99 ASC

Late Autumn

"Crankiest Birthday Present Ever"

Aang stared at the Fire Empire prince. He'd overheard Katara telling Chief Hakoda about him, and had been curious. Judging by how fast the Prince had whirled around at his question, he'd been expecting either Sokka or Katara.

"You do realize that you're ruining lives when you punish people for being loyal to me, right? Not only do they lose their food, and in many cases, their homes, but they then have to find somewhere able to take them in without dooming their existing populations to starvation. That means that families get split up sometimes," he continued. "Most of these little villages don't have names, so it's hard to find for them to find their children again. Or their wives, husbands, parents. And that's assuming, of course, that you don't end up coming to that village looking for information. Actually, in most cases you're punishing them for their ignorance. They can't give you information they don't have." Was that a brief flash of guilt in the Prince's golden eyes? Aang couldn't be sure. "There are lots of people here in camp who are victims of your search for information. There is little hope they'll ever see their loved ones again, thanks to you."

Zuko studied the Avatar, trying to figure out how to answer his accusations. He was more handsome than Zuko had been expecting. The poster he had showed a boy with round cheeks, huge grey eyes, and ears that were almost as big. The young man in front of him had grown into his eyes and ears. His face had the lean lines of a man, not the roundness of a child. The Avatar had obviously mastered Airbending since that poster was made, since he now had Airbender tattoos.

"I'm not as bad as my sister!" Aang had to concede that point.

"True. You don't slaughter them out of hand; you just destroy everything they've worked their whole lives for." That was definitely a flash of guilt in those golden eyes. Aang had judged him a little harshly, he realized now. "You never realized that families were being split up, did you? Of course not. You wouldn't have burned their homes otherwise. You're too honorable." Zuko blinked in surprise, caught off guard. The Avatar had gone from accusatory to almost complimentary in a matter of seconds. He decided changing the subject would be the best option.

"Why are you here?"

"I wanted to see the prince responsible for so much suffering. I heard Katara mention you to her father, and I was curious." That wasn't entirely the reason. He'd also wanted to come since Katara had changed the subject so fast when he asked about it. Aang wasn't sure what he'd been expecting when he entered the tent, but it wasn't the prince in front of him. He was a little older than Sokka, with long black hair worn in a ponytail. There was a large scar over his left eye. Aang had seen scars like that, on some of the refugees in camp. They came from Firebending, and had to be intentionally inflicted to leave that dark of a scar. Who would have given a scar like that to a prince? Zuko noticed the Avatar staring at his scar and felt a twinge of annoyance.

"Didn't anyone teach you it's rude to stare?" he asked coldly.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have been staring." Aang shifted his gaze to the prince's hair. "How long is your hair?" Zuko was a little bewildered by Aang's abrupt changing of the subject. His mind seemed to flit from topic to topic like a butterfly.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Aang shrugged.

"I was just curious."

"I'll show you how long it is…if you untie my hands." Zuko had almost asked for a kiss. He had long since come to terms with the fact that he was attracted to both males and females, and the Avatar was, quite honestly, one of the most beautiful males he had ever seen. He had changed his request to having his hands untied, because he doubted that he would have gotten either request granted, so he went with the one that wouldn't reveal too much about him.

"No."

"I don't have my bending. How much of a threat could I possibly be?" Zuko tried to look as innocent and harmless as possible. Aang wasn't fooled, however. He could easily tell that Zuko was strong, very strong. He probably had good reflexes, and was fast to boot. Of course, his earlier comment had only increased Aang's curiosity about how long his hair really was. And with his hands tied the way they were, he probably wouldn't have very good range of motion. Aang decided to risk it, lunging forward and reaching for the prince's ponytail to unwrap it. The prince must have had better range of motion than Aang had thought, since he grabbed the front of Aang's tunic and dragged him backwards with him. He ended up laying on top of Zuko, their noses touching and their mouths only a breath apart. If either of them moved just a little they would be kissing. Zuko almost closed the gap between them, almost claimed the kiss he wanted but Aang moved before he could.

