#air aceloyte

[gladerwolfstarkimagines]

Tea Shop Part Three: Zuko x female reader imagine series

You struggle to come to terms with the reality Lee is Zuko and can’t get your head around the idea...until a dangerous close encourter shows you how fire nation Zuko really is.

Part One here

Part Two here

Part four here

You felt like a naive idiot. You always prided yourself on being more objective than an average air nomad, more realistic, but you'd believe Zuko was good and he betrayed his uncle and tried to kill Aang. You felt utterly bewildered and couldn’t believe the person you knew would do all those things. You made Sokka tell you all about their encounters with Zuko, every single detail, to try and get it into your head that the tea merchant you knew didn’t exist. Everything Sokka told you sounded insane but you knew it was the truth so begrudgingly you started accepting it. You were starting to see Zuko as an enemy instead of an ally and then all that work went out the window when you came face to face with him again.

The gang had landed on a secluded part of an island with a nice lake so everyone was swimming and relaxing but you didn’t want to just lie around, you wanted to explore. So you convinced Sokka to come with you for a walk into town and the two of you set off. When you heard there was beach you’re excitment peaked and Sokka relaxed his rule on staying out of sight figuring nobody here would recognise either of you. Sokka stopped to look at bags by the beach front and you walked onto the beach happily. You stood in the sand enjoying the warmth when suddenly a beach ball came flying towards you. You batted it away without thinking and sent it flying down the beach. "Great job genius" a voice called and you turned to see a very angry looking fire nation girl. "That was my ball and now you've catapulted it half way down the beach". "Sorry but it was that or get in the face so..." you joked but the girl didn’t find you funny. "Go get it" she said stiffly and something about her tone pissed you off "no" you said simply "it’s your ball". The girl went to step closer to you when her friends walked over too and a boy pulled her away from you. You mouth opened in suprise to see it was Lee or more accurately Zuko. It had only been a few months since you’d last seen him but he looked so different. His hair was longer, he was in fire nation clothes and he looked changed...he looked good. You could tell it was definitely him by how panicked he looked, which also suprised you. Was he really scared because he thought you'd reveal what he did and who he was to his friends? Surely they knew he was the prince? Then you realised he wasn't worried about himself he was worried about you. "Azula leave it" he called standing infront of her and you realised who this was. The gang had told you all about the deadly fire nation trio and sure enough you recognised the other two girls from their descriptions. The pale girl didn’t even seem to be paying attention but the pretty brunette looked at Azula worried. "This peasant disrespected me i won’t leave it" Azula snapped as Ty lee frowned "it’s okay Azula, those boys are bringing the ball back to us anyway" she smiled "they’re so nice". "Exactly so let’s just go" Zuko said and you saw Azula frown at him, you were guessing he wasn’t usually an advocate for the average person. You felt his sister scanning you and knew you had to get out of this situation right now but had no idea how. "Come on" Zuko called but Azula shook her head "no". Zuko groaned "for god sake Azula what’s your problem! Leave her alone". Azula tensed "why are you so protective of this girl zuzu?" she asked and you saw Mai look up at that and stare at you too. "I’m not" Zuko babbled "i’m just sick of your temper, why start fights with a stranger for no good reason!". Azula frowned as if she hadn’t even heard Zuko "you seem familiar" she said "have we met before?". You frowned "i...i’ve never seen you before in my life" you replied trying not to touch the burn on your arm like you always did when you were nervous. She hummed still staring at you and you waited for her to realise who you were. "I’m sick of this come on lets just go" Zuko sighed and he led Mai away. "Azula come on" he called and Ty lee tugged her arm. "Fine" Azula sighed and let them drag her away. You watched them go, facinated. So this was the real Lee then? You watched him, staring at the back of his head trying to find something, a look, a subtle nod, anything that told you he was still Lee...but Zuko seemed determined not to look back at all and he walked away like he didn’t know or care about you at all.

You came to your senses after they left and rushed away from the beach, running back up to the stalls and out of sight. You breathed heavily as what could’ve happened to you sunk in and jumped when Sokka appeared next to you. "Hey, did you get what you wanted?". "What?" you asked confused. "The beach? Is it nice?". "No it’s way too crowded lets head back" you stammered and Sokka shrugged "okay". You weren’t sure why you didn’t tell Sokka what had happened. Part of you didn't say anything because you weren't sure how to feel. You hadn't been angry when you saw Zuko more sad and confused. You’d felt embarassed he ignored you even if he had to do it given the company he was in. Another part of you didn’t say anything because you didn’t want the others to persue Zuko even if he was part of the fire nation and that thought embarassed you even more. You were very confused and so just stayed quiet as you walked further and further away from the beach.

