when fire meets air

Chapter 22: Aang

For those of you who skipped the last chapter, here is a summary:
Zuko had a nightmare/flashback of one of his first nights in prison. He was assaulted by other inmates, but the guards were able to save him. He went into Aang's room and told him about what had happened. Aang almost went into avatar state, and then they went to bed together. Zuko slept well after that.
Now, back to the story!

That night, he didn't sleep.
How could he? After what Zuko had told him, he laid awake in his arms for the rest of the night.
If it was under any other circumstances, he would have been ecstatic! Aang was being held by someone he had a crush on since before he went through puberty, and he should have been happy, but he just had rage burning under his skin and it took everything he had not to slip into the avatar state when thinking about it.
He was a monk, rage was something that he wasn't supposed to have; sure, in the past he had gotten angry but this... This was something that took any sliver of calm and shredded it into a million pieces.

Zuko had just been a child when those monsters had taken his soul. He was a child that was alone and scared and they used that to their advantage and it took every single bone in Aang's body not to go to that prison right now and find them and...
And do things that would be against his moral compass.

Hell, he would willingly shatter that compass to protect Zuko.

But he didn't want him to.
So instead of losing it and losing his trust, he lay there.
Every so often, Zuko would squeeze him, tightening his grip suddenly in a way that had Aang on edge. He was ready to jump at any moment to pry him from a nightmare and protect him, but the squeezes would pass quickly.

And so he lay there, all night.
He listened to Zuko's heart, the constant thumping below his ribs somehow calming Aang down.
He listened to his breathing, which was deep and peaceful, every so often a little puff of smoke would escape from his lungs, and that would make Aang smile.
Because he remembered all that time ago, where Zuko lost his bending. He remembered how it had taken so long for him to get it back, and even then it wasn't full power. He remembered how he would have to really focus to use his ability, and now he was bending in his sleep. Something had changed, and he knew it didn't happen when he was in prison.
Being here, the two of them together, that was changing him.
Erasing some of his trauma.
Even if it was only a little bit.

When it came time for Aang to go and train on his own, he didn't get up. Appa would have to wait, as he didn't want to disturb Zuko.
Or was it that he just didn't want to leave his arms?
He would never tell which one it truly was.

Aang was supposed to be selfless, remember?

Eventually, Zuko woke up. He had slept for hours upon hours, and the sun was burning down onto the earth by the time his eyes opened.
"Good morning," Zuko said, his voice low and groggy with sleep. It made Aang's heart leap.
"Good morning, how was your sleep?" Aang whispered, rolling so that he could look Zuko in the eyes.
His bed head was adorable.
"Better after our talk." He was short with his words, as usual, but his face was soft and there was a slight smile playing at his lips.
"That's great, I'm happy to hear that." Aang was short too, but it may have just been his sleep deprivation.
"Did you sleep well?" Zuko asked, propping his head up on one of his arms to look down at Aang.
"Of course." He smiled. Telling a little white lie sometimes doesn't hurt.
"Good. That's good." Now that was a real smile. Aang would tell all the little white lies in the world to see that smile every day.
"Yeah, yeah it is." He then propped himself up to look at Zuko better. Their faces were so close, close enough that he could feel his warm breath on his face. It had a hint of sleep to it, but he didn't care. When you love someone, you put up with their morning breath.