with laughter. “He means it tickles,” Katara translated with a snort. “Weird is his word for when something tickles.”

His hysterical response only seemed to goad Aang’s tickling fervor. The airbender drew slow ‘Xs’ over his navel, skimming the side of the feather along the edges as he stroked the tip back and forth, all while asking in a playfully mocking voice, “Does this feel weird, Zuko? Or this? How about this?”

Meanwhile, Sokka started scratching his midriff with the quill part of the feather, which Zuko didn’t expect to tickle beyond human comprehension. But it did, making him shiver and squirm and peal into shrill, sheepish laughter. 

“Ahaha! Ihi’m—ehaha—mhmheeheehee!”

He didn’t even know what he was trying to say at this point. Every ticklish inch of him wanted to beg for mercy, but that would require sacrificing his last leg of dignity, and he was resolved not to degrade himself any further. Unfortunately, that meant he just had to endure their torment until they got bored with it, and who knew how long that would take. 

Sokka and Aang could sense the firebender was reaching his limits. They exchanged a look and eased back on their tickle attack, switching to the fuzzy sides of their feathers and giving him longer breaks between strokes. He was still wounded, after all. If this was how he reacted to being tickled by two gentle, innocuous feathers, Aang could only imagine how much he’d lose it if they started using their hands.

The prince’s laughter returned to nervous, airy giggles—the kind that made Iroh want to pinch his rosy cheeks. He twitched and flinched every time the feathers made contact with his skin, which Sokka and Aang were brushing higher and higher up his body. 

“Do you think his armpits are ticklish?” Aang wondered, stroking his feather dangerously close to his underarm, making Zuko cringe.

“Good question! Why don’t we ask him?” Sokka did the same, drawing a yelp from the firebender’s lips. “Hey Zuko, are your armpits ticklish?”

Poor Zuko was doing everything possible to guard himself, pulling his arms as close to his sides as he could, but the way he was pinned didn’t allow him to protect them completely. The remaining gaps were the perfect size for two silky feathers to slip right into and destroy him. 

“Youhou’re both soho dehead,” he giggled helplessly, straining against his bonds. 

“I can confirm his armpits are quite ticklish!” Iroh exclaimed. “In fact, they may be his worst spot.”

Zuko bared his teeth at his uncle in what he hoped resembled a snarl. “Youhou’re dead too!” he snapped, his arm muscles trembling with effort. “Traihaihaitor!”

“How ‘bout, on the count of three, we both go for his pits?” Aang proposed to Sokka with a wink.

Sokka grinned, winking back. “Ready when you are.”

Aang held his feather toward his underarm. “One....”

Sokka mirrored him, swirling the quill tauntingly. “Two…”

Zuko went pink with anticipation. He shut his eyes, squirming anxiously. “Ihi’m gonna—k-kill all of you!”

The two boys giggled at the flustered prince, drawing out the last count just for good measure. Aang smirked in delight. 

“Three!”

Both of them lunged toward the firebender without making contact. As expected, Zuko busted out laughing anyway, nervous giggles pouring from his lips.

“What’s the matter? We’re not even touching you!” Sokka teased him. 

“We’re not tickling you, so why are you laughing?” Aang concurred. They wiggled their feathers an inch away from his skin, inflicting him with phantom tickling sensations. 

Zuko was at his wit’s end with this entire humiliating affair. He continued to writhe restlessly, snickering into his shoulder. 

“You jerherks! You’re insane! Ahall of you!” He squeaked as Katara’s hand crept toward his toes, shooting tingly, tickly snakes between them. “Come on! Lehet me go already!” 

Sokka cocked his head to the side. “We’re jerks? For not tickling you?”

“Sounds to me like you’re mad that we aren’t actually tickling you,” Aang mused. 

Zuko stiffened. “W-what?”

“We were just messing with you with the whole countdown thing,” Sokka continued.

“But if you’re going to call us jerks for not tickling you…”

“Then I guess we better give the guy what he wants.”

The whole scheme was so well-rehearsed, Zuko was almost impressed. But he didn’t get to marvel at it long. A second later, two fuzzy feathers were swishing against his underarms, setting off every nerve ending in his body. 

“Ahahaheehee!” He threw his head back, cackling wildly, twisting from side to side. “N-noho! Pfftahahack! Cuhut it ahouhahahaaa!”