All day you ruminated over your decision not to tell the others and even with ground between you, you couldn’t get what happened out of your head. You wanted to ask Zuko why he’d helped you on the beach, shouldn’t he hate you now? Especially given your air nomad identity or was he different to the rest of his nation? Giving up on sleep you decided to go for a walk and pretended you didn’t have an exact location in mind. You knew it was stupid and risky but you headed back to the beach and arrived quickly. It was empty and you sat down slightly disappointed. You knew Zuko wouldn’t still be there but you had to check. You sighed wondering what you’d even have said to him and were suddenly glad he wasn’t here. You didn’t know if you’d be angry at him or happy to see him, so him not being here made things a lot easier for you.

"You must have a death wish coming back here" someone called and you knew who it was.

You turned and there Zuko was walking towards you slowly. The first emotion you felt wasn't anger, he'd come back here too, just like you. "I could say the same for you" you smirked and Zuko sat down next to you. You sat beside one another in silence both of you suprised and confused by the situation you were in. "Why are you here?" he asked suddenly. "I thought you might come back here so i did" you said embarassed and he shook his head "no here on the island! Are you following us? Y/n they can’t know you’re here...if my sister knew who you were she'd....". "Pft i can handle some fire" you tried to joke but Zuko shook his head "no y/n, Azula is the best fire bender i’ve ever seen, you can’t take her and you can’t let her take you". You swallowed, you’d only been joking about handling Azula, you knew she was dangerous but hearing Zuko tell you that... "We’re not here because we’re following you" you said softly "we stopped off here and i wanted to see the beach, it was chance bumping into you i swear". Zuko looked at you and nodded "i believe you, it was just...odd". You nodded and watched him out of the corner of your eye. He looked conflicted, happy but not happy, sad but not sad. "How are you?" you couldn’t help asking "how is it being back home?". "Weird" Zuko replied "it’s changed so much...i’ve changed". “Tell me about it, the last I knew you were a tea merchant not a prince”. Zuko smiled slightly “I imagine it was a lot to take in?”. You nodded “it was but it explained a lot...your spoiled attitude for one”. Zuko smirked and you laughed. This was nice and all but you couldn’t just sit around ignoring the elephant in the room. "Why did you do it?" you couldn’t help asking and felt Zuko tense, the atmosphere now uncomfortable. "I know i don’t know you well and I know Lee isn’t really you but I still can't understand why you'd betray your uncle? Why you'd side with your sister after all she’s done? You just don’t seem like that type of person". Silence settled and stretched on for so long you got ready to leave but finally Zuko spoke. "You’re right, you don’t know me". You met his eye and saw nothing but anger and hate there. You looked away scolded and shook your head feeling deflated "back to that again huh? Back to hating each other?". "Well obviously! we’re on opposing sides y/n, what did you think was going to happen once you joined the avatar? We’re not friends". You laughed in utter surprise "ow so if i didn’t join the avatar it would've been different?" you asked "stop trying to blame me because you feel guilty for the choices you made". "You were always too prying and self rightous for your own good" he snapped “you know nothing! You’re just some waitress I worked with, you don’t know anything about me”. "Wow and there’s the fire nation prince" you smirked patronisingly "don’t know how you did such a good job hiding him before now" and stood up. "I saved you as a courtesy" Zuko called after you, his voice getting louder the further you walked "the next time i won’t". His announcement made you so mad you shook with anger. He was really threatening you for calling him out on betraying his family? He thought not letting his sister attack you owed praise? "Good" you yelled back "i don’t need anything from you. Have fun in your cursed life traitor". 

