Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any related characters. This was written out of enjoyment of the series, and no profit is being made.

Ships: (Friendship) Mostly - Zuko/Aang. Mentions - Zuko/Iroh, Aang/Kuzon. (Romance) Mentions - Zuko/Katara, Toph/Aang.
Warnings: None, unless terribly OOC Zuko counts. X) And spoilers up to Episode 26, "The Blind Bandit", I guess.
Other Info: Takes place after Zuko and Iroh join the Gaang.


Morning Practice

Zuko breaks the twigs he's holding into pieces, just small enough for a twelve-year-old Avatar to ignite, but just big enough to try some more difficult firebending moves.

It has been two weeks since Zuko and his uncle escaped his sister. But this tale is not of that escape, but is a much simpler story of a teacher and his student.

Of course, by the time they escaped Azula, Zuko realized that maybe, just maybe, joining the Avatar and teaching him firebending would be a good thing to do. Maybe.

So for two weeks, Zuko, his uncle, the Avatar, and his friends had been switching between running away and teaching. And much to Zuko's surprise, he found he didn't hate teaching the twelve-year old as much as he thought.

Granted, Aang's jokes and tricks, and constant attempts at impressing Katara could get on his nerves, (the latter he didn't quite know why), but all the same, he wasn't a bad kid. One day, Katara had quietly mentioned that Aang lost the closest thing he had to a father to the Fire Nation, and Zuko realized the two had more in common then they thought. (Neither had a father, after all.)

Besides, they made a good team. And now when he worked with them, he didn't have to hide behind a blue oni mask. He liked that, oddly enough.

So now he waits for Aang to walk into the clearing to start their morning practice.

…He's late.

Zuko settles into a sitting position. He hopes he's not talking to Katara. Every sentence he says to her gets stretched out to three times as long as it would take a normal person to say, due to the airbender's habit of stuttering and starting over. (There's another reason he's hoping the Avatar isn't talking to her, but he hasn't been able to pinpoint it.)

Finally, many minutes later, Aang comes in to the clearing. His eyes are droopy, and he yawns. "Good morning, Sifu Zuko."

Zuko raises an eyebrow. "You look tired," he observes.

"Uh…yeah." Aang yawns and sits across from the pile of small twigs. He notices this and says, "Twigs?"

Zuko's lips twist up a little at the corners. "I think we'll try something different today. But don't get too excited. Sokka told me what happened with Jeong-Jeong."

Aang smiles, but his eyes show regret over the mention of the past hurt to his waterbending teacher. It had taken a couple of days for them to convince Aang to try firebending again. But somehow, they had done it. Maybe it was that Uncle's tea, or that conversation with Toph, or a strange dream he had had the night before he announced he was ready. (He swore he heard the Avatar whisper "Kuzon" in his sleep.) But it didn't really matter.

So now he starts to explain the lesson. "Today, I'm going to teach you how to focus spiritual energy from the sun. Now, I hope you and Uncle haven't been playing around too much when you have those meditating sessions-" He looks up. His student is asleep, chin resting on his chest, snoring.

Zuko rolls his good eye and gets up. He squats next to the sleeping airbender and taps him on the shoulder. "Aang, Aang. You fell asleep."

His student wakes up and blinks sleepy gray eyes at him. "Oh, sorry Zuko." He yawns. "I went over some waterbending techniques with Katara late last night and…" He yawns again.

Zuko looks at him, frowning. The poor kid can't catch a break can he?

"Look, you know what? We can over this at noon. The sun will be higher at that point. You can go back to sleep."

Aang is awake now. "What? We can't do that! You have to teach me!"

The teenager glares. "No. Besides, a man needs his rest." (You haven't had one since you found out you were the Avatar, he almost says.)

The boy grins. "You just got that from Iroh."

His glare deepens. "Does it matter where I got it from? You're going to bed, and that's an order." He turns around and picks up the kindling. They could probably use it back at the camp.

"Alright, your majesty."

Aang earns a swift glare from the sixteen year old. The airbender swiftly realizes his mistake and looks deeply apologetic. He grits his teeth and whispers, "Sorry, Zuko."

Zuko straightens up and sighs. "I told you I don't like being called Prince."

"I know, I…kinda forgot." He gets up too and takes the kindling from the other boy's hands.

Zuko stares at the ground and says, "I like being just Zuko."

A hand is on his arm, and Aang grins. "I like you being Sifu Zuko, Zuko."

The teacher allows himself to grin at this little boy who has become his best friend. "I like being Sifu Zuko too, Aang."

The two friends grin at each other, when the airbender breaks and yawns.

Zuko chuckles and before he knows it, he is carrying the Avatar on his back again, although this time his tattoos aren't glowing and snow doesn't blow all around them. But he is asleep, just like last time.

As the firebender walks back to camp, the kindling falls to the forest floor leaving a path of broken twigs. Aang whispers a name in his sleep, and shifts on his back. He can almost feel the smile on his sleeping mouth (He swears the name is connected to a certain blind girl, but he'll ask him about it later).

Suddenly, he remembers a question the little boy had asked him a lifetime ago. "If we knew each other back then, do you think we could've been friends too?"

Now, when he finally has an answer, he doesn't need to say it. Because they both already knew.


AN. Hooray for the invention of oneshot/drabble dumps! Otherwise I would never get this thing out of my hair! This is a failed attempt at a Zuko/Aang friendship thing, and something about it just bothered me. I think I made it too fluffy and made Zuko too OOC. What do you guys think?

Constructive criticism is always appreciated. Thanks for reading, and tell me what you think!

(PS, the rating may change due to later drabbles. I'm not sure.)