A/N: My friend Heather and I were quoting the ever-popular line, "Oh no! My royal parts are showing!" from Book 3, Chapter 49, "Nightmares and Daydreams," and Heather said, "I wonder what would happen if Aang ever told Zuko about that dream! …We should write a fanfiction about that." And the one-shot was born.

Takes place immediately after Book 3 Chapters 54 and 55: "The Boiling Rock". If you haven't seen those yet, they're posted on avatarchapters dot org.

"Ozai's Pants"

"Whew!" Aang rubbed his hand over his brow. "This is hot work!"

"What do you expect?" Sokka said from his seat against the dark cave wall. "You're firebending!"

"Let's take a short break," Zuko said, relaxing from his fighting stance.

"Good idea." Aang breathed a sigh of relief. Zuko had been back from the little "meat-gathering excursion" with Sokka for two days, and had been working him tirelessly ever since. The encounter with his sister had apparently given him even more determination to prepare Aang to defeat the Fire Lord.

"Sokka! Do you want to help me hunt some of these eagle-puffins?" Hakkoda called from further along the Western Air Temple's balcony edge.

"Coming!" Sokka grabbed his boomerang and ran to join his father.

"Guess they're going to want to cook those things when they get back," Zuko said, moving quickly to gather a few sticks from the supply of firewood they had piled up by one of the stone pillars. Aang still marveled at how much work it took for Zuko to even break a sweat. "Want to help me light this?"

"Sure." Aang put down the waterskin he had been drinking from and took aim at the firewood.

"BWAK!!"

"YAAH!" Aang ducked and spun as something large and black flew past his face. The sudden divebombing attack of the eagle-puffin threw him off-balance, and his firebending shot went wild.

"Yai!" Zuko leaped backward as his pants ignited.

"I've got it!" Aang quickly pulled the water from his waterskin and bent it toward Zuko. There was a splash, and a very wet Zuko looked up at him, the firewood in his hands completely soaked.

"Heh. Oops," Aang said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry about that." He made a pulling motion and bent the water back off of Zuko's pants. He considered putting it back in the waterskin, then thought better of it, and dropped it over the side of the canyon.

After a moment, Zuko shrugged, moving to sit down next to his pupil against the cave wall. "At least you didn't burn my pants off."

Aang chuckled. "Yeah! You could've ended up like your father!"

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he could have bitten his tongue. Zuko's head shot around and he stared at him. "What about my father?"

"Uhh, nothing. I wonder if Hakkoda and Sokka need help catching those eagle-puffins? They could probably use some airbending..." Aang leapt to his feet.

"No." Zuko, with his longer arms, had no problem grabbing the back of Aang's shirt and pulling him back down. "Tell me. What about my father."

"Well..." Aang looked about shiftily. "Right before the Day of Black Sun, I was all worried about facing your father. And I kept having nightmares. In one of them, I met the Fire Lord, and he told me that I had a mathematics test that I had forgotten about--and then smashed me with a giant abacus." He chanced a glance at Zuko, who was staring at him with one eyebrow raised. "In another, I went to fight with him, and he pointed out that--I had no pants on." Aang laughed nervously. "You've had a dream like that before, right?"

Zuko just looked at him and slowly shook his head.

"Oh. Well, the dreams got so bad that I stopped sleeping for a couple of days. And let me tell you, I had some crazy hallucinations. Momo and Appa were both talking, and then they got into a fight—and Appa is scary with those four arms! Especially when he gets out his swords and starts spinning—"

"What does all this have to do with burning my pants?" Zuko interrupted, bewildered and slightly annoyed.

"I'm getting to that...! After awhile Katara, Sokka and Toph decided they had had enough of my hallucinations, and they made me sleep."

Curious despite himself, Zuko asked, "How did they do that? Didn't you still have nightmares?"

"No," Aang said, looking down at his knees. "They said that they believed in me. That I could do it. Their confidence made me feel so much better, that I did actually fall asleep. And then I dreamed..." He took a deep breath. "IdreamedthatIfacedyourdadandhesaid'You'renotwearinganypants'andIsaid'YesIamit'syouwhoaren'twearinganypants!'andhesaid'Ohno!Myroyalpartsareshowing!'andIdefeatedhim." Aang shrank away from Zuko, as if expecting his new ally to explode. Literally.

To his surprise, Zuko merely raised his eyebrows, and then—wonder of wonders!—he smiled. Just a little.

"I don't ever want to end up like my father," he said lightly. "...So watch where you're aiming next time."

Aang grinned. "No problem, Sifu Zuko."

"Come on; 50 hot squats," Zuko said, pushing himself up to his feet.

Aang groaned. "Alright, alright."

"And Aang?"

"Yeah?"

"Please never give me that mental image ever again. Or I'll burn YOUR pants off."

"No problem."