Zuko’s POV

Your words hit Zuko like a strike and he glared after you burning holes in your back until you disappeared around a corner. Even though you’d gone Zuko’s anger didn’t and he angrily sent a jet of fire up into the air with a yell. Zuko sat down on the cold bench and shivered. “What’s wrong with you now?” someone asked making Zuko jump. He turned to see Azula coming towards him and looked around to make sure there was no sign you’d been here. Azula seemed relaxed so she obviously hadn’t seen you but Zuko couldn’t believe how lucky he got, if Azula had been slightly earlier or you stayed any longer...it didn’t bare thinking about. “Hello? Does that scar effect your hearing?”. “No” Zuko snapped and sighed. His temper had been bad recently and was getting worse, that’s why he’d blown up so easily. He hadn’t meant to yell at you, he’d been happy to see you and he did...had seen you as a friend. But that was certainly all ruined now he’d yelled at you. That thought made Zuko even more depressed, which he didn’t think was possible. He supposed it was best you hate him though, he was the traitor prince, he’d betrayed his uncle who only ever wanted to help him. This way he wouldn’t be able to betray you too. 

1 month later

You’d regretted what you’d said to Zuko as soon as your anger feded but you were still hurt at what he’d said about you. You weren’t friends and you never were...

You decided that was the final straw and set out to make Zuko’s words a reality. Slowly you managed to lose thought of Zuko, even during the invasion of the fire nation palace you didn’t worry about seeing him, you knew now where your loyalties lied and it wasn’t with Zuko. You were done with him and getting to be okay with that.

So after finally working all that out, when you got a visitor at the western air temple you were angry to say the least. "It’s not..." you frowned looking at the figure but it was. Zuko...and he was smiling too. "Hello Zuko here" he called waving, appearing to be as calm as ever. The others all armed themselves but you just glared. Zuko looked at you all and glanced at you last. He looked down at the intenseness of your glare and you felt proud. "What do you want here?" Aang asked. Zuko explained he wanted to join you and you snorted "seriously? Now the great prince wants to grace us with his presence?" you asked. Zuko looked at you "y/n...i’m sorry for hurting you, all of you” he said looking at everyone again "what i did was wrong and i ask you to consider forgiving me". "No" you said simply "so thank you for coming but goodbye". Zuko rolled his eyes "y/n just let me explain...". "Explain what?" you asked "how you double crossed Mushi? How you hinted i’d be next?". Zuko went quiet and lowered his head. Aang touched your arm and you took that as a sign to calm down. “We can never trust you and we’ll never let you join us” Aang took over and you nodded. Zuko’s face crumpled in defeat and you sighed in relief. You watched, glaring, until Zuko walked out of sight and went inside the temple “well done Aang” you commented. "Man i thought air nomads were all peaceful" Sokka frowned. "Well guess i’m more earth nation then" you shrugged "if i see him again i’ll catapult him from this mountain". “Why are you so angry at him?” Toph asked suddenly and you laughed “you’re joking right?”. “No I get you feel betrayed but you were furious with him I could tell by your emotions and what did you mean when you said he threatenned you?”. “Yeah you never told us he did that in Ba Sing Sei” Sokka nodded and you frowned. “He didn’t threaten me per se and it wasn’t in Ba Sing Sei. I spoke to Zuko a few weeks ago". "What!" they all cried. Sokka launched in a lecture, Katara questioned you on safety, Toph called you insane while you just blushed. "This is exactly why i didn’t tell you!" you cried "i knew the risk but we were at the beach and he’d already stopped his sister from attacking me earlier that day so i figured....". "What" Sokka yelled and you sighed and just started from the very beginning. You finished your explanation and Sokka nodded. "I get why you’re angry at him" Sokka agreed and you sighed in relief. "Yeah because of what he said to me...". "No because you guys basically broke up". "What! We did not" you spluttered "we were never dating! That’s ridiculous" and stormed away angrily.

After a fitful night of sleep you woke up to the news Toph was gone. She’d seemed pretty sympathetic to Zuko yesterday so you weren’t suprised when she returned and announced she’d visit Zuko...and he’d burnt her. You helped carry her to the fountain and managed not to gloat that you were right but Toph sensed it. “I can feel you smirking” she commented. You frowned “I’m sorry you got hurt but I did tell you...”. “I may’ve been wrong but you’re letting your feelings cloud your judgement” Toph commented. You gaped “no i’m not!” and Katara frowned “guys....” when an explosion rocked the whole temple. Sparky sparky boom man was back, the assassin hired to kill you, and you all sought cover when suddenly the attacks ceased. “Zuko” Aang commented and you sighed, apparently Zuko was determined to prove his worth. Watching Aang’s reaction you felt anger, you knew what would happen. Zuko would save the day and that would win the gang over, they didn’t have as strong grudges as you.

