keep the paper lantern lit

stars

day seven of zutaraang week 2020! i can't believe it's the last day (technically, at least. i'm posting the bonus prompt tomorrow, so you'll get one more oneshot after this one out of me). this prompt was a lot of fun to write! i hope you enjoy :)

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stars: don't you know that i would give you the world (would you take it from me)?

"Okay, that's it," Zuko grumbled as he got to his feet and pulled his coat tighter around his shoulders. "You rise with the moon, I rise with the sun, so I'm going to bed." He sent Aang an unamused sideways glance. "And the Avatar, rising with all, must never sleep."

Aang laughed. "I'll be up with you at dawn tomorrow, I promise. Don't stay awake on my account."

Katara snickered when Zuko sighed, as he'd apparently recognized that was the best compromise he'd get from their boyfriend.

"Fine." He placed a quick kiss to the top of Aang's head before he returned inside, grumbling about the 'stupid cold weather' and how he could 'never be a waterbender' if it meant 'staying up all damn night'. Katara normally would have corrected him, but she was too busy trying not to laugh at his theatrics to care.

"I keep telling him that as long as he's careful, he can use firebending to warm the air around him, similar to what I do with my airbending, so he doesn't need to wear all those layers," Aang commented, amused. "But he says if even one thing distracts or surprises him, he might accidentally melt the entire South Pole."

Katara snorted at the decidedly hilarious mental image. "Spirits. You know I hate agreeing with Zuko, but I would really prefer if he didn't destroy my home. You know. Again."

Aang laughed, slipping a hand into hers. She regretted that her glove prevented them from touching, though she didn't regret how warm the fabric kept her. "Oh, wow. You do hate agreeing with Zuko. This 'please don't melt the South Pole' business must be very near and dear to your heart."

Katara found herself laughing, too. "I know that may be hard for you to believe, but I assure you it is. I have always been a lifelong opponent of my home being melted." She squeezed Aang's hand, slowly exhaling a contented sigh. "You know," she mused after a pause, "last time Zuko told me 'You rise with the moon, I rise with the sun', I think he was trying to kidnap your body while your soul was in the Spirit World at the Northern Water Tribe, and as a result was also trying to kill - ah, I mean, get rid of me when I tried to protect you." She glanced up at her boyfriend, an amused smile dancing on her lips. "Now he's your other soulmate, and he was complaining about our differing sleep schedules. It's funny how things change."

Aang gave her a crooked smile. "Well, Zuko swore on his honor - and you know how important his honor is to him - that he wouldn't try to kill us anymore, so you probably don't have to worry about that -"

"Oh, you hush," Katara said, laughing again, as she lightly nudged his shoulder with her own. "You're hopeless." The dead of night often seemed to be the perfect time for important, serious, life-altering conversations, but Aang always had been one to defy such traditional conventions - maybe she should have seen that coming.

"No, I'm pretty sure I'm hope incarnate," he corrected. "I seem to recall a very powerful - and very beautiful - waterbender telling me when I was younger that I brought hope to her and to the entire world."

Katara snorted, fighting back a smile. "Well, that waterbender sounds very naive to me."

Aang shrugged. "Eh. Aren't we all, sometimes?" Then he smiled at her, his eyes so full of love and adoration. Katara sometimes felt she might drown in it. "Maybe she was naive. But she was also the smartest, kindest, bravest person I've ever known, so I'm inclined to trust her judgement."