Hiccups began punching through Zuko’s giggle fit. It didn’t look like Iroh had been kidding. Aang drew circles in the hollow of his pit while Sokka skated his feather up and down the underside of his upper arm, rendering the prince a wriggly, squealing mess. None of them could get over just how silly and adorable their nemesis was when he was laughing like crazy and squirming away from their tickle attack. He went from angry, scary firebender to giggly little teenager with one stroke of a feather. The happy expression on his face reminded Aang of his old friend Kuzon. 

“What was it that I heard Azula’s call you?” Aang said, bopping him playfully on the nose. “Zu-Zu, right?”

“Zu-Zu?” Katara repeated, laughing out loud. “That’s so cute!”

At that point, Zuko’s entire body had turned a rosy red color. The feathers wisping against his underarms were driving him ballistic—not to mention their incessant efforts to make him blush. 

“Dohon’t cahall me thahahat!” he giggled shrilly.

“How come?” Sokka asked, fluttering his feather in the hollow of his pit. “Does Prince Zu-Zu not like his adorable little nickname?”

Iroh chuckled lightly to himself, both adoring and pitying his poor nephew. “Are you going to join the fun?” he asked Toph, offering her the last feather.

“You’re terrible,” she snorted. “I love it.” 

She snatched the quill from his hand and sat beside Katara. When the earthbender began whisking the soft bristles across his uninjured sole, Zuko’s whole leg jolted violently.

“Whaha—nohoho!” he cried. He curled his toes and flexed his foot, but it did nothing to deter Toph’s delicate and meticulous destruction of the ticklish firebender. She tickled the entirety of his sole, gauging his reactions to see which places and methods made him squirm the most. Sawing the feather between his toes ended up being her deadliest technique, leaving Zuko in writhing, squeaky stitches.

Now all four of them were teamed up on him, and Zuko was starting to lose it. The fuzzy feeling of three wiggly feathers and one tingly hand all tickling the most sensitive areas of his body at the same time was making his brain go haywire. It seemed the longer they teased his ticklish skin, the more sensitive it became to their touch, rendering him more desperate and more giggly with each passing second. 

“Thihis—ihis—ehevil!” he gasped. Every word was either punctuated by hiccups, or followed by a stretch of silent laughter—where he was giggling so much, he could hardly make a sound. 

Katara scoffed. “Did Zuko just call us evil? That’s hilarious.” She watched her friends tickle the helpless firebender to bits and chuckled at his hysterical flailing. She could hardly believe the cruel soldier she’d fought in the North Pole and the laughing teen wriggling in front of her were one and the same. It was crazy to think she actually used to be afraid of him. She could probably sit here and watch him squirm all day long and never get tired of it.   

When Aang realized Toph had joined the fray, he switched to gently tickling Zuko’s neck to give him a breather. Sokka did the same, brushing his feather in the gap of his collarbone every now and then, sending spikes of chills across the prince’s skin. 

Zuko’s giggling calmed down a tiny bit, but not as much as they expected. Aang laughed when he stroked the feather towards his ear and Zuko scrunched his head to his shoulder with a squeak. 

“You might be the most ticklish person I’ve ever met,” Aang said cheerfully. “And I’m a hundred and twelve years old!”

“You’re definitely the squirmiest person I’ve ever met,” Sokka agreed, copying the movement on Zuko’s right side, making the prince yelp and hike that shoulder to his ear.

“Stahahap it!” he giggled. He didn’t know how much more of this he could bear. His flesh tingled all over, shuddering beneath the soft, silky touch of the three fuzzy feathers, which stroked and brushed and teased his bare skin without mercy. He’d breathe fire at them if he could, but it was impossible to gather enough air in his lungs to attempt the technique when he was laughing this hard. 

The Water Tribe boy and the avatar started working in tandem to tickle whichever side of his neck was left exposed while Zuko struggled to guard himself, turning it into a fun little game of back and forth. He fought so hard not to shrink up every time they switched sides. Unsurprisingly, he failed every time. 

“You’re so cute when you try not to squirm!” Sokka laughed, stroking the feather against the back of his ear. “Go ahead, keep fighting it. I’m sure it’ll work eventually.” 

