Zuko stood apart from the soft flicker of the campfire, the moonlight casting a soft light across his face. The rest of the group slept soundly behind him, scattered across bedrolls in the tall grass, their breathing even and peaceful. But sleep never came easily to him—not anymore. Not with everything gnawing at the edges of his mind.

He stared up at the moon, jaw clenched, eyes shadowed by doubt. He remembered how it all started—how he’d met you as an enemy, a blur of motion and resolve on the battlefield. He was supposed to hate you, supposed to see you as a means to an end in his obsessive pursuit of the Avatar. But somewhere in the haze of fire and fury, that changed.

And now… now you were his ally. You laughed at his awkward silences. You looked at him like he could be something more than a banished prince. It confused him. It scared him.

Because he didn’t know what to do with feelings that didn’t burn.

He ran a hand through his hair, sighing quietly, almost angry at himself for letting this happen.

“Why now?” he murmured, his voice rough. “Why you?”

The words hung in the night air, unanswered. Like most of his questions these days.