Sure enough after the attack they let Zuko approach and listened to him. Aang vouched for him but then turned to all of you for your opinions. Aang looked at eveyone, they all met his eye apart from you. Toph and Sokka agreed, Katara hesitated but she agreed too. Finally Aang turned to you  "Y/n" he said softly "will you agree to let Zuko stay?". You looked past Aang to Zuko and resisted the urge to glare. "Y/n" Aang said softly "please, i need a firebender teacher and i really think it should be him". You stared at Aang, those big brown eyes wearing you down, and sighed. You had to do what was right, Aang needed this and he was one of the last members of your nation, you couldn’t be selfish. You nodded your head stiffly “if you say you need him then okay”. Aang grinned at you before turning back to Zuko “okay you can join us”. Those words made your skin crawl and you stormed away.  

It was awkward to say the least having Zuko around, all of you were reluctant to approach him but Sokka seemed to be having fun with it. As night approached Zuko asked where his room was and Sokka said he’d show him. Zuko nodded and Sokka siddled up beside you “want to show Zuko to his room yourself?" Sokka asked "so you can memorise the location". You smacked Sokka over the head in reply and he led Zuko away without another comment but had apparently put the idea in Zuko’s head.

You were laid on your bed glaring at the ceiling too angry to sleep when there was a knock on your door. You sat up cautiously and the door opened to reveal Zuko. "Hi" he said timidly and you stood up "what do you want?". Zuko blushed "i think we need to talk, privately...about what happened on ember island". "What is there to discuss? You never considered me a friend, you rejected me and left". Zuko frowned "y/n...it wasn’t like that". "Wasn’t it?" you asked and Zuko frowned "well it was but y/n i’m sorry! The things i said to you were awful but i didn’t mean them! I lashed out at you because it was you, because you make me want to be a better person, that’s why i hurt you". "Ow wow that makes it so much better thank you" you said mockingly and Zuko frowned "no, you know i didn’t mean it like that". "Well i’m sorry i didn’t take you yelling at me the right way Zuko, did i misinterpret you calling me nosy and self rightous and saying you never liked me too? Or how you saving me was just a such a nice gesture". Zuko groaned "why aren’t you listening i just said I didn’t mean any of that!". "Well i find that hard to believe" you glared "you don’t get to come here and apologise and have me forgive you, i’m angry at you". "Really you did a good job hiding that" Zuko retorted and you glared. "Get out of my room i don’t want to talk to you, ever”" you yelled and Zuko nodded "fine!" and stormed away. He slammed the door and the whole temple shook. You let out a cry of frustration and collapsed onto your bed. Zuko joining the group was going to make things complicated.

----

Next part is the last one!!!

[gladerwolfstarkimagines]

Tea Shop Part One - Zuko x female reader series

Imagine being an air acolyte searching for the avatar in Ba Sing Sei and instead finding yourself working beside the dragon of the west and the banished prince of the fire nation, but of course you know them as Mushi and Lee. From the start you and Zuko clash, you hate his angry rude attitude and he hates how often you call him out on his poor behaviour. Your dislike grows until it’s almost unbearable and then his life is suddenly placed in your hands. After that and things change...

Part two here

Part three here

Part four here

(Note, in the readers view Zuko = Lee and Iroh = Mushi but when it’s from Zuko’s or Iroh’s pov they will be Zuko and Iroh. Hope that’s not too confusing!

Prologue: You were descended from air benders and were one of the last air aceloytes in the world. Your family was not in the air nation when the fire nation attacked a century ago, by luck your grandfather was in Omashu. When he heard the news he was devastated but crippled with fear he stayed and hid in the Earth kingdom. He married your grandmother and tried to assimilate into the earth kingdom. Your grandparents were terrified of the fire nation and therefore keeping the air nation traditions alive was not something they were focused on. So by the time you were born only your Uncle Pathik made an effort to keep the air nation traditions alive, even becoming a monk to devote himself to the cause. Your family was under the belief if they kept quiet the fire nation wouldn’t find them but of course they did. The fire nation arrested your family for the suspicion of practicing air bending, despite the fact none of you could actual airbend. The association enough was worth a life long imprisonment and so your family we’re shipped away to the deepest prison known. Your father managed to smuggle you out of the city but he wasn’t so lucky. You were devestated but after your escape headed to the only family you had left, your eccentric uncle’s home at the eastern air temple. You managed to avoid warrants for your arrest with shows of earth bending, a skill inhertited by your grandmother. Fire nation guards couldn’t comprehend someone being an air aceloyte and an earth bender and so the gift saved your life. You finally tracked down your uncle and decided that day to dedicate yourself to the air nation in spite of the fire nation. They’d taken your family but they wouldn’t take your culture. You asked your uncle to teach you all he knew and worked hard to become an air acolyte like your grandfather. It all seemed pointless, you and your uncle against the whole fire nation and then you heard the avatar was back. You made it your mission to find him and help him rebuild the air nation. You told your uncle your plan and he told you to go to Ba Sing Sei, always allusuive, he told you nothing more than you’d find what you needed there and so you set off. You expected to find the avatar quickly but had been there a whole year with no sign of him. You we’re giving up hope you’d ever find him and you’d be stuck working as a waitress in the lower ring forever when two new staff members changed that.  