“Eheehee!” Zuko squeaked helplessly, jerking away and making Sokka smirk. “Y-you—rahat vihiper!” 

The prince was spiraling. Just when he figured things couldn’t get any worse, Aang and Sokka jumped back down to his ribs and belly, gliding the feathers all over his torso and making him want to disintegrate.

“I think this is the most fun I’ve ever had with a firebender,” Toph said, poking the quill between his toes.

“Me too,” Katara agreed. “Look how smiley and blushy he is! It’ll be hard to ever take you seriously again after I’ve seen you like this.”

Zuko shook his head feebly. It was bad enough they were tickling him to humiliating extremes, making him erupt with high-pitched laughter that he was powerless to quell no matter how much he tried to shut up. Did they really have to make fun of him as well? He couldn’t even move, let alone cover his stupid, blushing face! Talk about fighting dirty. All he could do was wriggle and squeal as they tickled him senseless, his smile as wide and bright as the sun. 

“Ahahaha! Guhuhuys!” he howled. What he would give to be an earthbender right now—or to temporarily have one on his side. 

“Based on his heart rate, he gets even more flustered when you tease him while you tickle him,” Toph observed with a grin. She stroked the feather from the bottom of his heel to the ball of his foot, wiggling it for extra effect. “Coochie-coochie-coo, Zu-Zu! Doesn’t that tickle so much? It’s okay—laugh all you want! It’s not like you can make yourself stop.” 

Aang snickered as Zuko’s ears turned a shade pinker. “Wait ‘til the whole world finds out how adorable the Fire Nation prince is when you tickle him!” he said, flitting the feather below his belly button, tickling the skin along his waistline. Based on the way bucked and yelped, he was exploring an extremely sensitive spot. But to be fair, there didn’t seem to be a lot of places on Zuko that weren't extremely sensitive.

The kids giggled in unison with the hapless prince, the joy on their faces making Iroh’s heart soft. As he watched his helpless nephew get teased and tickled out of his mind, he wished he could snapshot this moment in his memories and save it forever. Seeing the five of them laughing and goofing off together just seemed right, even if it was at Zuko’s expense. How he hoped Zuko’s time with these selfless children had changed him in some way, however small, for the better—offering him the chance to seize a new outlook on his life and his destiny. Iroh sensed the prince’s future was intertwined with the avatar’s, just not in the way he’d always imagined. Perhaps this could be his first step toward that realization.

Meanwhile, Zuko was in giggly shambles. He couldn’t handle another second of this teasy, feathery torment. He’d sworn they wouldn’t get him to beg, but that was the only way out of this he had left in his arsenal. He doubted it would work; it would probably just give them more fuel for their ‘let’s humiliate Zuko’ party. But he was out of options, and his head was starting to spin, and Uncle obviously wasn’t going to save him. He had to try.

“Ohokay!” he cried, breathless and defeated. He barely had the energy to twitch anymore; he was basically just lying there and taking it, tears glinting in the corners of his eyes. “Pleehease—please stahap! I cahan’t… m’g-gehetting…dihizzy…”

Iroh stepped forward to say something, but thankfully, he didn’t have to. All of them immediately stopped tickling Zuko, dropping their arms to their sides and watching the firebender sag with relief, airy giggles still slipping from lips as he fought to catch his breath.

“Gah...heh...uhugh…” He hung his head low, panting lightly. Even though the feathers were no longer tickling him, his skin itched and tingled in all the places they’d perused, and bubbly butterflies continued to dance in his belly. He was also mortified to his core, and probably would be for the rest of his existence, which wasn’t great. He couldn’t wipe the goofy smile off his face just yet. “Myhy…sihides…” he whined. 

“See? All you had to do was ask nicely,” Toph said, grinning.

“Poor Zuko,” Sokka cooed, poking one of his bright red cheeks. “I’ve never seen anyone blush so much for so long before.”

He lolled out of his reach skittishly, fuming with embarrassment. “Stohop,” he whimpered. “Y-you’re all...psyhychos…”

Aang giggled with his hands on his hips. “We really got you good, huh? It was nice to see you look so happy for once. Maybe all that laughing will help you recover faster!” 

“If the laughing doesn’t help, hopefully my healing will,” Katara said, holding up her glowing palm. Zuko winced.