"Not a real big fan of personal space, I take it?" Aang blushed at his words.

"If you were trying to convince me you weren't a threat, that's the wrong way to go about it, you know," Aang said. "Besides, you grabbed me."

"Because you were lunging at me." Zuko had Aang there. They sat in awkward silence for a few minutes before Aang stood up.

"I should go. Katara will probably be wondering where I am." Aang hesitated a moment. "Sleep well, Prince Zuko." Zuko was uncertain how to respond. Watching Aang slip out of his tent, Zuko knew that he wouldn't be sleeping well because his dreams would be filled with the Airbender.

"Aang! Wake up!" Katara's voice pulled Aang out of his dreams, which were already fading from his memory. He was pretty sure they had all been about one person, though. "Sokka and I got you a birthday present."

"What is it?"

"It's a surprise. Come on." She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of his sleeping bag.

"Can I get a shirt on first?" She nodded, and then towed him out of the tent as soon as he was fully dressed. His stomach sank a little bit as he realized that they were heading for the tent where Prince Zuko was being held prisoner. Sokka was waiting for them outside. Aang was going to have to pretend to be surprised; it was as simple as that.

"We captured a Firebender and he's going to teach you Firebending."

"He agreed to this?"

"Well…not exactly. But he will." Aang seriously doubted that. "Come on. I'll introduce you." Zuko looked tired and irritable when they walked in. "Aang, this is Prince Zuko of the Fire Empire. He's the guy we found to teach you Firebending." Zuko glared at Sokka.

"I already told you that I wasn't going to teach him, peasant." Sokka scowled at him. "No matter how long you starve me." Aang glared at Sokka, then grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the tent. Zuko was pleased that his statement had gotten such a strong reaction out of Aang. He listened to the two boy's conversation.

"Sokka, you can't starve him. It's cruel. And it won't work anyway."

"How do you know it won't work?"

"He's too stubborn and proud. He'd rather starve to death than be forced to do something against his will."

"And you think being nice to him will work, I take it?"

"No. He'll react to kindness with suspicion and cynicism."

"Well, what is your plan then?"

"I don't know. I'll work something out." Zuko was going to have to keep an eye for whatever the Avatar had planned, and figure out a way to turn it to his own advantage. Katara had been keeping a close eye on him this whole time. Remembering what the Avatar had said the previous night, he decided to find out what their relationship was.

"Are you his girlfriend?" 'Because you are extremely overbearing if you are,' he thought. She glared venomously at him.

"No, I am not his girlfriend. I'm his foster mother." Aang and Sokka came back into the tent just in time to hear Katara's comment.

"Katara, can I talk to Zuko alone?" Katara nodded reluctantly. She didn't trust the Prince at all. Especially not alone with Aang. Aang waited until he was sure they were gone before speaking. "I didn't know they were starving you. I would have brought you something to eat last night if I had. I'll bring you some breakfast in a few minutes, we can eat together."

"Could you bring some blankets? Without my bending it's hard to keep warm." Zuko hated having to ask for something like that. It made him feel helpless. The Avatar's smile was kind though, without a trace of pity. That made him feel a little better.

"Of course." Aang should have thought of that himself, and brought extra blankets by last night. He had been complaining himself about how cold it was a few weeks earlier, and wishing that Roku would teach him firebending. It would have saved Zuko a blow to his pride. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Zuko heard Aang speak to someone right before the tent flap lifted and he came in, arms full of cloth with two steaming bowls.

"Who were you talking too?" A feeling too close to jealousy for Zuko's comfort twisted his stomach.

"Your guard."

"To keep me from escaping?" It wasn't as if he would get far, in the enemy's camp, with no bending, and his wrists tied tightly together.

"Partly. Also to protect you from people who aren't too happy about you being in camp. Mostly people who have been separated from their families by your actions, although some of them just hate the Fire Empire in general."

