your love is my oxygen - Zuko x reader

The Start of a Friendship

Zuko's POV
I sat meditating in my room in front of four candles, using my breathing pattern to control the flames.

As uncle always says, power in fire bending comes from the breath not from the muscle.

As I heard my door swing open, I opened my eyes and monotonously stated, "the only reason you should be interrupting me is if you have news about the avatar."

Uncle replied, "well there is news, Prince Zuko, but you might not like it. Don't get too upset."

I remained calm, "uncle, you taught me that keeping a level head is a sign of a great leader. Now, whatever you have to say, I'm sure I can take it."

And I was sure, until the words left his mouth, "okay, then. We have no idea where he is."

I felt the anger inside me explode as the flames from the candles roared, "WHAT!?"

But uncle was always unfazed by my temper, he opened his hand fan and stated, "you really should open a window in here."

I gritted my teeth and snatched the parchment from his hand, "give me the map!"

"There have been multiple sightings of the avatar, but he is impossible to track down."

On the map, there were markings all over the place of where the avatar had been sighted. I felt my spirits fall as I sighed, "how am I going to find him uncle, he is clearly a master of evasive manoeuvring."

He shrugged and asked, "I don't know why you aren't nicer to Y/N, she clearly wants to be your friend and could probably be a great help to you if you asked."

I scoffed, "I am nice to her."

Uncle sent me a questioning glance before I huffed and stormed out the door.

I hated it, but uncle was right.

I knocked on Y/N's bedroom door but she wasn't there; as I passed by the galley I looked around and the cook asked me, "Is there anything I can help you with, Prince Zuko?"

I sighed dejectedly, "do you have anything vegetarian lying around?"

He looked around before pointing to a basket of fruits on the table and apologised, "There's those fruits over there, I'll be making something for the air bender girl at dinner, but at the moment that's all I have. Would you care for a vegetarian dinner tonight, Prince Zuko?"

I snatched an apple from the basket before snapping, "it's not for me! It's for her."

I stormed out and looked around for Y/N, as I approached the deck, I found her sat with one leg up and one hanging over the side of the ship with her staff in her lap.

I exhaled and made my way beside her, "you're gonna fall in if you do that, you know? Last time I checked, water wasn't really your element."

She raised an eyebrow at me before gesturing to her staff, "I'm an air bender, we're always in my element."

I looked away from her and shuffled my feet, mumbling "oh," we shared a few moments of uncomfortable silence before I shoved the apple into her hands.

She examined it for a moment and asked, "what's this for?"

I rolled my eyes, "you're a vegetarian, aren't you? Don't you like stuff like that?"

She stared at me completely blankly for a moment before exploding in laughter. I crossed my arms defensively and yelled, "what are you laughing at!?"

She was holding onto her stomach and barely breathing as she laughed, "Did you just-" she fell back onto the deck, laughing, "because I'm a-"

At this point she was wiping the tears from her eyes and I growled, "forget it!" Before stomping back towards my room.

She noticed this and jumped up, speeding in front of me and stopping me in my tracks, "woah, woah, calm down, your highness, I-" she wiped a tear from her eye and took a moment to catch her breath, "it's a lovely apple, thank you."

I folded my arms and looked away, "yeah, whatever."

She polished the apple with her sleeve before taking a bite into it and smiling at me gratefully. As she walked back over to the side of the ship, I followed her and asked, "why do you always wear those clothes? We have plenty to spare."

I saw her face slightly drop as I asked that.

That was stupid. I should've kept my mouth shut.

"I'm not really sure, if I'm honest. But I'd rather not wear Fire Navy armour considering, you know, the whole thing with my people."

I mentally slapped myself.

"Oh- uh, right."

I stood there peacefully as she sat over the edge of the boat, finishing her apple- as she did, she turned to me and asked, "so, I suppose you came to ask me about Aang?"

My head snapped up towards her, "what?"

"You're looking for the avatar, right? I noticed your crew were trying to track him- you think I can give you some sort of insight to where he's heading?"

"Well, I-"

"Knowing Aang, he has no idea where he's going. He just likes to run around the world wasting time. If he had any brain he would be on his way to master water bending, but no, he's probably flying around playing games."

I didn't know how to respond to that, but Y/N always seemed rather fed up when she spoke about the avatar, like something had happened between the two of them that irked her.

I sighed, "well, thanks anyway. I'm gonna go and find uncle but do you- I mean, you're welcome to join us for dinner."

Her eyes met mine and she grinned, "thank you, that'd be cool!" When she smiled, the corners of her eyes would crease a little and she's slightly tilt her head to the side, I hadn't noticed it before, but she had the kind of smile that would cause people to stop and stare- she was actually kind of pretty.

I quickly turned to leave, muttering, "well, I'll see you then."

—

A little while later, I sat with Y/N and uncle, waiting for the cook to bring out our food.

Uncle was telling Y/N some bad jokes, but she seemed to be thoroughly enjoying them and was in fits of laughter whilst I sat with my head in my palm wondering what was taking the cook so long.

When he finally came out with my food, he announced, "Prince Zuko, I have some news for you: the avatar has been sighted on Kyoshi Island."

I jumped up from my feet and exclaimed, "The avatar is on Kyoshi Island!? Uncle, ready the rhinos. He's not getting away from me this time."

I paced towards my room but uncle called out, "are you going to finish that?"

I quickly came back and grabbed my food from the table, snapping, "I was going to save it for later!"

As I turned to leave again, my eyes met with Y/N's for a moment before I pulled them away and muttered, "Are you coming? Aren't you looking for the avatar, too?"

I turned back to face her and she had hung her head before muttering, "I- yeah... yeah, I guess."