“Ugh...pleehease tell me you’re done with that,” he said weakly. Katara chuckled. 

“What, healing your foot?” she asked. She dragged one finger up the side of his arch. “Oh, yeah. I finished that, like, eight minutes ago.”

A startled giggle leapt from Zuko’s throat, making the four friends cackle and the prince’s ears burn. The moment they settled down, Zuko's stomach let loose a pitiful roar, causing them to crack up all over again.

“Oh man! You still haven’t eaten yet, have you?” Aang poked at his rumbling belly, making Zuko squirm and squeak. “Aw! You’ve got to be totally wiped! That was mean of us. We should’ve fed you first.”

“Quihit messing with me!” Zuko snapped, twitching and snickering beneath the avatar’s tasering fingertips. “Just...lehet me go already!”

“Are you going to attack us if we do?” Sokka asked dubiously. “You did say you were going to kill us before. Like, a lot.”

“Ihi’m seriously considering it!” he growled between giggles. “It’s whahat you deserve!”

Aang clicked his tongue in disapproval. “You might want to rethink your answer on that, your highness.” He sat beside the fettered prince and reached around his back, curling his hands around his tummy, grinning mischievously. “Because if you don’t promise you aren’t gonna hurt any of us after we let you go, I’m not going to stop doing this.”

To Zuko’s horror, the avatar started squeezing both sides of his bare torso, drilling his fingers deep into his flesh, jumping between his hips, his belly, his ribs, his pits, holding absolutely nothing back. Zuko jolted and shrieked, twisting and bucking uselessly, his laughter shooting to an entirely new octave of hysterical.

“AHAHAHAHAAA!” he screeched. “GAHA—S-STAHAHAHAP! IHIHEEHEEHAHAHAGH!”

“Whoa,” Toph whistled. “That’s new.”

“Let’s try again,” Aang said, feigning innocence. “Are you going to attack us once we release you, Prince Zuko?” He needled between each individual rib bone with deadly precision, then burrowed into the dips of the firebender’s hips. 

Zuko thrashed and hiccuped, frantically trying to get the words out between bouts of wild cackling. “NOHOHAHAHAY—I WOHON’T! AHAHAHAY PRAHAHAMISE!” He didn’t think anything could ever tickle as badly as Aang’s ten fingers digging into his upper body did at that moment. The fact he couldn’t do anything to guard himself or wiggle away made it so unimaginably worse than any other time he’d been tickled. As carefree and goofy the twelve-year-old avatar could be, this was downright cruel. He was certain he would die if he didn’t stop. Laughter erupted from the teen like adorable, desperate lava. “PLEEHEEHEASE—NOHO—MOHOHOREHAHA!”

“That’s more like it!” Aang said jubilantly. He lifted his hands off the prince’s tummy and floated to his feet, grinning with triumph. “You can let him go now, Toph.”

Toph punched her fists toward the ground, and the rock restraints retracted from his ankles. A second later, she pounded her heel against the earth, freeing his arms from the wall. Zuko celebrated his newfound freedom by immediately shrinking into a tiny ball, hugging himself around the middle with his knees pulled to his chest, giggling dazedly as he fought to tame his breathing. The others watched him with smiles on their faces. They couldn’t help but be endeared.

“Are you all right, Prince Zuko?” Iroh eventually asked, crossing the room to kneel beside him. He laid a hand on his shoulder, which was beginning to bounce less and less. 

“Myhy everything hurts…” he wheezed, but the smile refused to leave lips. He looked up at Iroh, woozy and flushed. “Why didn’t you...hehelp me…?”

Iroh smiled and wrapped him into a hug. Zuko groaned into his shirt but didn’t have the strength to pull away. 

“I’m sorry,” Uncle said, rubbing his back. “But you know how much I love hearing you laugh. When Azula’s struck you, I thought I might never get to hear it again.” He squeezed him a little tighter. “Seeing you happy fills me with so much joy. I try to soak it in every time I get the chance.”

“I’m nohot happy,” he grumbled, voice muffled by the fabric. Iroh chuckled.

“I know you’re not,” he said, giving his side a gentle pinch. “But I hope one day you will be, so I can hear you laugh without resorting to this.”