"Oh. What did you bring?" Whatever it was didn't smell too appetizing.

"Blankets, some clothes, and jook. I figured you would be more comfortable out of your armor. These clothes are designed for winter, so you should be warmer, too."

"You're going to have to untie me so I can change clothes." Crap. Aang hadn't thought of that.

"We'll deal with that when we get to it. Right now, it's time to eat." They were going to have to figure out a way Zuko could eat, since his hands were still tied together. Aang decided the only option would be to feed the prince himself. Zuko was not going to be happy. Aang picked up the bowl and held it out to Zuko, who held up his bound hands and scowled at him.

"I can't pick up the bowl, Avatar. You. Have. To. Untie. Me."

"My name's Aang, not Avatar. And I know you can't pick it up. The best way to eat jook is to simply sip it out of the bowl, so I was going to hold it up to your mouth so you can do that."

"Untie me and I can feed myself." Aang sighed.

"No. I don't trust you enough to untie you. Now eat your jook." Zuko snorted and conceded defeat.

"This tastes awful."

"I'm sorry it doesn't meet your standards, Your Highness." It was what they had, and Zuko was just to have to get used to eating what was served to him. "Once you're done eating, we can get you out of your armor."

"Did I say something to offend you?" Aang sighed.

"No." Aang obviously wasn't willing to share what Zuko had done to offend him. Once Zuko had finished his jook, he waited patiently while Aang ate his. "Okay, stand up." Zuko debated trying again to get Aang to untie his hands, and decided that Aang seemed annoyed enough with him. It would be best to not press his luck.

"What do you want me to do?" Zuko was surprised to note that the Avatar was barely an inch shorter than he was. He'd expected the other boy to be shorter.

"Raise your hands as high as you can. I should be able to figure out how to get your armor off. I've helped Haru and some of the other Earthbenders often enough." There was that jealousy again. Zuko had to get that under control; otherwise, it would cloud his thinking. Zuko froze as Aang started to unbuckle his belt.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm taking your armor off. What do you think I'm doing?" Zuko couldn't think of an answer to that. He certainly couldn't tell him the truth.

He knew Aang didn't intend anything…sexual, or intimate in the way he was taking off Zuko's armor. It was convincing his hormones of that that was the problem. The only way to keep from embarrassing himself in front of Aang was to think desperately of his uncle. Naked. That killed his embarrassing reaction to Aang's actions.

"If you try to escape once I untie your hands so you can change clothes, I'm leaving you in whatever clothes you have on, and I won't put the bending removal potion in tea to mask the taste." Aang decided to avoid having to untie his hands as long as possible, and started with his pants and shoes. Once they had changed those, Aang started to untie Zuko's hands but stopped when he saw how the older boy was glaring at him. "What?"

"You said you were going to untie my hands so I could change my own clothes!"

"I am. I never said I was going to leave you alone in here to change, now did I? Besides, I didn't look."

"That's not the point." Aang bit his lip, realizing that Zuko wasn't so much angry as he was upset, and probably more than a little embarrassed.

"Sorry. I should've warned you." Aang quickly untied his hands and handed him the shirt so he could change for himself. Zuko softened when he realized how guilty Aang felt. He touched the other boy's cheek gently.

"You shouldn't have done it at all, Aang. It's okay, though. This time. Just don't pull a stunt like that again." Aang smiled at him.

"I won't." Once Zuko had changed his shirt, Aang retied his hands. "What kind of food do you like? There are only three vegetarians in camp, so I usually cook a small meal just for us. I could make you a meal too, if you'd like." Aang figured cooking him a meal would help make up for embarrassing him earlier.

"I like Fire Empire food." Aang frowned at his vague answer.

"I don't know how to cook that." He could always try to find a restaurant or inn that prepared Fire Empire food, and buy some to bring back. Katara would have a hippo-cow, though.

"Oh. It's spicy." Aang nodded. He could do spicy.