Your POV

You showed up for your shift at the tea shop to find your boss had finally hired some more staff. You were thrilled and eyed the two newcomers with interest as your boss discussed the basic tasks with them while you ran the tea shop, eventually the tour brought them to you and you were introduced. "This is my main waitress" your boss said to the two men "y/n these are your two new coworkers". You nodded looking them over, the older man smiled at you but the younger one stared at the ground, or more accurately glared. He definitely did not seem pleased to be here. "Nice to meet you" you offered and the old man smiled and told you his name. You looked to the younger one expectantly and the man nudged him. "’I’m Lee" he replied flatly barely glancing at you. “Well welcome” you smiled and Mushi smiled at you but the boy, Lee, didn’t even look at you. “Now on with the tour” your boss cried and you watched Mushi talk to him while Lee sulked. Great your new co-worker was a pouty angry teenager. He’d be fun to work with.  

1 week later

Your prediction was true, you were an easy going person who could usually get along with anyone...expect this new boy. The boy was miserable and moody. He was inconsiderate and obviously didn’t work well in teams. His customer service poor and his tea making skills only just adequate. The fact he was so rude prompted you to mess with him, rude people were fair game as far as you were concerned and so you made sure not to help him. If the waiter couldn’t show common courtesy than neither would you. This resulted in a lot of shared glares and bickering between the two of you. You knew it went against your air nomad roots to pick on people but when the person was a moody rude immature man who never got your name right, surely the monks saw that as an exception right?

You arrived at the tea shop for your afternoon shift and saw Lee was leaving. That was nice. Things between you had gotten worse over the past week and shifts with him were almost unbareable. Being mean didn’t come naturally to you but something about this man made your blood boil. Lee noticed you come into the shop and held out an apron to you. Suprised you went to take it when he dropped it on the floor with a laugh. You rolled your eyes at him and snatched it up off the floor. Lee smirked and you glared. You watched him place his belongings on the counter as he prepared to leave, something you’d told him not to do many times as it wasn’t sanitary and got an idea. A glass of water was also on the counter and you smirked, because your manager was such a cheapskate the counter was made of earth. You flicked your hand and knocked the glass over onto Lee’s stuff. Lee cried out and groaned as it soaked his bag and coat. Lee looked around and caught you smiling. “You....” he started when Mushi appeared “y/n I need three jasmine teas”. You nodded “on it” and grinned at Lee’s angry glare that was glued to you as you walked past him.

Iroh’s POV

Iroh noticed Zuko pouting about something and paused as you left to go make the tea like he’d asked. Zuko was angrily shaking his jacket and Iroh frowned “Lee are you...”. “She! She is the worst! Did you see what she just did to me” Zuko cried holding his bag out to Iroh who frowned. The bag had a tiny wet stain. “Ow yes this is very serious...the sun might not even dry it before you reach home!” Iroh cried. Zuko rolled his eyes “y/n did this! Did you know she’s an earth bender?”. “No but we are in the greatest earth city in the world...it’s not suprising”. “She can’t treat me like that” Zuko carried on ignoring Iroh’s comment “she can’t get away with this, who does she think she is?”. “Hasn’t she told you numerous times not to put your stuff on the counter?”. “She...I don’t know! I don’t listen to her! She’s always telling me how to do stuff like i’m a...”. “New employee?” Iroh asked with a smile and Zuko scoffed. “This is ridiculous i’m sick of this” and he stormed from the tea shop. Iroh laughed and glanced to where you stood serving customers, you’d certainly gotten under his nephew’s skin and it was entertaining if nothing else.

