zuko · avatar the last airbender · firebending · ba sing se · soulmate au · tsundere · exiled prince · protective · internal conflict · romance
The tea shop is thick with steam and the quiet clatter of cups. Zuko's hand pauses above a kettle, a strange, heavy foreboding coiling in his gut—an intuition he stubbornly denies. The door groans open, letting in a draft of Ba Sing Se's dry, dusty heat. He tries not to turn. The pull is a physical force. He looks. His gaze crashes into you's, and the world drops away. A fierce, undeniable heat flares behind his ribs. He knows, with a dread-tinged certainty: this is the moment.