when fire meets air

Chapter 8: Aang

"He tried for so long to catch the Avatar and-" Pipsqueak snorted, then started to laugh and was unable to finish his sentence.
"He was only able to catch him in his sleep!" One of Jet's former lackeys finished. Aang laughed and looked at Zuko, who seemed to be fuming.
"Hey guys, can you lay off of him?" He shoved them with his shoulder and sneakily looked at Zuko.
"Why would we do that? He's such an asshole-" They said with a laugh. Even though Aang was sure that Zuko couldn't hear them, he still stood up and stormed away. The avatar cursed quietly before excusing himself and following the fire prince.
He kept his distance, not wanting to amplify Zuko's anger. He stopped when they reached a clearing. There was no sort of man-made structure to be seen, only dirt, trees and beautiful red flowers. He could hear turtle ducks quacking in the distance, meaning there had to be a pond around here somewhere.
"I know you're there Aang." Zuko sighed and sat down on the grass, his golden eyes resting on where the Avatar was standing.
"Sorry, I didn't mean- I don't want to... I don't want to intrude, I'll go..." He stuttered, a light blush dusting over his cheekbones as he realized he wasn't as stealthy as he thought.
"No, you don't have to. Stay." The fire prince managed a small smile before looking up at the sky.
"It's beautiful here." Aang smiled, walking over to his friend and sitting down by his side.
"It is. I come here whenever I get mad- it helps me control myself." He hung his head and stared at his hands. Aang could feel his sadness, his loss, radiating off of him. His fire was all he had left, and even now he doesn't have that.
"It's all going to be okay, we've just gotta make you happy, okay?" He smiled and bumped his shoulder with his own.
"And how do you suppose that will happen?" Zuko rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest.
Listening to the turtle ducks, Aang got an idea.
"Follow me!" He grinned and grabbed Zuko's hand, dragging him to where the sound was coming from.
They soon reached a wide pond that stretched far into the trees. The water was clear and beautiful, the sun reflecting off of the ripples on its surface.
"Come on!" Aang grinned and pulled his shirt over his head, exposing his air bending tattoos to the welcoming sun. When Zuko realized what he was implying, his eyes widened and he ripped his hand out of the Avatar's grip.
"Oh no, I am not going in there!" He said matter-of-factly and shook his head.
"Come on, please? It'll be fun!" Aang laughed.
"No it will not!" The fire prince groaned.
"Please? I'll focus and not slack off during training!" He bribed, placing his hands on his still clothed (though only by underwear) hips. He watched Zuko roll his eyes and sigh in defeat.
"Fine." He hissed and pulled his shirt over his head, then took off his slacks, leaving him in his underwear.
Aang found his eyes glued to his torso, his defined muscles and "v line" (as he heard the girls call it) making his mouth dry. He had seen him shirtless before, but in this lighting and with the lack of pants, he realized that this may have been a bad idea after all...

Hello!!!!! Sorry it took so long, I've had a very stressful few weeks as there is a forest fire right next to my cottage and it may burn it down and it already has destroyed so much of historic Canada and hahhsisuwishjsdj it's so sad!!!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this short update!! Hopefully I will be able to work on another one for next week :)

In other news, I'm going to be redoing the cover for this fanfic bc in all honesty, the one that is in place rn is real cringy haha

Anyway!!

Toodles!!

~ Dylan <3