Zuko had chickened out. Iroh had given him the perfect opportunity to tell Aang that he was attracted to him, that he seriously doubted that he was straight. And he had chickened out instead. Instead he had told Aang about that weird experience he'd had. He had blurted it out, intending to use it as a stepping stone to telling Aang he thought he loved him, but had backed down instead. He'd have to tell him soon. Uncle would tell him otherwise, and Zuko wanted Aang to learn from him.

Aang and Iroh had both gone home a few hours earlier. Toph, Sokka, and Katara had been here, too. Now that he was starting to feel better, being stuck in here was even more boring. They'd taken his blood about an hour earlier. If his white blood cell counts came out normal, they'd let him out of here. Finally. He'd tell Aang how he felt when he came to visit tomorrow.

"Hello, Zuko." Dr. Alvarez came in without being suited up from head to toe. That had to be a good sign. "Your tests came back, and your white blood cell count is just shy of normal."

"That means I can leave this room, right?" If she said no, Zuko would scream. She smiled, making her eyes crinkle at the corners.

"Yes. You should be able to go home in about a week, barring any complications."

"Have you figured out what was actually wrong with me?"

"No. It's weird. Your illness didn't match any known illnesses, didn't respond to any known treatments, and vanished as abruptly as it seems to have shown up." Zuko thought about hearing Aang's voice, and then feeling like something that had been curled up in his chest had fled. He hadn't told Aang about that last part, and he had no intention of telling Dr. Alvarez any of it. "You'll be transferred to a regular ward in about an hour. As soon as your bed is ready, a nurse will stop by to inform you. I'll see you later, Zuko."

Zuko watched her go. He genuinely liked her. She had been the first doctor to treat him when his uncle had rushed him to the hospital, and she'd stayed on his case ever since. She'd done her best to keep his spirits up. Aang and Iroh had done a better job since they knew him better, but it was more than the other doctors had done. He was going to miss her when he was released from the hospital. He was still looking forward to being released, though. If everything went the way Zuko hoped it did, he and Aang would start dating. And he would be able to see his uncle more than once a day, too.

Aang came in bright and early the next day.

"Hey, Zuko! I would have been here about fifteen minutes ago, but I got lost three times trying to find your room. The only place I've really been in this hospital is your old room. I could find that in my sleep."

"I bet you could. Um, Aang there's something I need to tell you." Did he have to be wearing charcoal gray? That color made him look even better than usual.

"What?"

"I'mnotsureI', that''mnot.I'mbisexual.I'vebeen- , andI-I'mattractedtoyou, andifyou'reinterested- too, maybewecouldgooutsometime?"(A/N: Zuko is extremely nervous, so he just kind of blurts it out in one big, unintelligible word.) Cripes. Asking Mai out had been so much easier.

"Huh?" Aang's eyes were wide with confusion. Zuko leaned forward and pressed his lips against Aang's, deciding that actions spoke louder than words. Aang was still for a moment, then he leaned into the kiss slightly and kissed him back. Zuko smiled against his mouth before pulling back. Kissing Aang in his dreams had been wonderful, but kissing him in person was far better.

"Do you want to go see a movie or something? We could always do something else if there's nothing good in the theater."

"Um, sure." Zuko pulled Aang into his arms, holding him tightly. Aang hugged back. Zuko never wanted to let go. Aang felt…right in Zuko's arms.

"I told you I owed you a hug for scaring you so badly yesterday. Did you bring the face paint?"

"Yep. Your uncle should be here in about an hour. That should give us plenty of time to paint the arrows. I brought a video camera. Uncle Gyatso's camera is almost full. He only has space for two pictures, maybe three. With a video camera, Sokka can always print out stills for us." Aang painted the arrow on his forehead. "I think we have just enough to do one arm left. We'll do the arm that doesn't have the IV in it. You can hide your IV arm under the sheet if you want." Aang kissed him lightly, then started painting the arrow on Zuko's left arm.

Uncle came in about five minutes after Aang finished. He froze in the doorway staring at the arrows.

