A/N – Okay, I know that the Avatar: the Last Airbender universe consists of Asians. But Hetalia is not restricted to just Asia. Thus, I decided to use some creative license, and placed the Fire Nation to the Asian/Eastern part of the world, and the other nations to the Western part of the world.

A/N2 – I know I said that you don't need to have watched Avatar: the Last Airbender to understand the story. But you have to know a couple of things. Firstly, benders are capable of manipulating elements with specific movements, i.e. firebenders manipulate fire, earthbenders manipulate earth, etc. Non-benders don't have bending ability, i.e. they are normal human beings like you and me. Secondly, chi-blocking prevents benders from bending. With that said, please enjoy the story!

Arthur stifled a yawn as he dug into his bowl of noodles in the outdoor section of a restaurant in Ba Sing Se. With his earthbending, he casually circled a few tiny pieces of gravel he had picked up along the way around each other.

Arthur was the Earth Kingdom crown prince. His father was the Earth King and his mother was the Earth Queen. Naturally, Arthur was bound to inherit the throne when his father retired.

"My prince, will you stop playing with your food?!" Arthur's personal guard scolded him.

Arthur glanced up, where his earthbender guard was seated opposite him. Ludwig was a no-nonsense type of person, and could not stand to see time being wasted.

Ordinarily, Ludwig would be standing at attention by Arthur's side, ready to protect the prince. But as they were disguised as commoners, Ludwig was posing as Arthur's friend, and so was seating opposite the prince.

"Would you please relax, Ludwig?" groaned Arthur, rolling his eyes. "And please don't call me 'my prince' – we are here to get out of the palace."

Ludwig bowed his head. "I'm sorry."

"Are you done with your food?" Arthur peered curiously at Ludwig's empty bowl.

"Yes, that's why I'm pestering you to finish eating!"

Arthur hid a smile behind his hand. "Chill," he told Ludwig. "Look," Arthur said, pointing towards a small market in their vicinity. "There're a few shops over there – why don't you go look at some of the stuff they have on sale?"

Ludwig frowned. "But I can't leave you alone and unguarded…"

Arthur sighed. He didn't like to use his status as a prince to order his guard around. But if he didn't want Ludwig breathing down his back, he had to. "We're in disguise and no one here knows my identity," Arthur articulated. "And… That's an order."

Ludwig looked hesitantly at Arthur.

Arthur gestured encouragingly for Ludwig to leave.

Ludwig made an exasperated sound. "So do I meet you back here, my pr-?" Ludwig clamped his hand over his mouth to stop himself before he gave away Arthur's identity once again.

Arthur smirked. "I'm sure you'll be able to find me." That much was true – no matter where Arthur was, Ludwig was so accustomed to guarding Arthur that he had more or less accustomed himself to the prince's presence to be able to detect him anywhere.

Wordlessly, Ludwig got up and left.

Arthur chuckled to himself as he watched his guard leave. He slurped up more of his noodles. Ludwig didn't know it, but he needed to take his eyes off Arthur and get a life, even if it was his duty to guard Arthur.

Arthur looked around. The subjects of his kingdom were busy with their daily lives, bustling down and across the street in a hurry.

Suddenly, a girl's shout could be heard. "Hey!"

There was a brief commotion, and Arthur quickly made his way out of the restaurant to see what was happening.

A man, not more than 25 years of age perhaps, violently pushed Arthur out of the way, as he ran past the prince. There was a young girl chasing him from behind. It looked like he had snatched away the girl's bag when she wasn't paying attention.

Arthur was about to give chase to the robber when a stream of fire rushed past him and knocked the robber off his feet and onto the ground. The robber fell with a loud cry of pain. The stream of fire transformed into a wall of fire and circled itself around the robber, trapping him.

Arthur was highly impressed. He didn't see many firebenders around the Earth Kingdom. The Earth Kingdom's Fire Nation colonies where most firebenders in the Earth Kingdom lived had now been transformed into the United Republic of Nations, where benders and non-benders from all four nations could live together and thrive within one city.

The firebender appeared from within the crowd, with the young girl following behind him. He adorned the Fire Nation's colours – he was wearing a red shirt and black trousers. He had long hair, tied back into a pony tail and his eyes were blazing.

Arthur watched as the firebender walked towards the fire wall surrounding the robber. With a fluid movement, he lowered the wall and took the girl's bag away from the robber. He handed the bag back to the girl, who thanked him with a wide smile.

The robber was still sitting on the ground, stunned. He did not think that he would have been bested by a firebender.

The firebender turned back to the robber, glaring at him fiercely. He wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulder. "Should I have you over to the authorities or have you apologise to this girl, aru?"