Zuko flinched and squeaked, shoving him away with as much muscle as he could muster. “Ahack! Uncle!” He clamped his palms over his sides, blushing furiously. “Ehenough! I am so done with all of you!” He pouted at the ground, shoulders hunched, ears pink with embarrassment. “Just...leave me alone...” 

“Sorry, Zuko,” Katara giggled. “We may have gone a little overboard. We’ve just never seen that side of you before. It was sweet.”

Zuko didn’t feel like acknowledging or interacting with any of them right now—maybe for the rest of time. He was too flustered and humiliated by what had just transpired to even begin to decide how to handle it. The sound of his laughter blared shrilly in the back of his mind, mortifying him to no end. Even after being tickled by Uncle not too long ago, he could still hardly believe how loud and hysterical his own laughter could get—that that silly, squeaky noise he was hearing was somehow coming from his own body. It was as if he was possessed by some girly-voiced ghost every time someone tickled him. It was relentlessly embarrassing. 

“Don’t feel bad,” Toph said, swiping her arms toward her feet. Two hands made of earth stretched down from the roof and grabbed hold of Sokka and Aang’s wrists, hoisting them over their heads.  

“Hey!” Aang cried.

“What the—?”

Toph stepped between the boys and tickled their exposed sides, making both of them squirm and laugh shrilly. “They act all high and mighty now, but they’re just as ticklish as you are.”

“Ehahaha! Tohoph!” Aang squealed.

“GAHAHASTAHAHAPIT!” Sokka shrieked, flailing around like a beached elephant coy. 

“Or perhaps even more so,” Toph corrected herself smugly. She released them from her hold and shoved them both aside. They staggered in opposite directions, blushing deeply and thoroughly chagrined. 

Zuko stared between the avatar and the Water Tribe boy. He had to admit, seeing them flustered did make him feel slightly better about this entire nightmarish affair. It also helped that he’d finally caught his breath and was no longer bubbling with giggles. He decided if he had to pick someone in their group to hate the least, it was Toph. Even if she kind of terrified him.

She scooped one of their bags of provisions off the floor and tossed it into Zuko’s lap. “Here—eat,” Toph said. “The sound of your stomach growling is driving me insane.”

Zuko flinched in surprise and eyed the offering warily. He dug around inside and found some bread, a couple strips of salmon jerky, and a weird, round fruit he didn’t recognize. His mouth watered at the prospect of finally getting to eat without yesterday's queasiness holding him back. 

“What’s this?” he asked, holding up the fruit skeptically. 

“Honey plum,” Toph answered. “Have you never had one before? They only grow in the southern Earth Kingdom.”

Zuko shook his head. Iroh plucked it out of his hand with a grin.

“A honey plum! What a treat! These are delicious, Prince Zuko. You must try it.”

He handed it back to him excitedly. Zuko frowned at the bluish-purple fruit before taking a hesitant bite. As he chewed, a sparkle of surprise touched his golden eyes.

“Wow,” he said, swallowing. “That is really good.” He bit into it again, this time with far less reluctance, munching eagerly to qualm his ravenous hunger. It was sweet and juicy, the swirl of bright flavors bursting like firecrackers on his tongue. He was so focused on feeding the monster in his gut, he didn’t look up for a while. But when he did, he was startled to find everyone staring at him.

“Why are all of you...watching me?” he mumbled over his mouthful, shrinking uncomfortably. “I feel like some kind of zoo animal.”

“No reason,” Aang said, grinning. “We’re just happy you like it!”

“You eat like Sokka at the Glacial Spirits Festival,” Katara giggled. “I expected the Fire Nation prince’s manners to be a tad more dignified.”

Warmth rushed back into the firebender’s cheeks. “I’m hungry!” he retorted defensively. “I haven’t eaten in almost a day and a half! What do you want me to do—stick out my pinky and curtsy with every bite?”

“Yes,” Sokka said enthusiastically. “Absolutely yes.”

Zuko huffed, nibbling at the plum self-consciously. “Why do you people insist on making me feel weird about everything I do?”

“Cuz it’s fun,” Toph snickered. “You’re so easy to fluster.”

Zuko bristled. “No I’m not!”

Katara tapped her chin in thought. “When you say ‘weird,’ do you mean the normal definition of weird, or do you mean your definition of weird, which is that something tickles?”

