Headcanon that Kiyi and Aang are best buddies. whenever Aang is in the fire nation he plays with her constantly (like in smoke and Shadow when they went riding on dolphin fish together)
“Remember, bedtime in ten minutes.” This was probably the third time Zuko had reminded them. It seemed to be the longest ten minutes Aang had ever known for that reason. Not that he was complaining; he was quite enjoying the time.
“And my mommy made this one too,” Kiyi told Aang, enthusiastically shoving another doll into hands. He had three already in his lap. They were all made by Ursa. “She has a pony tail, see?”
Aang did see.
“You know,” he said, grinning and casting a glance at Zuko, “this one sort of looks like how Zuko used to look.”
The siblings reacted exactly as Aang expected them to, with a sour glare tossed from Zuko and a dramatic fit of giggles from Kiyi.
“No she doesn’t!” she shouted at Aang.
“She does!” Aang persisted. “When I first met Zuko, he had a pony tail just like this!”
“Really?” she practically shrieked, falling at Zuko’s feet.
Zuko, who seemed in the middle of glaring at Aang, melted at his sister, as he always did. He shrugged and knelt down between them and winked at her.
“I was going through a weird time,” he answered her with a shrug. Aang snorted at the understatement of a lifetime.
“He looked good,” Aang gave, to which Zuko replied, “No I didn’t,” and Aang had to laugh.
“He looks better now,” Aang admitted to Kiyi with a wink. Zuko’s grin felt warm on Aang’s side.
“I wish I could have gone on all your adventures,” she said with a sigh. “They sound like so much fun.”
“They were,” Aang told her.
“Some were,” Zuko put in.
Kiyi only sighed again from the unyielding suffering of memories she wished to be part of.
“We can play some of our adventures, if you want,” Aang offered. “That way, it’ll be like you were there.”
That perked her up. “Okay!”
“Who do you want to be?”
“The Avatar!”
“Okay!” Aang had expected her desire for her brother, but alright. He handed her one of her rag dolls (which just happened to have had it’s string wig fall off, she had explained) and he picked up the ponytail one. “I’ll be Zuko. Who do you want to be, Zuko?”
Zuko gave a long, low, suffering sigh. He huffed and put out his hand for a doll.
“I guess I’ll be Uncle Iroh.”
“Oh, good choice,” Aang said.
“I love Uncle!” Kiyi shouted.
“Okay, so here’s how we play,” Aang said. He leaned over and held the doll up by it’s shoulders, lowered his voice in a crude mimic of Zuko’s and said, “I am Prince Zuko and I must capture the Avatar and regain my honor or I’ll be grumpy for the rest of my life!”
Kiyi practically howled with laughter. Aang, smiling, turned to gage Zuko’s reaction. He stared at Aang with a less amused expression.
“What do you think, Uncle?” Aang put it, waving his doll at Zuko. He tried not to laugh, but failed. “Don’t just sit there! Help me--” he laughed”--help me get the avatar!”
“This is worse than the Ember Island players,” Zuko hissed at him.
“Play, Zuzu!” Kiyi begged. Aang winked at him. Between the two, Zuko relented.
“That’s, uh, a bad idea, Prince Zuko,” Zuko said, bouncing his doll. His impression of Iroh was even worse than Aang’s of Zuko’s. “You don’t want to capture the Avatar. You just want to drink tea instead!”
Kiyi was giggling.
“I don’t want tea!” Aang waved the Zuko doll. “That’s what you want! I want the Avatar!”
Kiyi was loving the show and the room was filled with laughter. Under it, though, Aang felt a nervous turn in his stomach and found it’s source being Zuko’s gaze. He turned to Zuko and found him grinning coyly at him, his eyes pressed in a way that suddenly made Aang feel a little hot all over. The weight of Aang’s words pressed on Aang then, and Zuko’s reaction made him need to clear his throat.
I want the Avatar.
“Maybe,” Zuko said, his doll giving a half hearted wave, “someday, you can have tea and the Avatar.”
Aang coughed, his cheeks burning.
“AVATAR!” Kiyi shouted and smashed her doll down on Aang’s and Zuko’s, waving and thrusting until the dolls broke from their hands. She was shrieking with laughter. Aang and Zuko joined her.
“I think,” Zuko said when they were finally done with their laughter, “it’s time for bed.”
His hand found Aang’s back. For the first time that night, Aang took Zuko’s side of the bedtime argument.
