Ozai popped a princely pimple and put the pus on his pants, a garment that cost more money than most people would see in their lifetimes. His parents had gotten him a new notebook for his thirteenth birthday, which was pretty lame. He'd wanted a sword, or a slave from the Earth Kingdom, or his father to denounce Iroh's birthright to the throne, or something cool like that.
But no. He'd gotten a diary that said "live laugh love" on it.
He figured that since he had it, he might as well use it. He was bored and sad anyway because no one had showed up to his party. Absentmindedly, he began to doodle, but as the lines took shape into a person, he looked again at the inscription on book's cover. Maybe this was the opposite of the journal from Death Note. Maybe anything he drew in here would come to life… and seek vengeance for the wretched hand that fate had dealt him.
He added some armor and a crown onto the little man he'd drawn, and not knowing what other embellishments to include, he gave him wings, too, and made a little mountaintop for him to stand on. Then he scribbled some factoids about the character in the margins. He would be a firebender. That was obvious. He could fly. Duh. And he was impervious to all attacks. He was more powerful than the avatar. And, why the hell not, he was the emperor of the world.
Ozai tapped his pencil against the page. Now he just needed a name for his character, who was definitely not an overpowered, idealized version of himself.
Phoenix King, he wrote on the top of the page. Feeling proud, he thought he might post it to DeviantArt later.
"Is that anime?"
Ozai whipped around, slamming the notebook shut. "What are you doing here, Iroh!?" He tried to sound scary, but his voice cracked.
Iroh sat down even though no one had invited him in. "I just saw that you're all alone on your birthday. That really sucks, so I thought I'd hang out with you." He pointed at the notebook and whispered, "Also, you might want to do a better job hiding that. You can get banished for anime possession."
"It's not anime!" he protested. Goddamn Iroh always had to ruin everything by existing. He was like the worst brother ever.
Iroh chuckled warmly and winked. "No need to worry. Your secret's safe with me."
AN: Inspired by an old text post from my pal science fiction is real.