roots • [ general iroh II x oc ]

Jacket

He shook his head and looked back at Niko.

"Lead the way, this is your tour." The man smiled and patted Nikos back

Niko grinned and nodded. "This way."

He started walking off down the side of the boat, rambling about different features of the ship. Iroh followed behind him, listening intently to what the boy had to say, occasionally looking over his shoulder at Aria, watching as she looked out over the water.

She pushed away the hair that had been blown in her face and squinted her eyes, looking at the sun over the horizon.

Iroh couldn't take his eyes off of her. She was staring at the sun as it began to set. Her messy hair waved in the breeze and her eyes squinted from the blinding light.

She was breathtaking.

He had to stop himself from staring. He shouldn't be thinking these things. She would probably kill him if she even suspected what was going through his mind right now.

Iroh snapped out of his haze and looked down at the boy. He was still rambling on, unaware of his current surroundings.

He forced himself to listen to the boy, to pay attention to the words he was saying, to only pay attention to him and his tour.

He managed to do so for a couple minutes, but as quickly as he was able to focus on Niko, he once again found his eyes drifting over to Aria.

She was still standing there, gazing at the setting sun. A mix of orange and pink traced over the clouds and reflected on the dark blue water. It illuminated her face.

He walked up next to her and leaned on the railing with her.

What am I doing?

He stopped next to her, leaning on the railing as well. He was probably a little bit too close, but he didn't really care.

He looked over at her, taking in her relaxed face and the way the colors of the sunset reflected on her skin.

"It's pretty on the ship. Can't believe you see this all the time." Aria mumbled, not even looking at him.

He chuckled a bit as she spoke. She was making the effort to hold a normal conversation with him for once.

He looked back out at the sunset. "It gets old at times. Not as nice as this when you've seen it for years."

Her bare shoulders shrugged. "I don't think so. I don't think sunsets can ever get old." She finally looked at him. "Maybe you just stopped taking time to look."

He was going to make a snarky comment back, like he usually did, but he felt his words catch in his throat as she looked at him.

Her voice wasn't as harsh as it usually was, the last thing she said actually holding a hint of gentleness in her tone.

He couldn't find the words to respond right away.

After a moment, he found his voice again. "I've had more important things to focus on instead of watching sunsets."

"Yeah, but you have to admit it's beautiful." Her voice was genuine. "I think if everyone in the world stopped and watched a sunset every now and then, things would be a lot different."