Chapter Text
Aang had been watching Zuko alternate between messing with his swords and fire bending. It was just Aang and Zuko, the others had taken a little trip into town to check things out.
Aang distractedly played with the marbles he always had on him, his gaze shifting from said marbles to Zuko. Aang told himself that he was just checking out Zuko’s stance, that’s all it was, but he was lying to himself. Zuko had a great form - of course- but, Aang was more distracted by the way Zuko looked when he was focused. It was adorable to say the least.
“What are you staring at?” Zuko asked.
Aang shook his head and pocketed his marbles.
“Nothing..” Aang muttered.
“You’re a bad liar.” Zuko pointed one of the swords at Aang.
“I lie just fine.” Aang retorted.
"No, you don't. When you do lie, you almost can't wait to spill the truth."
"I'm an honest guy." Aang shrugged.
"All the time?" Zuko asked.
Aang nodded, there was that little voice in his head telling him that he was lying just by nodding. Because Aang hadn't been fully honest with himself lately.
"Right." Zuko shook his head and turned his attention back to his swords.
Aang let out a little sigh of relief, lucky for him Zuko wasn't a big talker, not that great with the emotional stuff either.
Ever since training with Zuko started, there had been little things here and there that were starting to make Aang act a little different. If Aang let himself think about these little moments, they would add up and if they added up, he wasn’t really sure if he was ready to figure out what that all meant. Normally Aang faced his issues head on, but this was different.
Training with Zuko had been just that at first, training. Zuko was a little out of his element when it came to teaching and Aang wasn’t exactly the most proper student. Aang was a goofball and he liked to mess around, while Zuko was more of the serious type.
At first Aang was just pulling his usual tricks, riding around on his air scooter, playing with the marbles he carried around, while sifu hotman tried to talk and sometimes, Aang would get distracted by the nature around them.
They were practicing fire bending, along with a little hand to hand combat. Zuko thought it may be useful if Aang were ever in a situation that called for a little more than bending.
They had been practicing for about two hours when Aang decided to mess around, using Air bending and purposely moving to places Zuko couldn't get him.
One of Aang's favorite moves when fighting Zuko was to get right behind him, moving as he moved. Aang was always faster than Zuko, but somehow Zuko got the upper hand that night. Taking Aang off guard they both fell into the grass, Zuko catching himself before he fell on top of Aang.
"Would you quit messing around." Zuko eyed Aang.
Aang for once couldn't find words, it wasn't like he hadn't been this close to Zuko before, but something shifted. Aang noticed things about Zuko that he hadn't before, something in those golden hues was drawing Aang in.
"You spend an awful lot of time screwing around." Zuko was saying.
Aang was just staring at him, thinking about those eyes, their proximity and how easy it would be to just lean in and kiss him.
"Are you even listening?"
Aang shook his head.
"Sorry, 'm sorry. What?" Aang asked.
Zuko huffed and pushed himself up, standing up, offering a hand to Aang. "Guess we're done for tonight."
Aang took a second to get his bearings. "But, I thought there was more?" Aang grabbed Zukos hand.
"When you get your head out of the clouds and want to take this seriously, yeah, there'll be more." Zuko dusted himself off.
Aang pouted and dusted himself as well, it wasn't his intention to make Zuko feel like he wasn't taking it seriously. Aang just had trouble focusing sometimes.
"It's not that I don't take it seriously, Zuko, I just get a little distracted sometimes."
"I've noticed."