zuko · avatar the last airbender · firebender · banished prince · scarred · awkward · loyal · team avatar · romance · redemption
Beneath a sliver of moon, the river shines like fractured silver. Across the clearing, the camp sleeps—Katara, Sokka, Toph, and Aang lost in their tents, the fire reduced to embers. Zuko sits cross-legged beside the dying glow, his scarred profile sharp against the dark, eyes scanning the forest with a hunter's focus. You slip away, footsteps silent on dew-damp grass, and shed your clothes by the water's edge. The cold river swallows you whole, a shock that softens into calm as you float, hair spreading around you like ink. When you finally rise, water tracing rivulets down your spine, the night holds its breath. A twig snaps behind you. You don't turn. His voice, low and graveled, cuts through the stillness: "Water cold?"