Your POV

When the afternoon rush finally died down you got a chance to chat to Mushi. Thank god he was nothing like his nephew, there was a down side though. Despite not be liked him he loved talking about his nephew and seemed to constantly mention him to you, like today. “Y/n do you think you’d be able to work the late shift with me tomorrow night?" he asked "it was supposed to be Lee’s shift but he has a date". "Really?" you asked more than fairly suprised, "is it that girl who’s always in here?". Mushi nodded "yes!" and you laughed "i knew it! She asked for Lee to serve her even though his waiter skills are awful!". Mushi laughed "love is blind, she’s hopefully seen past his moody exterior to the man he is beneath” Mushi smiled at you but his hint went right over your head. "I can cover his shift" you agreed and Mushi grinned "Thank you y/n!". You told him it was fine and smirked, just the idea of Lee on a date was enough to make you laugh.

2 days later

You probably shouldn’t have offered to work that late shift for Mushi when you were opening in the morning too but you needed the money so you dragged yourself out of bed way earlier than you would’ve liked. The idea of teasing Lee about his date motivating you and when you saw him waiting outside the tea shop you smirked. "Morning" you called loudly making him jump. He swore and you smirked unlocking the door. "It’s your shift?” he complained “why are you always here?". "Because i work here idiot" you said going to roll your eyes before you calmed yourself, Lee wouldn’t ruin your good mood...or stop you teasing him about his night out. "So how was the date?" you asked smirking. Lee didn’t look at you, he didn’t even show he’d so much as heard you. It made him so much harder to annoy when he didn’t respond so you tried again. "Hey i covered for you I expect some payment" you informed him but he just shrugged "i didn’t ask you to cover for me". "Yeah but i was still the person who did so you could run around on a date" you said annoyed. The man always managed to do this, you’d start messing with him and come off angrier than him somehow. Lee only shrugged "not my problem" and you glared. Your good mood was slipping.

All day Lee’s attitude annoyed you more and more. He was in a worse mood than ever and it showed. He was rude to customers, he mixed up orders and refused to correct them, he spoke back to you when you were only trying to help him. So by the end of your shift you were ready to strangle him. When Mushi and another worker showed up to relieve you, a sigh of relief escaped without you even realising. You let all your anger go, prepared to move...and then you turned around and tripped over the rubbish bag you’d asked Lee to take out 3 times. From your crumpled position of the floor you spotted him already ready to leave and your anger flared back up. You marched to him and pressed the bag into him “here”. “Why would I want this?” he asked and you glared “it’s the rubbish you forgot to take out”. “I didn’t forget I just didn’t want to” he shrugged and you twitched. “Wow that’s a great attitude, take it outside now”. “No, you’re not my boss, you can’t tell me what to do”. He opened the back door and sauntered out and you followed him seeing red. You threw the bag at him hitting him on the shoulder and let out an angry groan. “What’s your problem?” you cried. “What’s your problem” Lee replied squaring up to you but you wouldn’t back down. “My problem is you’re an awful waiter and an intolerable human”. “Wow that hurts me so much” Lee said sarcastically and you balled your fists. “What is wrong with you?” you called “nobodies making you work here, if it’s so awful find another job! It’s not my fault you’re miserable all the time so stop acting like it is!" you yelled "you’re mad at the world? Well get in line! Nothing gets better by you acting like a jerk but if you hate it here so much leave!" and you slammed the door in his face.

Later that day

Your day hadn’t gotten much better as it went on but the end was finally in sight. You'd just finished your shift at a nearby restaurant you also worked at when you noticed two men fighting. You frowned but turned the other way. Sure it wasn’t the noble thing to do but you'd learnt to only seek trouble in certain situations and in back alleys at night was not one of those moments. The trouble apparently didn’t want to leave you alone however and you heard sounds telling you the fighting was following you. Suddenly one of them crashed past you, the other following with a sword. You glared and then gaped to see Lee was one of the men fighting. It didn't suprise you he’d be in a street fight but to be fair he seemed to be the one getting attacked. Shocked you watched, impressed by how skilled the two men were. Lee was obviously not a tea maker and according to the other guy he was actually a fire bender.