"Are those real tattoos?" Uncle looked and sounded horrified. Zuko could see Aang struggling not to laugh at Iroh's words.

"Of course not, Uncle. They're not even temporary tattoos, they're face paint."

"They'll come off with soap and water, Iroh. The hospital wouldn't let me bring in a tattoo gun, so we had to settle for face paint." Aang managed to say this with a perfectly straight face. Iroh looked suspiciously at him for a moment. Zuko was relatively sure that Iroh wasn't sure whether to take Aang seriously or not.

"Well, thank goodness for that." Zuko wasn't sure if Iroh was referring to the tattoo gun bit or the soap and water bit. "How are you feeling, Zuko?"

"I'm feeling fine." He wasn't sure how to tell his uncle that he had told Aang about his feelings. Uncle winked at him then hugged him tightly.

"I'm glad you finally told him, my nephew," he whispered in Zuko's ear. If Aang had heard what Iroh said, he gave no sign.

Zuko was addicted to Aang's kisses. There was no other word for it. He'd been out of the hospital for two weeks now. It had been three weeks since their first kiss in the hospital. He'd enjoyed kissing Mai, but her kisses had nothing on Aang's. Since that first kiss, Zuko had kissed Aang every chance he got. Little pecks; long, drawn out, hungry kisses; any kind of kiss he could get. He kissed everywhere Aang would let him, too. He loved Aang. He had absolutely no idea how to tell him, but he wanted to. Aang would be coming over in a few minutes with his uncle Gyatso. He would tell him then.

Zuko pulled Aang into his arms as he answered the door. Gyatso entered behind him, chuckling as Aang snuggled into Zuko's arms.

"I'll give you two some alone time. I know it's been almost a full twenty-four hours since you two last saw each other." Gyatso was poking gentle fun at them, but Zuko didn't really care. As Gyatso headed into the kitchen, Zuko led Aang over to the couch. He was going to tell him. Telling him now might be rushing things a little since they'd been dating such a short period of time, but he wanted Aang to know. He was also hoping that Aang would tell him back.

"There's something I want to tell you, Aang." Aang cuddled up against his side, which, quite honestly, was making it difficult to focus on finding the right words. "My feelings for you…they don't feel like when I was dating Mai." He felt Aang stiffen and start to pull away from him. Zuko tightened his grip and rushed on, completely unaware that both of their uncles were listening intently to their conversation.

Out in the kitchen, Gyatso passed a note to Iroh. 'If your nephew breaks my nephew's heart, I will break his arms, pacifist beliefs be damned.' Iroh read the note and wrote one back, 'Your nephew is one of the best things to ever happen to my nephew. If he blows this, give me twenty-four hours to help him fix it. If I fail, I'll hold him still for you.' The two old men nodded gravely at each other and went back to eavesdropping on their beloved nephews.

"It doesn't feel like I'm falling in love with you, Aang. It feels more like I've loved you for a long time, and I'm just now smart enough to realize it." Aang looked up at him.

"Really?"

"Yes, really. I love you, Aang. I probably should have started off with that part, huh?"

"I love you, too, Zuko. And yes, you really should have." Aang kissed him deeply. Zuko kissed back, pulling Aang onto his lap. "Not in the living room. You do realize our uncles are eavesdropping on us, right?" As soon as Aang pointed this out, their uncles started up a loud conversation to cover the fact they'd been eavesdropping.

"You started it. And you're not fooling anyone, Uncle."

"Maybe we should finish this in your room." Zuko stared at him as one of their uncles choked on tea out in the kitchen. Zuko could hardly believe that this was the same Aang who was almost too shy to take his shirt off in front of Zuko. Never mind that Zuko had seen Aang without his shirt hundreds of times over the course of their friendship.

"If you're absolutely certain you're ready, Aang." Zuko wasn't entirely certain he was ready. He had never been with a guy before, and he wanted his first time with Aang to be special. "You're going to have to tell me what to do, though."

"Oh. I've never gone that far with anyone either, so I can guess we can learn together."

A/N: Iroh is fully aware those tattoos are face paint, he's just playing a joke on Aang and Zuko. XD