A/N: ATLA is the only show I've binged during quarantine and I couldn't get this scene out of my head. These two have my heart and soul.
"The scar is not on the wrong side!"
Zuko yanked his hood up to hide the flush creeping up his neck as the Aang impostor zoomed away, oblivious to the effect his well-intended comment had on its recipient. He folded his arms over his knees and buried his face in them, forcing himself to take deep breaths the way Uncle Iroh had taught him to do when the shame felt suffocating. The fact that he'd let a remark from a child in a costume get under his skin was almost more humiliating than what was on his skin.
Almost.
"Which side is your scar on, anyway?"
Zuko's head whipped to the side. "What?"
Even after the meaningful conversation they'd just had about Iroh, he'd already forgotten Toph was there. The girl could be loud as an avalanche or quiet as a boulder when she wanted to be.
The earthbender shrugged. "I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I'm just curious."
It took Zuko longer than it should have to realize that Toph wasn't being cruel. Of course she wouldn't know which side of Zuko's face was scarred. She didn't even know the color of his hair. Why did he and everyone else somehow manage to constantly forget about her blindness?
"Oh, sorry," he mumbled. "It's, uh...the left side. I mean, my left. Your right if you're looking at me. I mean, if someone else who...can see...is looking at me." Stop talking. "I mean...sorry."
Toph laughed and punched him lightly in the arm. Zuko winced. It was already starting to bruise from the first time.
"You think too much, you know that?" she said. "I can't even tell you the amount of insulting things Sokka has said to me without even realizing it. You're always apologizing, even when you don't have to. Kind of weird for someone from the Fire Nation."
"Sorry." Ugh, there it was again. That compulsive need to say the word that was supposed to make things right, even when past experience had proved him utterly wrong.
Toph giggled. "Nah, don't be. It's actually kind of sweet."
Silence fell between them and remained there for a while, occasionally interrupted by a burst of laughter from the theater behind them. Zuko watched as Fire Nationals of all ages passed by, oblivious to the fact that their banished prince was hiding in plain sight before them. Made sense considering they were here to watch a play that celebrated a man who had mutilated his child and passed it off as a training incident.
He was about to get up and eat his feelings in fire flakes when Toph spoke up again. "So...how'd you get your scar, if you don't mind me asking?"
Zuko felt his face burn and his pulse quicken the way they always did when he was forced to remember The Incident, which wasn't often. Most people knew better than to bring it up.
But Toph wasn't most people. Zuko knew the earthbender well enough by now to know that she wasn't asking out of a sick desire for the gory details or so she could pass the story along to her friends. She was just a curious kid.
Still, his plans for tonight had been to watch a bad play, not verbally relive the most painful memory of his life. He had never told anyone this story before, or at least not the specifics. Where he came from, everyone either knew what happened or believed the lie that had been spread.
Toph seemed to sense his internal conflict. "Sorry, I don't mean to be rude," she said. "I just like to hear the stories behind people's scars. They show we're stronger than the things that hurt us."
It sounded like Uncle Iroh had rubbed off on the girl during the little time they spent together. What would Uncle Iroh say in this situation?
Zuko imagined his uncle sitting cross-legged before him, his warm eyes twinkling behind the steam rising from a cup of tea cradled in his hands. Prince Zuko, you must come to terms with your past if you are ever to move towards your future. Or something cryptic like that.
Alright, Uncle. Here goes nothing.
Zuko took a deep, shaky breath and kept his eyes trained on the floor as he began to speak. "Well, it's funny you mentioned earlier how I'm always saying I'm sorry. Because the one time my apology mattered most, it fell on deaf ears."
He paused, summoning the strength to continue. Toph's quietness beside him was strangely comforting. Take your time, it seemed to say.
Zuko went on.
"There's a tradition in the Fire Nation called the Agni Kai: a fire duel between two benders. It's a way of defending your honor if you've been wronged. I was challenged to one when I was thirteen."
Toph's silence ended.
"Thirteen?" she cried. "Geez. I mean, I started doing earthbending battles when I was ten, but we can't all be prodigies."
Zuko chuckled in spite of himself. The rest of the team found it annoying, but he couldn't help admiring the kid's impenetrable confidence. "Yeah...anyway, I refused to fight the person who challenged me, so they burned my face to teach me a lesson."
"What?" Toph leaped to her feet, her fists clenched at her sides, and spun to face him. Her gray eyes were blazing. "Hold up. They burned you because you wouldn't fight them? What kind of sick logic is that?"
Zuko hid his face in the sleeve of his cloak. Blind or not, he couldn't look Toph in the eye when he said it.
