This is just a short story based on a piece of art by Crackingvoices. See artist's comments at the bottom for more details. Anyway it stars my OC, Shio and Ty lee.

This is my first attempt at writing romance so be nice! But criticism is always appreciated.

Strange Things

Shio stood out under the star-filled Fire Nation sky. Without his glasses on his face he felt free; nighttime was really the only time he ever felt like he was free of his curse. He loved to spend his evenings staring at the night sky. Due to his permanently dilated pupils he could see it in even more detail than a normal person could; where a normal person could only see dozen or so stars in a given patch of sky, where he could see several hundred.

He heard soft footsteps behind him that he instantly recognized as Ty Lee's graceful gait; he quickly fished his glasses out of his pocket and put them back on, sighing as he did so.

"Hey," She said.

"Hi,"

"Whatcha doin?" She asked.

"Stargazing," he replied.

"Well it seems to me that you can't do it very well with sunglasses on…"

He shrugged, "I manage."

"Oh come on," said Ty Lee putting her hands on her hips and frowning slightly, "As soon as you heard me coming you put them on. Why?"

He shrugged again, "I just don't feel comfortable not wearing my glasses around you…"

"Why?" she asked, "I thought we were friends…"

"We are!" he exclaimed defensively, "You're one of my very best friends!"

"Then why are you hiding your eyes from me?"

"Because," he said sighing, "My eyes are….different…They tend to unsettle people, creep them out. I don't want that to happen to you, I treasure your friendship too much…"

She sighed, "You should probably have noticed by now, but I like strange things. I'm not exactly normal myself."

He snorted disbelievingly, "oh? And exactly what makes you not normal?"

"I can see auras."

"Oh, what does mine look like?"

"It's a nice deep red; it's quite pleasant to look at actually. But whenever you have your glasses off around me it turns a little muddy; I believe that means you're worried or self-conscious. Shio, I like strange things; come on let me see them…."

She slowly reached up towards his glasses and when he made no move to stop her, she slowly removed them from his face.

But Shio's eyes moved, looking anywhere but at Ty Lee's face.

"Shio, look at me." When he didn't, she put her hands on his cheeks, "look at me Shio."

He did, he stared deep into her light brown eyes and she stared into his dark pools of black with their thin ring of brown along the edges.

"So why did you want to see my eyes?" Shio asked.

She blushed and moved her hands from his cheeks and linked them together at the back of his neck. "With your glasses on I can't tell what you're thinking, and I wanted to know how you felt."

"Felt about what?"

"About us."

"And?" asked Shio, blushing.

"I saw that you care just as much as I do,"

They slowly drew closer together and Shio wrapped his arms around her waist.

"That you care about me as more than just a friend." She closed the last few inches between them and they kissed passionately. After several minutes, their lips separated, but they continued holding each other, their foreheads and noses still touching in a gentle nuzzle.

"I love you," whispered Shio, "I love you so much; I just never had the courage to tell you."

"I know," she said, "I love you too." They lay down on the grass and snuggled close together and watched the stars, just enjoying each other's company.

Eventually Ty Lee fell asleep in his arms; his last thought before he drifted off to sleep was of how he had never been happier in his life…