This isnāt an official submission per se, but I (like many others) was disappointed the fish hat prompt didnāt make the cut. And so I took matters into my own hands and turned it into an important recurring item in my fic, Calidity.
Please note this is an explicit fic (my kinktober fic as a matter of fact) and is my personal take on ABO.
First appearance of the fish hat is in the newly-posted chapter 6:Ā https://archiveofourown.org/works/34383517/chapters/90236656
Seeing as I donāt think this pseudo submission warrants adding this fic to the ao3 collection, Iāve gone ahead and yoinked the scene here:
A small body zipped past them. A little girl, thick brown hair flying behind her as she sprinted down the street. Her hat fell from her head, landing on the ground. Zhao stooped down, balancing the crate on his knee as he picked up the hat.
āKid,ā Zhao called. āYou dropped your hat.ā
The child turned, and for whatever reason, Zhao froze. Zuko curiously watched the older manās face go bloodless, grip tightening on the hat. A hat made in the form of a koi, the mouth forming the opening to frame oneās face. Zuko could see it was handmade; delicately stitched together by loving hands were patterned orange scales rimmed with white, a few frayed threads escaping from wear and tear. Zhao ran his trembling hands over the handcrafted item, amber eyes skimming over it with something akin to fear.
Zhao jerked his head back up, practically thrusting the hat towards the child, choking out, voice ragged, āYour fish hat.ā
A bright, gap-toothed smile was flashed at him. āThank you, mister!ā
The kid scampered off, kicking up a trail of dust in her wake. And as she rounded the corner, Zuko caught a single flash of amber eyes.
āWhat was that?ā Zuko asked, concerned.
āWhat was what?ā Zhao returned faintly.
āThat. You wentā¦ I donāt know, like you saw a ghost.ā
āI may as well have,ā Zhao murmured, shaking himself out of his stupor. āItās nothing. She justā¦ she looked a lot like someone I used to know.ā
Zuko frowned. It didnāt seem like nothing. He couldnāt ever recall seeing Zhao looking as shaken as he did now, but the older man remained silent as he picked up the cargo box again, hurrying off towards the Jasmine Dragon without bothering to wait for Zuko.
