The Fire Within - an atla fanfic (Zuko x OC)

To Me

I broke into a tiny stride as I ran down the hallway and flung open my bedroom door. "My love!" I hurtled myself forward and hugged my Walkman happily. I sat down and continued hugging it.

Zuko walked in after me begrudgingly and shook his head slowly. "What is that?"

I looked at him with pity. "This is the most revolutionary device ever created. It may be old, but it's vintage."

Zuko looked at it as he continued in my room hesitantly. I don't think he had ever been in there beforehand. "Is it a box?" He questioned with confusion.

I shook my head and clicked a button on the cartridge. The cassette tape popped out and I handed it to him. "It's music."

Zuko held it gingerly and sat down next to me. "How is this music?"

I scoffed and dug into my bag, which had been very tattered from my previous events prior. I looked in and took out another cassette tape (of which I had several). I placed it in the Walkman and smiled. "I'm surprised none of these got damaged from the water too much."

I put on the headphones and clicked play. Fearless by Pink Floyd began playing, and I started moving my hands around in a really stupid looking dance-way.

Zuko stared at me with confusion as I silently danced.

I came to the realization he was staring at me and stopped. "Oh yeah, you can't hear." I said awkwardly. I took off the headphones and handed them to him. "Put them on your ears."

Zuko grabbed it and placed them on his ears carefully. He seemed really confused.

I sang the lyrics quietly as I heard them softly coming from the headphones.

The prince smiled slightly. "This is music where you come from? It's so different."

"Yeah, this is the good music from where I come from." I replied as I kept silently dancing.

Zuko just kept staring at me with concern.

"Aw, come on Zuko, isn't this a good song?" I questioned.

"I don't know." Zuko answered. "I'm not in to music."

I looked down, and saw his foot tapping slightly. After a minute or two, Zuko took off the headphones and handed them back to me. I clicked pause on the tape and put it back away securely in my bag. A silence fell in the room.

I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. "Where I come from, that music is about 50 years old." I commented somewhat shyly.

Zuko nodded as he kept watching me intently. "That's interesting."

I nodded. "My mom gave me all the music she had growing up. That's why it's all old. My mom did have a good taste in music though.." Mom. I missed her. I sighed slightly and put my hands on my lap. "Zuko, how am I going to get home?"

He widened his eyes, not expecting a heavy question like that. "I don't know. I have no idea what even made you get here."

I sighed. "The longer I'm here, the more I lose hope, y'know?"

Zuko stared at the wall. "I know exactly what you are talking about."

I looked at him in realization. "I really shouldn't complain about being away from home. This is kinda fun anyway; although, I'm not looking forward to making up all the school work..."

Zuko glanced at me. "You go to school still?"

I smiled, thinking about how stupid that sounded. "Yeah, duh. Most people go to school until they are like... 18 at least, and most of the time even more than that."