The prince reddened and avoided their gazes, knowing there was no answer to that question that worked in his favor. 

“See? Like that,” Toph laughed, noting the spike in his heart rate. Zuko crossed his arms and stared sideways, hating having all their attention focused on his blushing self for so long. 

“Don’t feel weird,” Aang insisted, cramming a handful of berries in his mouth. “Eat as much as you like—and as messily as you like! You deserve to porcupig out a little.”

“I’m sure he’s just tickled by our kindness and hospitality,” Sokka said, wiggling his feather at him teasingly.

Zuko grimaced and jabbed two fingers forward. In a puff of flame, Sokka’s feather disintegrated in his hand, making him gawk.

“Hey! No fair!”

Katara watched her brother mourn the loss of his new weapon amusedly, then stepped toward the skittish firebender. “Come on,” she said, offering him a hand. “Let’s see if you can walk any better after your healing session.”

Zuko glanced between her palm and her face uncertainly before accepting her help, letting the waterbender pull him to his feet. Iroh stood with him, holding out his hands in case he fell. 

The prince wobbled a little once he was upright but didn’t need anyone’s support to stay that way. He flexed and stamped his left foot, delighted by the lack of pain that followed.

“It’s better,” he said, pleasantly surprised. “A lot better.” He braved a couple steps forward. He still had a limp, but he could finally walk on his own again, if only for a little while. 

“Good,” Katara said. “I can heal you again if anything starts hurting badly, but you mostly need lots of rest.”

He met her gaze gingerly. He didn’t want to say it, but he felt like he had to. “Thank you,” he murmured, the words grating his throat as they left his lips.

The girl smiled and nodded. Toph pounded her foot into the ground, making the tent collapse around them and sink back into the earth, startling Zuko tremendously. 

“I’m hungry too now,” she announced, lifting their campfire off the ground and placing it in the center of their group with earthbending. She snatched the bag of berries from Aang and gobbled down the rest. “Iroh, would you mind making us some more of that jasmine tea?”

Iroh beamed. “Yes! Of course!” He ran and grabbed his pot and the leaves. “Tea always tastes better when it is brewed and shared with others.”

While Zuko watched his uncle enter his tea-making trance, Toph grabbed the honey plum from his hand and shoved it in his mouth, making the firebender grunt in muffled surprise. “Eat, Princey,” she snapped. “Food doesn’t last long around here. Take what you can get before someone else horks it down.”

Zuko pulled the plum out of his mouth and chewed sourly. He hadn’t realized just how tiny the earthbender was until now, when he was standing over her, practically craning his neck to look her in the eye. 

And suddenly, everyone was settling down around the fire, taking and eating and acting like this whole bizarre situation was perfectly normal. At least he wasn’t the center of attention anymore, though it felt like he should be; they were being far too trusting, letting him stand so close so freely now that he had some of his strength back. He swept his gaze around the circle with a puzzled frown. Hesitantly, Zuko sat among them, listening to the criss-crossing conversations as he finished off the honey plum and started in on the bread. 

“When do we start my earthbending training?”

“You sure you’re ready, Twinkle Toes? Being an earthbender takes guts and grit like you’ve never seen.”

“Definitely!”

“Pass me some of that sun melon, Sokka. Momo’s getting fussy.”

“Sure. Here, Zuko—have some too.”

Sokka casually handed Zuko a slice before giving the rest to Katara. Zuko took it reluctantly, gave it a sniff, then munched on the fruit, glancing warily between the others, feeling odd and out of place, like an unacknowledged elephant rhino in the room. 

But also...strangely content. 

As he tended to the tea, Iroh watched his nephew with a small smile. He wished Zuko could see how well he fit with these kids rather than in a toxic palace in the Fire Nation capital. He wished he could see how relaxed he looked here versus how tense he was beneath the scrutinizing gazes of Azula and his father. He wished he could stay with them, reject the false path Ozai had set him on, and find his own destiny with these kind, goofy children.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You must leave tonight—all of you.”

The four friends stood before the old man in disbelief, the setting sun reflecting in their wide eyes. Behind them, Zuko slept by the fire, his back rising and falling steadily.

“Leave?” Aang said, blinking. “What for?”

“What’s going on?” Toph asked.

