His eyes were open.

He was staring at the girl in front of him and his mind was screaming at him to let his lids drop. Not because he was tired, but because he was currently kissing said girl, or she was kissing him, if they wanted to get technical about it.

“Love is blind!” the thought was thrown at him, but he could not obey the implicit command.

His eyes were open.

Maybe it was because he didn’t love her? He could hear his Uncle’s response to that almost as soon as he considered it. “Relationships are a very long road, and love is just a sign on the side of it. It tells you how far you’ve come and how far you’ve got left to go, but it does not tell you that kissing has to come before or after it.” Obviously he’d been hanging out with the old man too much recently if his voice could interrupt at such a time. Zuko made a note to get out of the house more.

He tried, though, he honestly did, because it was polite and expected, but when this girl drew back, his unwavering gaze gave her no chance to hide her confused expression.

It was impossible, he realized as he muttered quick excuses and sprinted away from the only person who had dared get close to him in the past few months, a stranger in a strange land. Closing your eyes meant surrendering your last defense, putting your trust into the person opposite you, and he hadn’t felt something like that in a long time. That girl was not Katara.

His eyes were open.