The man managed to disarm Lee and he smirked. "you’re defence less, you’ll have to firebend to stop me doing this" and swept his sword towards Lee. Lee closed his eyes unable to get out of his grip and just accepted the swing. You couldn't. Call it the airbender roots in you but you wouldn’t watch senseless violence and just do nothing, even for someone as annoying as Lee. "No" you shouted and sent a rock hurtling towards the man. You knocked him off Lee and stepped forwards "leave him alone". "Who’s this your body guard?" the boy asked and you raised an eyebrow "actually i’m a waitress". Lee stood beside you and you both faced the attacker when you heard yelling. Suddenly two Dai Li agents arrived and looked between you and Lee to the boy. "What’s going on here?" they asked and you turned to them. You’d gotten pretty good at maniuplating the authorities in your hidden life so knew how to play the Dai Li. “Officers thank god you’re here! This man attacked me and my friend for no reason, he was going to hurt him so i had to earth bend! I didn’t mean to hurt anyone I swear". "She’s right" a man who’d been watching called and the Dai Li fixed their eyes on the other boy. He tried to resist but they forced him into a cart and it disappeared down the road. "I’m sorry this happened to you" the agent told you and Lee "please go on and enjoy your night". You and Lee nodded and turned to walk away, when you were out of ear shot Lee spoke. "You didn’t have to help me" he started and you rolled your eyes sick of this and started to walk away. "No!" he said catching you up "i didn’t mean it like that, i just meant...after today i figured you hated me". "I don’t hate anyone" you replied "but you come pretty close sometimes". You thought his mouth almost curved into a smile and he nodded. "What were you doing out here?" he asked "and are you in a uniform". "I work at a restaurant near here" you explained. "You have two jobs?". "Three" you said embarassed "rent’s hard". Lee nodded his head down and you were pleased he didn’t give you sympathy. "I’m not you know" he said suddenly and you frowned “what?”. “A firebender...i’m not one" he clarified. "I wouldn’t care if you are" you shrugged and Lee frowned "really i assumed because of your..." and he trailed off. "Because of my what?" you asked turning to face him and Lee paled. He looked to your arm without meaning to and you knew he’d seen the scar that lay there. "i didn’t mean to, your sleeve was pushed up the other day..." he rushed to explain reading your expression "’i’m sorry for mentioning it". You touched your arm self consciously, the place where your burn crisscrossed it and frowned. A fire nation solider had give it you on your trip to the eastern air temple, he was annoyed your earth bending proved you couldn’t be the run away air acolyte and so he burned you as punishment.  "It’s okay" you said after a while "but no it doesn’t change things, i don’t blame all firebenders just because one burnt me". Lee looked shocked at that and you got a feeling he didn’t have that same view about the person who burnt him. "It doesn’t matter to me if you're a fire bender or the earth king himself, we’re all just human". Lee paused suprised to hear you say something so philosophical and nodded. "’I’m sorry, for earlier not this" he said softly "i have been...difficult". "Just difficult?" you asked and he shot you a glare. "Sorry...you were saying?". He sighed and glanced back at you "i’m working on my anger" he told you "i’ll try and be less of a jerk". "I’ll believe it when i see it" you replied but smirked to let him know you were joking.

You walked the rest of the way in silence and reached the tea house quickly. Mushi was cleaning up damage that must’ve been caused by the fight but dropped his broom when he saw Lee. “Z..Lee you’re okay” he cried rushing over “what happened?”. “It was fine, y/n helped me and Jet was arrested”. “You helped him?” Mushi asked smiling between you both and you and Lee rolled your eyes simultaneously. “It was nothing” you said quickly “i’d have done it for anyone”. You thought Lee’s eyes narrowed at that comment and so quickly added “but i’m glad you’re okay”. Lee looked at you suprised but nodded “thanks”. You nodded awkwardly and turned “so i’ll be going home, see you guys tomorrow”. “Bye y/n and thanks again” Mushi called after you.

Zuko and Iroh’s POV

As soon as you were gone Iroh smirked at Zuko “so...the two of you seem to have bonded”. “Don’t” Zuko replied pushing past him. Iroh’s smirk grew as he noticed the slight blush on his nephews cheek, he knew he’d sensed chemistry there. Thank god the two of you finally were realising it too.

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I made a new Zuko series! I always love how angsty and stroppy season 2 Zuko was so thought I’d write a series around that. Hope you like it!!!