Iroh bowed his head, his voice grim. “Now that he is getting better, there’s a possibility my nephew may try to pull something unfavorable against you and your friends. I want you all gone before he gets the chance.”

Katara took a step back, her eyes clouding over with rage. “What? Did he tell you he was planning something?”

“No,” Iroh insisted. “He hasn’t mentioned anything like that.” A grimace gnarled his features. “But I know my nephew. He needs more time before he is ready to fully realize his destiny. He is still extremely lost, hurt, and confused, and I do not want any of you to suffer because of it.” He sighed softly. “I don’t believe he will try anything, but...I’m not willing to risk it. Not after everything you’ve done for us.”

Sokka eyed Zuko’s slumbering form, then turned back to Iroh. “So...we should just...go? Right now?”

The old man nodded somberly. “I think that would be best.”

“But what if he needs more healing sessions?” Katara asked. “He’s still really weak.”

“I can take care of him,” Iroh said, his expression softening. “I’ve done it before. I am more than capable of doing it again.”

Toph shifted her weight between her feet. “He’ll be upset when he finds out we’re gone.” 

Perhaps in more ways than one, she considered. They had only just begun to peel back the layers of the person they knew as Zuko, peering into the heart of the troubled but not entirely unsalvageable individual he was. Leaving now felt like dumping all of that progress down the drain, reverting back to their old shtick of pursuer and prey. Oddly enough, it almost felt...treacherous. 

The old man hinted a smile. “He will be okay. Do not worry yourselves for my nephew’s sake. You have all already helped both of us more than we deserve.” He bowed respectfully, his hands clasped inside his sleeves. “Good luck on your journey, young avatar. May the spirits guide you and your friends. I sincerely hope we meet again soon, under more desirable circumstances.”

Aang hesitated for a moment before bowing back. He didn’t know how Zuko would react if they told him beforehand that they were leaving. Probably not favorably. Still, it felt strange, abandoning the two of them without a proper goodbye. 

“I hope so too,” he said. He raised his head and met Iroh’s gaze. “He’s lucky to have you.”

Iroh glanced over his shoulder. “I’m lucky to have him, too,” he said. Icy sadness tugged at his chest. He fought not to let it bleed across his face. 

“Keep trying to, I don’t know, ‘lead him into the light’ or whatever.” Sokka shrugged. “For what it’s worth, I have way more faith in him than I do Azula.”

The old man shuddered. “Me too,” he breathed.

Katara stared at her feet. “I hope...he changes,” she managed to say, looking awkward and conflicted.

Iroh nodded once, his expression warm. “He will,” he said. Then he exhaled slowly. “Go. I wish each of you the best this world has to offer.”

The four kids smiled sullenly, then dispersed to pack their things. They left on Appa thirty minutes later, the two firebenders shrinking smaller and smaller before vanishing behind the horizon, a collective ache hanging over them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You let them go?”

Iroh sat by the edge of the river, legs crossed with a cup of tea in his hand. Zuko stood over him, boiling with anger.

“I did not ‘let them go,’ Iroh assured him, breathing in the dewey morning aromas. “They were here when I went to bed. When I woke up, they were gone.”

It wasn’t lying, technically. Just strategic withholding of information. Zuko groaned in frustration.

“I can’t believe this!” he yelled, stomping in circles. “Why would they just leave like that?”

Uncle sipped his tea calmly. “Why wouldn’t they? They healed you, fed you, gave you a place to sleep. Now that you are doing better, there was no reason for them to stick around.” 

Zuko buried his face in his hands. “The avatar was sleeping right next to us! We could’ve captured him and dragged him off without any of them noticing!”

“Another valid reason for them to leave,” Iroh pointed out. “I’m sure they feared you would try something like that, even after they saved your life.” He sighed contently. “We’re lucky they simply left us in peace, rather than taking us prisoner.”

He hated how well his uncle was taking all of this—and how accurate all of his rebuttals were. Zuko kicked a pine cone into the river. 

“It could take weeks to track them down again! Ugh!” He sunk to the ground, griping and grumbling incoherently. 

“I am surprised you are so shocked that they left,” Iroh said, raising an eyebrow. “We are still their enemies, after all. They never had an obligation to help us in the first place. What reason would they have to stay with us after they healed you?”