The robber glared back at the firebender. "Fucking firebender!" he yelled viciously with hatred in his eyes. "I don't answer to you!" It was clear that the robber still had a strong dislike towards firebenders and the Fire Nation in general due to the 100-year war.

The firebender's eyes narrowed, and he shot a couple of fireballs at the robber's head. "Watch what you are saying!"

It was then the local authorities rushed over. They had seen a commotion and had come to check it out. After a brief conversation with the firebender, they arrested the now injured robber and took him away.

Arthur observed the whole exchange take place. He saw the young girl thank the firebender before going off on her way. He even saw the firebender leave the scene.

Arthur had seen many firebenders firebend in his lifetime, but none of them had the grace and fluidity of motion as this firebender had. His firebending was perfect. And his eyes… they held some sort of passion in them that Arthur could not describe… Arthur decided that he couldn't let the firebender out of his sight, so he followed him. Arthur wanted to know where he lived. He seemed so strange and out of place in the Earth Kingdom. But that was not necessarily a bad thing. Arthur wanted to know everything about this firebender.

The prince followed the firebender all the way to a house in Ba Sing Se, nearer to the borders of the Middle Ring of the city. This indicated that the firebender was from the middle-class populace of the Earth Kingdom.

A young, beautiful girl sprinted out to greet the firebender. "Brother Yao! You're home!" she exclaimed.

So the firebender's name was Yao. Arthur voicelessly mouthed the name. He grinned to himself. He liked the way the name rolled in his mouth.

As the girl embraced Yao and wrapped her arms tightly around his middle, Yao gasped. "You are getting too strong to be pressing on me, Mei," he uttered. "Next time, a hug will do, aru."

Mei pouted. "But you're so nice to glomp!"

Yao smiled. "Well, you are getting too strong to be 'glomping' people," he told his sister. "You'll kill them!" he jokingly said.

Mei looked at the ground. It looked like she felt guilty for hurting her oldest brother. "I'm sorry – does it hurt?"

Yao chuckled and rubbed the top of Mei's head, messing up her hair slightly. "It's okay. I'm your big brother – I can withstand anything!"

Then, the siblings entered the house.

Arthur crept nearer and nearer towards the house. He eventually found himself kneeling by one of the windows and peeking inside the house. He was determined to learn more about this mesmerising firebender.

Over the course of four hours, Arthur learnt that Yao was the oldest out of five children. His siblings, in order, were Kiku, Yong Soo, Mei and Hong Kong. Yao was the head of the family, and his siblings went to him for everything – advice, problems, grumblings… Yao also did most of the chores around the house. It must be pretty tiresome, being Yao… But that made him even more attractive to Arthur. Arthur liked the fact that Yao could have so many things on his plate, and yet still manage it all without complains.

"Here you are, my prince," a gruff voice said into Arthur's ear.

Arthur's head whipped around to look at his big-sized guard. "Ludwig!" he hissed. "You're too conspicuous! Squat down!"

Ludwig did as he was told and drew nearer to the prince. "Why, may I ask, are we acting so stealthily?"

"Earlier on, I saw a firebender reprimand a robber," explained Arthur. "And I guess I was fascinated by him, so I followed him home."

"So you are now spying on him."

There was a pause. Ludwig looked at the prince closely. To his amusement, Arthur was blushing.

"Yeah, I guess," said the prince in a small voice. Ludwig didn't think it was possible, but Arthur got redder at that admission.

"My prince, do you like this firebender?"

There was another pause. This time, the pause was longer than the last.

Nevertheless, Ludwig waited patiently for the prince to answer his question.

"Maybe," Arthur finally said softly. "Perhaps. I don't know."

"Hmm?"

"I mean, I haven't even talked to him yet! What I know about him is from what I've been observing for the past four hours," Arthur reasoned.

"Do you like what you've seen so far?"

Arthur closed his eyes and tilted his head towards the sky. "Yes. Very much."

"Why don't you introduce yourself to him?"

Arthur scoffed. "And say what? 'Hi, I saw you firebend and catch a robber, and I think you're really hot, want to go on a date with me?' It doesn't work like that, Ludwig!"

"I didn't mean ask him on a date yet," said Ludwig. "Introduce yourself to him. Get to know him better."

Arthur hummed quietly. He looked thoughtful. "Maybe I will do that…" he murmured. "But…"

"My prince?"

"I need to gather my guts to confront him," said Arthur, blushing.

Still hunched, Arthur started crawling away from Yao's home. "Come on, let's go home," he muttered.

Ludwig stared at the prince's retreating back. Inwardly, he saluted this remarkable firebender who was capable of turning the usually confident prince into an embarrassed, bubbling mess. Then, he followed Arthur.