[ Gokudera hits his mark and hits it deep. Zuko's not exactly expecting him to leap out of the shadows and deck him like a schoolyard brawl or a mugging. That's not how he fights — that's not even how his sister or father fight. It's underhanded and disdainful. Absolutely fucking effective, though, and lands the noble firebender on his noble ass with a knuckle-sandwich to the face. His whole being is painted white with shock, pinned beneath this wild man he used to know. Not so well as he thought, maybe. If he were in a more kindly and forgiving way, took time to contemplate what he knows about his friend's life and fighting experience, he may be as understanding and clever as he would have been back in Prismatica, if he were to dwell on this suspicious move there. But here, he's on the ground just feeling like Gokudera's a crazy asshole who fights disgracefully.
Being from his world at all, let alone a firebender, let alone the Fire Nation prince, to fight without some underlying philosophical formality is as alien to him as... well, as Gokudera is. It offends his core. He'd had an agni kai with a grown man, an esteemed admiral, who tried to retaliate and burn Zuko when his back had been turned after Zuko'd bested the man... Uncle's words singed in his memory instead, though, when he blocked the sore loser's attack: "So this is how a great commander acts in defeat. Even in exile, my nephew is more honorable than you." Iroh had held Zuko back, telling him not to taint his victory, and led him away with a smarmy quip and a palpable sense of righteousness... Something in the punch thrust him back to that moment, and his blood rolls to an instantaneous boil.
Zuko hadn't laid a finger on Gokudera so far! If his uncle could see him tonight, he would be kvelling at the tremendous amount of self-control and anger management he's practiced, the unwavering honor the young prince has shown toward his friend in the face of truly traumatic confusion all around. Zuko's been fighting himself this whole time! Fighting himself to keep a cool head, to try and salvage hope, salvage sense, not hurt the other or let the other hurt himself... But Gokudera didn't give a damn about a damn thing. It's terrifying on many levels, most of them not at all the way Gokudera would imagine, though. Emotionally, physically, this is painful — but ideologically, philosophically, idealistically... Gokudera's knocked some stars from Zuko's eyes, leaving him seeing stars instead. The boy is blanched with a look of abject heartache on his face, not just natural raw pain, even as the blood pools round his lip and jaw from where Gokudera's rings tore into the pale skin.
But like the split in his lip, his patience cracks, that respect bruised and bloodied too, and he's white with rage now. He moves so fast, with his own rather different but still wild look in his eye, but he still is holding himself back. His fists find Gokudera's shirt collars, bunching them up til his knuckles are white, as he tries to turn the tables by abruptly flipping the other to the ground to pin him instead, if he's fast enough. If not, he'd still prefer to fucking wrestle like children like this if they had to if it meant Gokudera would just attack Zuko and stop risking his own damn life while he's at it. Whether he pins him or not, Zuko can't conceal his rage at this attack any longer, and while he doesn't punch him back, he's certainly feeling more and more keen on it with, bellowing ferociously, his raspy voice carrying over the explosions still going off around them. ]
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Being from his world at all, let alone a firebender, let alone the Fire Nation prince, to fight without some underlying philosophical formality is as alien to him as... well, as Gokudera is. It offends his core. He'd had an agni kai with a grown man, an esteemed admiral, who tried to retaliate and burn Zuko when his back had been turned after Zuko'd bested the man... Uncle's words singed in his memory instead, though, when he blocked the sore loser's attack: "So this is how a great commander acts in defeat. Even in exile, my nephew is more honorable than you." Iroh had held Zuko back, telling him not to taint his victory, and led him away with a smarmy quip and a palpable sense of righteousness... Something in the punch thrust him back to that moment, and his blood rolls to an instantaneous boil.
Zuko hadn't laid a finger on Gokudera so far! If his uncle could see him tonight, he would be kvelling at the tremendous amount of self-control and anger management he's practiced, the unwavering honor the young prince has shown toward his friend in the face of truly traumatic confusion all around. Zuko's been fighting himself this whole time! Fighting himself to keep a cool head, to try and salvage hope, salvage sense, not hurt the other or let the other hurt himself... But Gokudera didn't give a damn about a damn thing. It's terrifying on many levels, most of them not at all the way Gokudera would imagine, though. Emotionally, physically, this is painful — but ideologically, philosophically, idealistically... Gokudera's knocked some stars from Zuko's eyes, leaving him seeing stars instead. The boy is blanched with a look of abject heartache on his face, not just natural raw pain, even as the blood pools round his lip and jaw from where Gokudera's rings tore into the pale skin.
But like the split in his lip, his patience cracks, that respect bruised and bloodied too, and he's white with rage now. He moves so fast, with his own rather different but still wild look in his eye, but he still is holding himself back. His fists find Gokudera's shirt collars, bunching them up til his knuckles are white, as he tries to turn the tables by abruptly flipping the other to the ground to pin him instead, if he's fast enough. If not, he'd still prefer to fucking wrestle like children like this if they had to if it meant Gokudera would just attack Zuko and stop risking his own damn life while he's at it. Whether he pins him or not, Zuko can't conceal his rage at this attack any longer, and while he doesn't punch him back, he's certainly feeling more and more keen on it with, bellowing ferociously, his raspy voice carrying over the explosions still going off around them. ]
Coward! Don't you fight with any fucking honor?!