To be honest, Zuko wasn’t sure why he was so stunned by it, either. Of course they had left. That was the smart thing to do. If he were in their position, he wouldn’t have stayed, either. Now that he could walk, he was capable of committing all kinds of malicious crimes against them—as he’d done many, many times in the past. 

But the weird thing was, he hadn’t planned to do anything like that.

At first, sure, maybe. When he was hurting all over and seething with anger and resentment. But after speaking with each of them, forming those little connections he never thought possible, things had changed. His usual appetite for causing them pain had gradually dwindled away. Capturing the avatar and hauling him back to his father was starting to sound more like an unsavory obligation rather than something he actually wanted to do. 

He was still mad at them for that mortifying stunt they pulled in the tent yesterday, but not in the way he expected. It was beginning to feel more like a “you got me, now I’ve got to get you back” kind of mad—the innocent, playful kind he and Azula had for each other whenever they pranked one another as kids. Now, he would never get the chance. 

“I guess there is no reason,” Zuko admitted bitterly, hugging his knees. “I’m just...frustrated.”

“It’s okay to be angry,” Uncle said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “But it’s important that you recognize why you’re angry, because I don’t think the reason is what you believe it to be.”

Zuko eyed him suspiciously. “What are you talking about?”

Uncle’s hand moved to his back, steadying him in the comforting way it had done a thousand times. “Why are you upset they left, Prince Zuko?”

The young firebender frowned. He didn’t know why Uncle was asking him this—the answer was obvious.

“Because now I have to find them again to capture the avatar,” he said, although it sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

Iroh hummed thoughtfully. “That’s it? No other reason?”

“What other reason would there be?” Zuko shot back. 

Uncle stirred his tea, the spoon clinking against the sides of the cup. “They were kind to you. Rather than ignoring you or berating you, they chose to interact with you in a warm, friendly manner. They didn’t treat you like a dangerous Fire Nation soldier; they saw you as a person who needed their help. They are all very good people.”

Zuko scoffed. “They were not kind to me. You don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“You have rarely ever been around kids your age outside of the Fire Nation—especially ones that care so openly about one another.” He sipped his drink and stared across the river. “You fit in well among them.”

“What are you trying to say?” Zuko snapped, feeling hot and nervous and furious all at once. “That I miss them? That I want to be friends with the avatar and his obnoxious cronies? You’re insane, Uncle. I—I hate them! They’re the most insufferable people in the entire world! And my enemies!”

Iroh didn’t react to his tirade. He simply laid his hand on his nephew’s head, scratching at his short, fuzzy hair. Zuko went stiff, startled by the affectionate contact, debating whether or not to jerk away. He hated to admit it, but it felt...nice.

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to befriend good people, regardless of your past or theirs. Not everything is as rigid and definite as you might think.”

Zuko blinked. His entrails felt like a bundle of knots. His throat grew sore and tight. The ache inside him was sickening familiar, and he hated himself for feeling it in this situation. He tried to will it away, to loathe it out of existence. But it was there, cold and stinging.

The pain of being left. 

He hadn’t had a head of hair to pet since he was thirteen. All Zuko wanted was to lean into Uncle’s touch and let him scratch his scalp forever. Instead, he ducked out of Iroh’s reach, clambering to his feet. 

“You’ve officially lost your mind,” he growled, running his fingers through his hair irritably. Uncle stood by his side, a somber smile on his face. His nephew’s walls held strong, but they were weakening every day. He still needed more time, more patience, but the old man had hope.

“Come, Prince Zuko,” he said. “Now that you’re feeling better, it is time to resume your firebending training.”

Zuko turned to face him, his scowl melting into a look of excitement. “Wait—really?”

Iroh nodded. “It is time you moved on to the advanced set, and learned how to defend yourself against people like Azula.” He assumed a steady stance and pointed two fingers toward the sky. “Do this motion with me.”

The prince stepped in front of him and mirrored his movements. He still couldn’t fully extend his left arm, but he tried his best to copy Uncle’s form. “What are you going to show me?” he asked eagerly.

Iroh grinned. “A firebending technique that I developed by studying waterbenders, one that neither Azula, Ozai, or any other firebender except me can do.” His eyes twinkled defiantly. “How to redirect lightning.”