𝑺𝑬𝑬𝑫 𝑶𝑭 𝑰𝑪𝑯𝑶𝑹 •𝒃𝒙𝒃•

21 ~ melancholia

"What are you doing?" He asked, slowly drawing near.

His father's shoulders locked up and he quickly turned around, a hint of surprise crossing his features. "Guren," He sounded surprised, "Come here."

Guren was suspicious of the sudden invitation, yet did as told in the end. He approached his father until he stood behind him, and looked down over his shoulder. The sight made his eyes widen.

Multiple paper ornaments sat in the grass, all kinds of shapes and sizes.

"What this?" He asked, dropping to his knees so he could take a closer look. His fingers tangled in the grass as he stood on all fours, peeking from around his father's wide frame. "It's pretty."

A soft laugh came from the man. "It's called origami. It's...an art of sorts. I picked it up on my last expedition and wanted to try it out." He reached for one of the ornaments, a flower of sorts, and raised it up to Guren's face, where he tucked it behind one of his ears. "Pretty indeed."

Guren felt his face heat up and he spluttered, incoherent words leaving him. Quickly, he pulled the flower out and held it in-between his index and thumb finger.

His father kept laughing.

"Stop!" He whined out, but the man wouldn't listen.

Instead a hand landed on the top of his head, rough palms gently caressing him. "Yes, yes. Anything for you."

It was in moments like these that this man in front of him looked most vulnerable. He wasn't like this in front of anyone, even Azula and Zuko, even his...mother. It was as if this part of him was meant for Guren and Guren only. That kind of thing made something ugly in him spread, a kind of self-satisfaction he couldn't quite understand, as if he had won at something.

"Can you make me a Jelly Koi?"

His father paused. "Hmm. I can try, but no promises. I'm not that good."

Not that good? How could he say that after making so many pretty ornaments? So many- Then Guren saw them, the other ornaments, and how many of them were the same shape. "Are these...cranes?"

Thus his father's vulnerability hardened and no words left him, only a single, fleeting smile twisting the corners of his mouth.

Guren couldn't help but think it was painful.

_

"Master Hei started making origami!" Excitedly, Azula revealed.

Guren hummed from his place beside her. "I know already. I saw him in our courtyard."

The girl looked promptly scandalised. "No fair, I thought I was the first one!" She whined, childishly swinging her legs back and forth. Huffing, she wiggled forward and dropped off the tree branch, soundlessly landing on the grass below.

Sighing, he followed after her. "Nothing you can do about it."

Again, she huffed, crossing her arms as she looked away. "Still not fair."

Not fair?

He bumped their shoulders together. "I'm the one who should be saying that. You're with him more than I am, and I'm his son!"

For a moment, Azula looked like she regretted it, but then her brows furrowed. "Since when do you want to spend time with him? Aren't you the one who avoids him?"

He was promptly shut down by a girl three years his junior. Not-so-inconspicuously, he glanced away. "I'm just saying..." Quickly, he changed the subject. "Where's Zuko? Wasn't he supposed to meet us here?"