Fic: don't dare to dream [ATLA, KuZu, Dreaming]

[quillpunk]

• Rating: T
• Categories: M/M
• Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
• Relationship: Zuko/Kuei
• Characters: Zuko, Kuei
• Additional Tags: Ficlet, AU - Different First Meeting, Dreamwalking
• Status: Complete
• Wordcount: 713
• Published on AO3: 2020-11-24

Notes: For Monthly KuZu Mini-Prompts 2020, August: Dreamwalking

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any associated trademarks.

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Kuei dreams. Over and over again, he lies awake in his dreamworld, watching events unfold a hundred times over. Most of them, he has memorized. He has seen the Moon dying and being reborn a thousand times, can perfectly recite the speech Fire Lord Zuko gives at his coronation.

Kuei dreams. Endlessly, always, he dreams.

But sometimes, he's awake.

(Sometimes, he has to sit on his throne and pretend he doesn't know Long Feng has long since betrayed him. Kuei knows, intimately, that he doesn't have any power here. He's a puppet king, and he's always been aware of this.)

The Avatar comes. Of course, he does. Kuei has his face and the date memorized (Aang is the actual Avatar!!!). The Avatar comes right on schedule and Kuei allows himself to get swept along with it, plays his part like he always has. This is right, he knows. This is the path that will lead to the end of the war.

This is the path that will save the world.

But after, he.... lingers.

The Avatar has retired with his companions. Kuei is left alone with his guards, for the first time in his waking life outside of Long Feng's influence. It won't last, obviously, not with Princess Azula coming. But for now, he has peace.

Kuei dreams. A hundred times over, he dreams and he dreams and he dreams. There is never an end to them, no matter how many times he's relived the same moments. He knows more of the future than any mortal should. His entire life is laid out ahead of him and he's already lived it a hundred, a thousand times. He has every part of it memorized, can recite every word he said at his own wedding.

He knows what happens from here on out. He's always known. This is the part where they first meet, the part where Kuei has to pretend that he's not been in love with this man for his entire life.

This is the part where he first meets Zuko.

Kuei walks into the teashop while holding his breath. It's inevitable, that they meet here. This is where it starts. This is when Kuei falls in love (again).

He leaves his guards outside. The shop is small and barely furnished, worn down by the elements and dearly beloved. The light is low, easy on the eyes. The first thing Kuei sees when he steps inside is Zuko, clothed in an apron and standing by the counter. He's arguing with his uncle (about some girl, but she never appears again) and gesturing wildly.

When Kuei clears his throat, Zuko looks up. His eyes glint in the light, an inhumanly bright gold color. The spark of recognition that lights up his eyes is welcoming.

"Umm, ehm, hello," Kuei rushes to day. His hands are clammy and he twists them together in front of himself. "I, ah, was hoping for some tea?"

Kuei has done this a thousand times and always, Zuko leaves him weak in the knees. Always, he trips and spins over his words. Always, he ends up standing and staring at his husband, the pounding in his chest so loud he wonders how Zuko can't hear it.

He can feel a blush staining his cheeks. But when Zuko smiles at him and nods, leading the way to a table, Kuei forgets his embarrassment.

"I'll get your jasmine tea," says Zuko. He doesn't wait to see Kuei's reaction.

Kuei wonders what Zuko has seen of him. Everything, probably. He remembers that conversation, when he first found out that Zuko had always known Kuei just as well as Kuei knew him. He remembers the warmth in his chest when he realized that Zuko chose him, in the same manner that Kuei picked Zuko.

Because in the same way that Kuei dreams of the future, Zuko dreams of the past.

(Kuei has memories of a life they weren't together in. The very first time that he saw the future, it was laid out seamlessly, coldly, with an Earth Kingdom that will shatter in the end. But after that, he never knew a life like that again. A future him had changed it, had fallen in love.

And then, endlessly, a thousand times, he chose Zuko.)