"My father's."
There was silence again, but not the comfortable kind. Zuko wondered what was going through Toph's mind as she processed this information. He knew this would probably change the way she viewed him, and he hated that. He'd worked so hard to earn the team's sense of trust by showing them he had good inside of him, not by manipulating their emotions with a sob story. The last thing he wanted from any of his new friends was pity.
Zuko scrubbed at the tears brimming in his eyes, selfishly grateful to be in the presence of a blind girl. A shadow eclipsed his vision and he looked up to see her kneeling before him, staring in a way that made him feel impossibly seen.
"Is it okay if I feel your scar?" she asked softly.
Feel my scar?
Everything inside of Zuko screamed no. No one was allowed to touch his scar. Only two people had ever dared to do it before: his uncle, while treating the burn after the Agni Kai, and Katara, while they were in the Ba Sing Se prison together. Both had done so with intentions of healing it. There was purpose in their touch.
Zuko had grown accustomed to people recoiling at the sight of his mark. It was something that made others feel uncomfortable at best, disgusted at worst. There were times when he could tell it was all the other person could do to look him in the eye without turning away.
No one had ever wanted to feel it.
Maybe that was why he found himself saying yes.
Toph's hands were softer than Zuko expected. At first she used only the tips of her fingers, tracing along the scar's edge like she was trying to memorize its shape. Then she went further, gently running her fingers along the bumps and ridges his father's fury had left behind. It felt like a butterfly fluttering its wings against the surface of his skin.
Somewhere deep in the recesses of Zuko's memory was another hand against his skin, this one filled with fire and held by hatred while the boy beneath it begged for mercy. He squeezed his eyes shut at the memory and felt his entire body go rigid. Toph's hand froze in place.
"Am I hurting you?" she whispered, worry in her voice. "I can stop if you want."
Zuko shook his head, forcing himself to relax. "No, it's not you. I'm just...remembering, that's all. You can keep going if you want."
He hoped she wanted to.
Toph's hand flattened against his cheek now, her thumb rubbing tiny circles just beneath his eye. Eventually Zuko allowed himself to lean into it, relishing the coolness of her palm. There was nothing like hatred in the earthbender's touch. It was something closer to love.
They remained this way for a minute or so before Toph slowly withdrew her hand. Zuko opened his eyes just in time to catch her wiping it dry on her dress.
A blush crept into his cheeks. "I'm so–" he started to say, but was cut off by a hand clapping over his mouth.
"Listen up, Prince," Toph snapped. "I know I said before that it's cute when you apologize. But I'm gonna need you to stop saying sorry for things that are out of your control, like crying. Man up and embrace your tears. Got it?"
Zuko started to nod before remembering. "Yes, ma'am," he said meekly, drying his eyes on his sleeve.
Toph grinned. "You're fun to mess with, Firefingers," she said, plopping down beside him again.
Zuko shook his head and smirked. He wondered if this was what playful banter between siblings was supposed to feel like. With his sister there was always a dangerous current lurking beneath the surface of her words, even when she was complimenting him. Toph's affection might come with a punch, but he would take that over Azula's lightning any day.
The sound of hurried footsteps snapped him out of his reverie. Zuko looked up to see Sokka and Suki racing towards them, scattering fire flakes in their wake. Behind them trailed Katara, her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed, and Aang brought up the rear. Zuko couldn't remember the last time he'd seen the Avatar looking so bummed.
"Come on, guys, we don't wanna miss the ending!" Sokka said, ducking into the theater. The three others followed, appearing notably less enthusiastic about what was coming.
"Guess intermission's over," Zuko muttered, standing up and offering Toph a hand. She took it and he lifted her to her feet with a grunt. It never failed to amaze him how heavy the kid was in proportion to her size.
Toph raised her arms and arched her back in a stretch that made her entire spine crackle. "Alright, let's get this over with," she yawned, starting to head into the theater behind Aang.
Zuko debated in his head for a moment before grabbing her by the wrist. She froze in her tracks.
"Wait," he said quietly. "That thing you said earlier, about our scars? It sounds like something my uncle would say. If he were here, I think he would want me to tell you that being blind just means...uh, you can see better than most people."
Toph said nothing for several seconds. Zuko was sure he'd just ruined the sweet moment they'd had earlier with his poor attempt at channeling Iroh's wisdom. Stupid, stupidstupid...
And then he felt two strong arms wrap around his neck, followed by a tiny peck on his left cheek. The blush came back with a vengeance.
"Man, now I really can't wait to watch Aang destroy your dad."